Anyone know about rats (the pet kind)?

[spinbaby]

We have our 21-year-old son living at home. Yesterday I discovered why the cats are always trying to get into his room--he's got a pet rat in there.

It's very cute in a ratlike sort of way--sleek gray with little white paws, but I told my son he'd have to start looking for another home for it because sooner or late a cat will get to it. Just not a good pet to keep in the same household with six cats.

But in the meantime, I want to make sure it's properly taken care of. He's got it in a 10-gallon aquarium which I think is too small for an animal of that size. What's proper housing for a rat? Also, he hasn't been handling it much because "it doesn't like to be handled." I think that's a bad idea and that it should be handled or it will never be a decent pet. Any ideas?

[izzie]

1. In college we used to draw the ones from phys. dept

They liked to hide in their cages and seemed smart.

[soleft]

2. I had a pet rat whose parents were white lab rats

Her name was Sigourney and she was a great pet. She was very affections. She used to like to lick the back of my neck. And she would always steal my retainer from the night stand and hide it under the bed.

She lived in a big wire cage, like a big guinea page cage. She ate rat food and she loved these little treats that were like cheetos. But they would get stuck in her mouth and she would run up to me like she was asking for help to pull it out.

She lived for several years, very intelligent.

[Suspicious]

3. My daughter has two rats...

they are "fancy" rats, domesticated. They are awesome little critters! We also have two cats, and we have never had a problem. Our cats don't pay them that much attention, and rats are very capable of defending themselves in most situations. Our German Shepherd discovered this when he put his nose too close to their cage. He's never tried it again...now he just barks at them every time he walks by my daughter's bedroom. :)

Domesticated rats will become accustomed to being handled the more they are handled. They're very affectionate animals - our younger one "kisses" everyone.

The rat should be kept in a larger home than the one your son has him in, and it should probably be a cage more suitable to small animals. They make these for ferrets, rabbits, hamsters, etc. If you buy a wire cage, make sure the bottom of the cage is solid, as walking on the wire can injure their tiny feet. He should use the natural bedding - never the pine or cedar types. The bedding we use is made of recycled paper, I believe, and it is the best type for all small animals. The pine/cedar bedding is not good for small animals, and it can cause respiratory problems. The cage should be cleaned very often - every other day, or so - rats (contrary to popular belief) are very clean animals.

[newyawker99]

17. Congrats Suspicious!! 400 posts

:toast:

[mddemo]

4. eek

Ive never understood the fascination with having rats as pets, guess it was growing up having millions of the buggers living around me, always remember my little sister feeding one in the close stairs and my mum having a fit when she found her. Still gives me the willies.

[undergroundpanther]

5. Rats

I have kept rats for along time.

One Rat I had was named Tramp,He was a sweetie pie and best buddy too..He was sick for awhile,I took him to the vet and found he had stomach cancer. He was well enough to play and eat and enjoy his life for the majority of his time despite that.
Even the last night of his life I went to bed thinking all was normal because he was playing with his toys in his cage,and munching out and being himself.
The next morning when I woke up,Tramp was whapping the cage cover more urgent than ever before, by standing up leaning up against the wall of the cage lifting the metal top to make it bang.(He couldn't remove the top by himself)He did this kind of ruckus in the morning once or twice to get my attention to get held and get some attention and mooch a bit of my breakfast before it was all gone.This time it was a steady whap.Unusual I thought..So of course I took him up and because at this point in his sickness he sometimes got sudden diarrhea, I would put a towel on my shoulder.I cleaned the cage often because of this.I had liners and stuff.

But something was different about him this time he just didn't amble up my shoulder to perch and chitter in my ear and rub up on me like usual.He insisted on looking into my eyes,he would resist being laid against my chest,or put on my shoulder,he went so far as to put his little splayed paws on my chin,to look into my eyes,than he laid his chin on my chin and sighed,I can't explain the emotions I saw in his eyes,He was so tender,it was beyond words.Somehow I knew he was dying,and I knew he loved me and I was what he wanted to remember.

