I used to have some rats. I had both haired and hairless varieties. The hairless ones looked really weird, but once you got past that, you could see how really sweet and clean they were. The rats I had never bit and were very gentle, as the previous poster said. They were generally calm creatures who like to be petted and cuddled. Compared to hamsters and gerbils, which are much more high-strung, rats would make a much more suitable child's pet.
I guess rats have a bad reputation because wild rats can carry germs when they get into humans' dwellings and food. Of course any wild animals can be disease carriers but in this case the rat's resourcefulness in finding food works against it.
I took care of some mice for a while. Despite the outward resemblance, mice are not as nice as rats. They are much smellier.
