Anyone have a pet rat? Tell me about it. Funny stories? Interesting things about these critters.?

Question

I want to get one.

Answer 1

I had a pet rat, he passed away a few years ago at the age of 3. His name was Mr. Monty, and he was the greatest! I got him and a female, who were housed together, from a coworker. I separated them as soon as they came to live with me, but it was too late; three weeks later they had babies! When it was time to separate the males from the females, the males who didn't have homes yet lived with Mr. Monty. He absolutely loved the babies! He washed them, played with them, and gave them the best sleeping spots in the cage. He was brilliant, in my opinion. He litter-box trained himself, he would come when he was called, and he went on walks outside with me! He had a little harness, and he would ride on my shoulder when I went for walks outside. Mr. Monty got along very well with my dogs, too; nothing scared him. He got baths every week when his cage was washed. He didn't like that so much, but he tolerated it. He was one of the greatest pets I've ever had the privilege of sharing my home with. I highly recommend rats as pets. I wish you the best!

Answer 2

Oh rats! We currently have 17 and I adore each and everyone of them. They are the best caged pets, barre none. They are really good for apartment dwellers because most landlords will allow a rodent in a cage.

They are super intelligent and quite goofy. One of our girls, Chelsea, likes to think she is my hairstylist and dentist. She is an excellent groomer and thinks I am just one of her rat buddies needing some tending to.

We have a few Egyptian spiny mice, and once a new mother unexpectedly died. I hand raised one of the babies (the other unfortunately didn't make it since they were only 2 days old when their mommy passed). Anyhow, Chelsea, who is definitely the silliest of our ratties, really liked Baby (the mouse). I had them both on the bed when Baby was about a week or so old to introduce them formally, and while Baby was understandably frightened of the 'giant' rat, Chelsea went right to her and immediately started cleaning her. It was adorable.

I would deinitely suggest getting rats! I'd do some research first and maybe buy a book or two to get an idea of what you're getting into. They do have short life spans (2-3 years), and are prone to respiratory diseases and tumors. However, the benefits far outweigh the bad bits.

Answer 3

I have far too many amusing rat stories to tell here, but the most recent one involved my youngest (3 months old) rat, Luna.

She is very mellow, and would fall asleep on my shoulder, or just inside the neck of my shirt. She would stay there for hours on end, if I was laying down reading or watching TV. One day I dozed off, and woke up to her practicing rodentistry (cleaning my teeth). Unfortunately I got a couple scratches on my lower lip trying to pry her claws off.

Ok, I know it sounds gross, but rats will clean each others teeth when they've bonded, and often they will groom their human too.

Answer 4

i had a pet rat for about 3 years and she was awesome!!! her name was sunshine she was one of the smartest animals i have had. she knew her name, i could let her out of her cage for hours at a time (in a closed room of course) and she stay around then would come when i called her. rats are nocturnal so i trained her to not make noise at night . when she would make noise i would tap the cage and go shhhh it took a couple of weeks but after that anytime she made noises in the night all i would do is shhhh and she would stop. awesome pets the only downfall is that rats are cross bread sooo much that they develop different cancers easily and unlike a cat or dog the life expectancy is only 2 to 3 years. don't let that discourage you they are great pets!!!

Answer 5

Rats are excellent. I've yet to have my own, but housemates I've lived with have had them so I feel like I know a fair bit.

They're so intelligent, it's like having little dogs! They follow you around the room, and will even answer to their name! They really seem to like being stroked and cuddled. I've also known of a couple that liked to sleep in their owners hoods!

I've kept mice myself, as they take up less room. Also excellent little creatures - one of my mice, Mr Jingles, was the best pet I've ever had, apart from my cat of course. I used to keep him in my room during the day as there was nowhere for him to escape to, I'd just have him in his cage at night - I used to leave his cage open on the floor, and he'd wander in and out to eat, drink and poo! If I ever put a bought something like a muffin, I'd put it on my bed and he'd appear out of nowhere and start ripping through the packet! He would also curl up and sleep on my beanbag, or my pillow.