After I realized this and I felt tears welling up and I felt something profound,almost like a kiss from his spirit to mine. He fell into a seizure,it stopped ,and started again but amazingly he never let his gaze leave my face he held on to me..and than he died.It was like someone threw a dimmer switch in his bright glowing pink eyes,and they turned dark red/black.He and I were very close freinds.I cried for days.I lived near a "historical"cemetary where local people of noteriety were buried.Some of those graves were from the founding of America days. I gathered my freinds together and we buried Tramp there, late at night wrapped in his ratty ass holey cuddle blanket he slept in,near the big tree that dropped the walnuts he used for his favorite toys. He was a rat of noteriety to my heart and to my freinds.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

7. What a beautiful story..

I'm sitting here crying.
Duckie

[AlienGirl]

13. Hobie

The father of my Rat Pack--nine siblings, all male--was Hobie. He was a big, wild-looking rat who loved to explore and who'd had the run of the house for a while (until my younger son started moving around and could be dangerous).

Hobie lived to be three and a half; then he developed an abcess on his cheek. It was probably secondary to a parotid tumor, the vet said, and all we could do was try to clear up the infection and make him comfortable.

During his last weekend, we went caming. I helped Hobie stand in the grass so he could sniff the air-he loved the outdoors. That night, I dreamed that Hobie appeared to me as a human, and told me he was going to die. He and I discussed his plans for his next life--he wanted to come back human, and have a wife and kids. It was like an exit interview--we talked about the successes he'd had as a rat and the ones he hoped for as a human.

When I woke up, I found that he had died.

The dream is posted in more detail here: http://www.twisk.com/droom.asp?droom_id=184643431

Tucker

[YellowRubberDuckie]

6. Rat ARE decent pets.

If you don't handle a pet rat, they get lonely and timid and mean. I have one, used to have two, but she died. They are sweet, smart little things. THe aquarium is ok for one rat...and as long as the top is covered with something that allows for breathing. We have ours in a plastic rodent cage with a wire top. They shouldn't have wire flooring in their cage, because their little feet are prone to problems. A lot of people just let their rats roam their houses freely. I'm not suggesting you do that, but they are very sweet and will sit on your shoulder and play with your hair. Give her or him a chance. They have great little personalities and are really smart. They can be litter trained even.
Duckie

[AlienGirl]

11. Rats!

Aquariums are okay for short-term housing, as long as they are cleaned*frequently*. If the bedding isn't constantly changed, ammonia and moisture will build up and can be bad for the rat's lungs. Wire cages allow better airflow.

Never use cedar or pine shavings as rat bedding--the oils are bad for rats. The best bedding, in my opinion, is Carefresh (paper-based bedding you can get at a pet store). Yesterday's News cat litter is pretty good, too.

A rat who is kept alone needs to be handled and played with for at least an hour every day, or he'll get very bored and develop psychological problems. On the plus side, if you have the time, a solo rat can be trained to do a wide variety of tricks.

Rats do well on commercial rat-food; my favorite is called Reggie Rat Food and can be gotten at Petco or Petsmart. They also like bits of human food--low fat healthy stuff like vegetables and fruit. (Not citrus fruit, though; it can cause urinary problems.) They need hard stuff to gnaw on. Dried corn on the cob, the kind sold for squirrels, is a favorite.

Rats are intelligent, complex, social creatures who need as much psychological stimulation as a dog. They like having spaces to explore and toys to play with. They are the only non-human animals scientifically proven to laugh and to dream. They are very loyal and recognize individual people. When they suffer a loss--a cagemate dies or their owner goes away--they huddle in a corner of their cage in what can only be described as grief.

When rats are content, they grind their teeth together and their eyes vibrate. This is called bruxing. It's like purring. When they are in pain or psychological distress they arch their back up and stand very still. When they are feeling happy and playful they bounce. When you're tussling with them, playfully tickling them, they make rapid ultrasonic squeaks--laughter.

There's a reason I don't mind it when the conservatives call us DemocRATS. I think being compared to such an intelligent, social, clean, friendly, and playful animal isn't a bad thing at all.

Tucker

[Nevernose]

8. Proper housing for a rat

Would be in the belly of one of those cats!

[scarlet_owl]

9. When my husband was younger,

he had a pet rat named Edgar. Edgar was very smart and sweet. One day, someone broke into my husband's apartment, stole his things and set his bed on fire. Edgar died of smoke inhalation. My husband was very attatched to his rat and still can't tell the story without misting up. Rats make wonderful pets, mice not so much.

[Nevernose]

10. I don't even LIKE rats

But that's just plain sad.

