when i ask questions or research resolved questions on YA, involving rats, all i get is negative answers. why are people such bigots, and anti-rat? i don't know why they answer the question, especially since theyre not answering it, they're just putting it down. has anyone else had this problem? its really annoying.
2007-01-24 10:58:15 · 30 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
rats are stigmatized as bieng these dirty little sewer dwelling creatures.that eat garbage and chew on babies.and all kind of wild things..iv never owned one but have had ferrets all my life also a creature thats gotten kind of a bad rap..dont let them bother you..they just havnt taken the time to really check out what rodents are...
2007-01-24 11:05:57 · answer #1 · answered by getbyone 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
People who are anti-rat suffer from:
Prejudism, definition: An opinion for or against something without adequate basis.
Paranoia, definition: A psychosis marked by delusions and irrational suspicion.
Ignorance, definition: Lacking knowledge, uneducated, unaware, uninformed.
Stereotyping, definition: An idea that many people have about a thing or a group and that may often be untrue, or only partially true.
Unfortunately, when we try to educate these people, we come up against a brick wall because we can't get them to see the differences between pet rats and wild rats. Their stereotypical thoughts will not let them understand.
Don't hate these people, pity them, because they don't know what they are missing out on. You're nobody until you've experienced the love of a pet rat.
It's not only annoying...........it makes my blood boil at the comments I read here at Y!A about PET rats.
I don't know why they are answering either because they are going to loose the 2 points they earned and then some.
spazrats
http://spazrats.tripod.com
Rat Slave at 38
Specializing/Educating Others in the care of pet rats for 10 years
2007-01-25 19:19:58 · answer #2 · answered by spazrats 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Ugh.....I am sooooo sick of people saying rats carry diseases. I've never once gotten sick and died from a pet rat. People who say theyre dirty and disease riddled have obviously NEVER owned one. Theyre just going by what they heard somewhere else. How about you people take the time to read up on pet rats before you put them down?
wild rats and pet rats are NOT THE SAME.. We dont compare wolves to pet dogs, so why do people constantly compare wild rats with pet rats?
And I agree with you. I hate it when I ask a question about my rats and people answer just to tell me my rats are gross. heres an idea.....if you dont like them, dont own them as pets. Very simple. Im not a fan of snakes but I dont answer questions just to tell people that they suck for owning them.
All I know is, if people actually took the time to understand pet rats, I think alot of them would change thier minds. Theyre adorable, super sweet and have amazing personalities. I have had hamsters and rats, and while I still love hamsters, I definitely think rats make better pets.
All the "common" pets people have nowdays were wild at one point or another. They all had to be domesticated. Pet rats are no different, but theyre still getting a bad rep. Maybe in another 10 years or so people will get over hating them, and realize how awesome they are.
I had a friend who was scared to death of rats because of their tails. She only remembered being a little kid and having an uncle with a male rat that had a huge disgusting tail and she couldnt ever get over that. I had 2 female rats at the time. While she was sitting in my chair I took one out and set it on the chair behind her. She saw that its tail wasnt as huge and disgusting as she'd remembered..soon she was playing with my rat.....and about a week later she went out and bought one of her own.
2007-01-24 11:38:55 · answer #3 · answered by Dani 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
You will get opinions both in agreement with, and in opposition to your own, no matter where you look. You may have noticed some people who are not fond of rats on YA, but I have certainly seen quite a few who are fond of them. I have seen questions recently, where people were looking for a good appartment pet, and lots of people advised them to get a rat.
Here's a recent question about rats where the predominant response was in favour; I got best answer, by the way :)
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AlAdLXfaJuY9KS.SUSw6zzHsy6IX?qid=20070112171323AADXG14&show=7#profile-info-d42c34ff42d7b1a4c999f30da1751f64aa
Edited to add: in my experience, peeps who have a problem with rats' tails have not had first-hand experience of handling rats. I never had a problem with the tail, but any peeps who did, when I saw them finally meet a sweet, friendly rat or 2, actually handle the tails and stroke them, they all got over their phobia pretty quickly, and realise what uber-cool animals they are!
2007-01-24 11:15:39 · answer #4 · answered by meptastic 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
There are alot of Trolls in this question room and i think some people are just plain nasty!!!
I must admit i am not a fan of rats but my friend is and she a bond with them like other people do with the regular domesticated animals. I know they are clean and quite affectionate. SO i don't understand why the un-educated population have to comment on something they know nothing about.
I think if i ever owned a rat i would understand your love for them, as i believe all animals grow on you if they are in your care .