My favourite memory was when I took a nap in the middle of the day once, and he was asleep on my beanbag. I woke up with his little whiskers tickling my nose! He was a DUDE.

Rodents rule! Just make sure you do your research into their care before you get one!

Chalice

Answer 6

certainly one of my rats, Willard, has a tendency to get aggravated whilst the cats play with noisy toys in an identical room as his cage. So, whilst he gets to run around for somewhat, he has a tendency to snatch the noisy toys, and take them back to his cage, one by one. I unquestionably have 3 rats. One male: Willard (10 months previous). 2 women: Roxie & Hannah (2 a million/2 years previous)

Answer 7

We have 11 rats at this time, but some are up for adoption. One is 6 months old (male), 5 months (female), 3 months (female), 2 males and a female that are 2 1/2 months, and 5 brothers that are 6 weeks. They are all so adorable. The babies wrestle each other to see who is going to be held first, they love attention and are so friendly. The oldest 2 are the parents and they too love their attention, the dad loves to ride on my shoulder everywhere around the house, even when I'm at the computer. The middle 4 were brought in from a place that housed them incorrectly and never gave them any attention so they all are taking some extra time to get used to being touched and handled. They've been here since easter and are still skittish, but like to held for a litle while, my youngest daughter claimed the younger female (Candy) for her own, we're also keeping the Rex mix since he has a tendancy to lose his hair from being housed in pine shavings. The oldest of the 4 is up for adoption and so will the other male once I can get his allergies under control and get his respiratory infection cured. My oldest daughter and oldest adult son claimed 2 of the babies as theirs, so I said that 2 of the new rescues must be found homes along with the remaining 3 baby brothers. The 2 female sisters we had went to one home together last weekend.

One thing we found is they love to chew on plastic cages, so I'm investing in some all wire ones that stack. I don't like housing them in tanks since they love to climb so much. I can make cheap hammacks and tunnels from scrap material instead of buying $15 at the pet stores so they have a cozy place to sleep. If they get chewed up (which they will), I'll just make another one for them. I use cloth dog toys or stuffed animals I get for 75% off after holidays are over for them to play with and chew on, we just remove any button, eyes, ribbons, etc before giving them.

Rats are best when gotten in same sex pairs at the same time. They are very social animals that need attention and if you have work or school, them 2 will help here so they won't be bored.

Our oldest male rat likes to play with our 9 month old rabbit too. The funniest thing (not so funny for me) was that the male oldest rat peed all down my back while on my shoulder, my kids all thought it was so funny. I must admit it's been a good while since I got peed on, like since my kids were babies and their 21-11.

With warmer weather coming around, we're going to start trying to teach all the rats some tricks. They're just as intelligent as a dog (maybe smarter then some).

Oh, you'll need a cage with 1/2" spacing to start for a young rat, but will need to get a larger cage with no more then 1" spacing after 6-7 months old and a cage that is about 24"x24"x18" or 30"x18"x18" for no more then 2 rats.
Just love them and have fun with them. Also when it comes to the litter to use, only use a paper product litter. Cedar and pine emit toxic fumes when mixed with the urine and cause respiratory infections. Pine, aspen, and other woods cause allergies in the rats. I know this because of some that I have from private people and pet stores that housed them in pine. They all were treated for allergies and one with a respiratory infection (still under care).

Here are a couple of good sites on rats. Also I have a list of approved foods to give and not to give to a rat. I will email it to anyone who requests it from me by direct emailing me through they're own email provider and no through Yahoo!Answers. Yahoo!Answers email system doesn't allow enough spaces for all my feeding information.

Answer 8

Rats are fun; my kids had one. They taught it to jump. Unfortunately, the rat cage was next to a curtain, and the curtain wound up with holes!

Answer 9

ive had 3 rats they make very good pets. you can even train them. they are very loyal much like a dog.

Answer 10

Ahh, rats. Lovely little things. They love climbing up and down your arms. Oh, also, they love to eat different things. Veggies, fruit, there are even little wheels of cheese that I used to give to my little Lumierre. (Yeah,yeah, stupid name, I know...)