Why the hell would they set his bed on fire? Was it an ex-girlfriend?

[scarlet_owl]

12. No. He never had a girlfriend at that point.

It is still a mystery who did it. The theory is that whomever did it had been watching him for a while and knew that he worked at night. The police officers accused my husband of doing it for the insurance money. The thing is, he didn't have insurance!

[Madrone]

14. Rethink getting rid of the rat...

Instead, think about getting it a friend, and a bigger cage. They have a short life span (2 years avg.) - the reason the one your son has doesn't like being handled is likely because it hasn't been - and being kept solo can add to that - they can and do develop psychological problems from lonliness. They are VERY social creatures, and often times a buddy can actually relax them and make them more interested in people.

A rat should be solo only if you are going to spend a LOT (and I mean a LOT) of time with them in one-on-one interaction.

As for the cats - they really shouldn't be a problem. My cats (I have 3) were VERY obsessed with the rats, but it didn't last long. Rats will defend themselves, and that freaks the kitties OUT. My rats will chase the cats off the couch. Cat's lose interest and get a little fearful when instead of running away rats will attack them. Kitties learn from that very quickly. Mine have all been chased, and one had her little toe bitten by a rattie when she tried to get it thru the cage.

My cats don't even LOOK at the rats anymore - lol

[AlienGirl]

15. Huntington bites cats' tails

I took Huntington along when I was visiting a friend of mine who has a bunch of cats. Ting is used to one cat, my roommate's shy kitty who runs from him. Well, these cats were allowed outside, and hunted rodents, so I was nervous at first.

However, Ting thought the novelty of cats who didn't run away was a great thing. He waited until one cat came close enough--and grabbed the cats tail, playfully nipping it!

After that, the formidible mousers started giving Ting a wide berth, much to his disappointment...

Tucker

[undergroundpanther]

16. Cats n rats

My cats actually were buddies with my rats.They bond with the birds too.I think the cats understand that the rats and birds are family.When Ivory,(the rat I got after tramp died)would go out of the cage the cats would play with her.She knew her name was trained to not poop in bad places,and she came when called,even if I was letting her sniff the grass.
Ivory could be convinced to do anything for a little dab of peanut butter.That is the reward she got when I trained her.

It's a very interesting sound to have a cat purring in one ear and the rat purring in the other.
And yes rats do laugh and ratpurr and they bond with thier family even if they happen to be cats. I however disagree that only rats laugh and dream.Cats do too. Cats laugh in a different way than people or rats do,but if you can detect joy it is there..,And cats dream too..I have seen them chasing while asleep meowing a conversation flicking thier whiskers with REM movements.

Cats also can play pretend..One cat of mine Bigfoot imitated the 'demon' possesed woman who spits in people's mouths in the John Carpenter movie Prince of Darkness.Bigfoot watched the movie with us.He liked watching TV as do our other cats. Later on that night Bigfoot walked up on my hubbies chest I watched him..I was reading next to Hubby,he was sleeping with his mouth barely open.Our crazy cat leaned down close to his face looking into his eyes,he moved his head and rolled his eyes just like the possesd woman did in the movie and I wondered what in the hell was that kitty up to,It dawned on me he was acting like actor in the movie.I was doubtful he could be acting the part off the movie until at the right moment as if he knew the script by rote he slowly dripped some cat drool right into his mouth,in a long stringy drip like the movie ,with obvious glee,he left his jaw slack,just like the movie scene.Than he skidaddled,Suddenly my hubby lurched awake,sputtering.I was laughing my ass off.It took about 10 minutes before I could breathe enough to tell him what Bigfoot did.I still couldn't believe what I saw him do.Our cats all sat nearby watching the chaos,laughing in the feline way.I wonder if Our other cats Dared Bigfoot to do it.. My hubby STILL talks about that I think he got a kick out of it too.And to this day our cats sometimes imitate characters they see on movies.
It's crazy,but if you saw it you'd recognize what they were doing and where they get thier big ideas from.

[THUNDER HANDS]

18. I prefer a nice split-level

Or maybe a Colonial. But that's just me.

:)

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

19. I have two white rats, and I love the little buggers, so do my cats

The cats know the rats belong to the house and do not mess with them. I have a cage which fits on top of the 10gallon aquarium, which gives the rats lots more room, and 4 floors of fun.
I get a kick out of the little guys.