I Haven't Seen Any Rat Owners On Here Yet

I own a beautiful, cream-colored rat named Persephone. I've kept many different species (I have an extreme love for animals) in the mammal, bird, reptile and fish kingdoms but rats are my favorite without a doubt. I can trust her to run around the house on her own because she always sort of gravitates toward me and I love to take her out in public when she's riding in my clothes. I only wish that rats had a longer life-span. Are there any fellow rat owners on here? What do you like most about your rat(s)?

That's interesting that you've had pets of just about every species, but love rats the best. I've often heard they make great pets and are highly intelligent. My cousin's daughter had one, and she really loved that little creature. My uncle, her grandpa, was a veterinarian and he really praised her choice of pets. He was a big cat lover though and always had at least a couple cats at home, plus an outside dog. He never had rats, himself. Her rat died after just a year or so. She was heartbroken.

I don't have a rat at the moment, but my sons have kept rats in the past. They made fabulous pets. They were very intelligent and easy to train although they never got to the stage of being able to be taken out like yours.

Where we live now, it was very difficult to even find rats for sale. I went to numerous pet shops where they clearly thought I was mad for wanting a rat. When I did manage to find somewhere that sold them, they only had small cages fit for a hamster.

I eventually bought a rat for €7.50, a cage for €95 and then had to pay a vet for a tumour removal and hysterectomy at a cost of €200. I'm sure my husband would have turned grey if he hadn't already been bald. To my son and myself of course, it was worth every cent.

I would highly recommend having a rat as a pet.

They are amazing pets, aren't they? I can take Persephone out in public because she never leaves my side. The girls down at the ice cream place just love her!

Dani72, did you consider getting a live feeder rat? Most pet stores still carry feeders, at least I think they do. I know it sounds barbaric and I do admit that they are jumpier and not as trusting as pet rats because nobody ever took proper care of them (They are bred to die, after all). Many of my friends have rescued feeder rats and they managed to rehabilitate them to be just as lovable as a pet rat.

Gosh, No. That hadn't occurred to me at all. I don't know where I might have got one from as all the pet shops just said no, as soon as I mentioned a rat. I would have been happy to have taken one though.

I think that is so very nice to rescue the feeder rats and work with them, giving them lots of love and care, so they become nice pets! I wonder how many people think to do this.
I got a kick out of reading that you take Persephone out in public, even to your local ice cream joint! That's pretty darn cool! Where else do you take her, besides the ice cream place? Does she go grocery shopping with you? To the movies? I'm just curious..

I take her everywhere I can. Once I took her to McDonalds and fed her bits of apple while she was hiding in my pocket. I've taken her to the bank when I needed to set up a new checking account. I was there around fifteen minutes and she kept out of sight the whole time. I've taken her to Wal-Mart, the pharmacy, the gas station and even to an outdoor movie showing. I've never taken her to an actual theater, though.

Oh my gosh, I love it!!! LOL! That's pretty darn cool having a pet so small that you can take it just about everywhere you go! And Persephone is so good about staying out of sight at "sensitive" type places - like McDonalds! Yeah, I can just imagine some woman at McD's catching a glimpse of your rat and getting all hysterical - then pandemonium breaks out and people are running for the exit doors! haha
So when you took her to the outdoor movie, was she able to be still enough for the 90-120 minutes of the show? If she can just chill for that long, I imagine she'd be fine at any movie theater.
Gee, I'm starting to want a pet rat! I've been bugging my hubby about getting a dog, but he keeps saying no. He doesn't want to clean up poop in the yard or have to worry about boarding a dog when we go on vacation, etc. I'd like a dog because they like GOING places with you, unlike cats. Well, if we got a rat, we could take it everywhere, like you do with yours, and the hubby wouldn't have to worry about cleaning poop up in the yard!

(07-26-2012, 11:01 PM)laurasav Wrote: Oh my gosh, I love it!!! LOL! That's pretty darn cool having a pet so small that you can take it just about everywhere you go! And Persephone is so good about staying out of sight at "sensitive" type places - like McDonalds! Yeah, I can just imagine some woman at McD's catching a glimpse of your rat and getting all hysterical - then pandemonium breaks out and people are running for the exit doors! haha
So when you took her to the outdoor movie, was she able to be still enough for the 90-120 minutes of the show? If she can just chill for that long, I imagine she'd be fine at any movie theater.
Gee, I'm starting to want a pet rat! I've been bugging my hubby about getting a dog, but he keeps saying no. He doesn't want to clean up poop in the yard or have to worry about boarding a dog when we go on vacation, etc. I'd like a dog because they like GOING places with you, unlike cats. Well, if we got a rat, we could take it everywhere, like you do with yours, and the hubby wouldn't have to worry about cleaning poop up in the yard!