It is simple human need, be loved unconditionally by something and if you get that through the love for your rats then Fabulous don't worry about the trolls.
2007-01-24 11:05:42 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
IT IS REALLY ANNOYING! RATS ARE SO AWESOME. PPL ALWAYS SAY THAT RATS ARE NASTY BUT THEY SPEND 90% OF THEIR TIME CLEANING THEMSELVES (THAT'S MORE THEN THE HOUSEHOLD CAT, SO THAT MEANS RATS ARE CLEANER THEN YOUR CAT IF YOU HAVE ONE!) AND THAT IS TRUE. ALSO THEY ARE SO INTELLIGENT! I have three rats and I love them. They are so well cool in all ways! I agree with True_Blue they are just awesome.
I also agree with the person who said that if you don't like them don't dis on ppl who do and you don't have to own on if you don't want one so stop trying to attract attention to yourself by saying stuff like that and stop because when ppl who are serious about their rats and the questions they ask they don't like it much when you say stuff like that. Also, do us rat lovers go around dissing on how much we don't like something, not normally, b/c we know how it feels. I love all animals, except for cats (and it's not really even a disliking to them, I just prefer other things over them) but that's my opinion and I have a right to it. . . so that doesn't mean that I say on every question on here asked about cats how much I dislike them, no I answer the question sincerely if I know that answer or if I have a suggestion on it. . . so I guess what I am trying to say is research rats a little more before you go around telling ppl how nasty they are. But I must admit I use to be one of those ppl who doesn't like rats. Then I got my first rat and I don't think I'll own any other small animal. Also, just to say rats do not bite like other animals sometimes do. They'll only usually bite if you have food on your hands, and normally they don't even draw blood. I love rats and no amount of anti-rat ppl are going to change that!!!!!!!!!!
2007-01-24 12:22:29 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Rats are universally reviled because, even though they are universally recognised as intelligent creatures, they are known carriers of some very serious diseases and, their feces are left wherever they happen to be. Add to that, their fantastic ability to multiply and they strike fear into us. The white rats bred for medical research are pretty gentle and, as long as they are contained, no problem. If they get loose, wild rats breed with them and the resulting offspring are not white, but rather the wild type which are more aggressive and ubiquitous in their dietary needs and environments in which they will thrive. The province of Alberta in Canada has no wild rats. Rat damage to stored grain in Saskatchewan is in the millions of dollars and Alberta has none. The province actually has a "rat patrol" whose job it is to look for signs of invasion of rats from Saskatchewan and if found, to hunt them down and kill them. Because of the Rocky Mountains, the B.C. border does not seem to be a threat of invasion.
In a nutshell, rats carry dirt and disease and were the causal agent of bubonic plague in Europe which wiped out almost half the human population. Do you love rats now?
2007-01-24 11:13:27 · answer #7 · answered by Ralph the Sage 2 · 2⤊ 2⤋
It's because when they think of a rat, they think of dirty mean rodents in big cities. I have had several pet rats and they are the best rodent pet to have. Pet rats carry no more diseases then hamsters or gerbils..which is probably none. They are the smartest of the rodents and are the most loyal.
2007-01-25 00:02:39 · answer #8 · answered by KathyS 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
They made a horror movie before about rats, it was called "Ben". My dad hates them because he associates them with being filthy and poor. He claims to have had a friend who had a sewer rat whose body was 1 ft long. He hated it when we brought some baby ones home and refused to touch them throughout their whole lives, we weren't even allowed to bring them around a room he was in.
2007-01-24 11:05:03 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I had a rat when I was little, and it was nice, then all a sudden it started biting me and I didnt like it anymore, it turned mean and would make me bleed. I gave it to my uncle and two weeks later it had babies! haha. I tend to be nervous around rats only because of that.
However, my mom grew up with 2 rats who had run of the house. She said they would sit on your lap, play with the cats and were loving pets. I think people are "anti-rat" because TV shows us to be afraid of them.. some can be mean. People are just not educated on them.
2007-01-24 11:03:14 · answer #10 · answered by shugarmagnolia420 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I don't know why. Rats make good pets. When my kids were little they were pretty rough and I was worried they would accidently kill a hamster or mouse. I bought them both rats and they were great pets. My daughters rat would occasionally escape at night and he would always go to her room and curl up beside her on her pillow. They had a friend who had a pet rat and he taught it to go get him pencils while he was doing his homework.
2007-01-24 16:05:38 · answer #11 · answered by imtroyce 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