Yeah, whenever she has to sit still for a long time, she usually goes to sleep. I would be careful though, if you want to let her ride around everywhere with you. Persephone is trained to not poop on me (She still pees but that's ok because it's pretty clean pee) but other rats won't be like that at first. You have to teach them not to poop on you. The easiest way to do this is to train them to use a litter box so they don't poop anywhere else.

A rat using a litter box?!?!?! Seriously??? I had no idea they could be trained like a cat to use a litter box! That's seriously awesome! Well, we have plenty of litter boxes in the house and it could share them with our three cats. That would be pretty funny seeing the rat and a cat doing their potty business together! Definitely worth some photos to be posted on my Facebook wall and on HERE! LOL! So is the poop like little pellets or is it nasty? I wonder if they make diapers for rats? I don't want an animal peeing on me. I wear nice clothes and I don't want pee on me!

(08-01-2012, 06:42 AM)laurasav Wrote: A rat using a litter box?!?!?! Seriously??? I had no idea they could be trained like a cat to use a litter box! That's seriously awesome! Well, we have plenty of litter boxes in the house and it could share them with our three cats. That would be pretty funny seeing the rat and a cat doing their potty business together! Definitely worth some photos to be posted on my Facebook wall and on HERE! LOL! So is the poop like little pellets or is it nasty? I wonder if they make diapers for rats? I don't want an animal peeing on me. I wear nice clothes and I don't want pee on me!

I don't know about sharing with a cat. The cats might think your rat is a meal and try to eat her! Or your rat might not respond well to the cats using his/her litter box and act aggressive towards them. Rats don't like to share the areas where they do their business. I'm sure if looked hard enough you could find a diaper. I know they make harnesses so you can put a leash on the rat. Also, if you can't find a diaper you can make one of your own or get a rat carrier.

I don't currently have rats. We used to breed them, though, to feed our snakes....and some of the mamas we kept as pets. There was one mama that would have upwards of 16 babies every time and she'd sit herself up in a corner on her back like a human would, with her belly bulging out so huge. She was just as sweet as can be, too.

I have never had a rat as a pet. Some white mice, yes. As it is, there are enough rats running around outside already. Big ones. Some are so big that my cats would give them a miss. I did look up on rats as pets. Some are really cute. Like this one:


Are there any particular breeds of rats which make better pets than others?

We have had various pet rats for the last 5 or so years, we just have one tan coloured girl at the moment. The more you handle them, the more loyal and obedient the become. Most of ours will happily sit on our shoulders when we are doing things around the house.

With regards to buying them you can find specific rat breeders if you look hard enough

(09-02-2012, 02:56 PM)prawn_86 Wrote: The more you handle them, the more loyal and obedient the become. Most of ours will happily sit on our shoulders when we are doing things around the house.

Do they just stay on your shoulders until you get them off?
Wouldn't they fall off your shoulders sometimes?

Do you still have to use cages for them since they are that loyal and obedient?

I wonder what makes the rats sit still in one place for so long. Aren't they inquisitive creatures? I know that cats and dogs are. If I take my dog to a new place, she would be checking out everything. There's no such thing as sitting still in one place until I am ready to leave.

I had a lovely all white female rat once for a pet named Lily. She was quite easy to handle and would sit on my lap for hours watching TV with me. Unfortunately, my now ex boyfriend thought it'd be a good idea to get her a "friend" and placed another rat in her cage with her. For some reason, from that moment on she became incredibly protective of her new friend and wouldn't even allow me to reach my hand into the cage towards either of them without trying to bite me. I eventually surrendered them to the pet store as I was about to have a baby and couldn't have a biting rat around.

My daughter had a pair of fancy rats when she was about 12 years old. She had great fun with them and managed to train them to come when she called their names and to use a litter box, just as someody else mentioned in this thread.

Rats are really intelligent and she had a friend who trained her rats to do all sorts of tricks - my daughter didn't have the pateince to do this. One of her rats would sit on her shoulder and watch TV with her - the other preferred to stay in the cage.

I don't have any rats, but I love them. They're awesome creatures, I had a friend who had one as a kid, since then I had wanted one but it's not easy to convince people you share a house with...especially when sharing the house with girls, lol.
Some day, if I'm on my own or living with people who are okay with it, I would get a pet rat. I read about the litter training and that just encourages me all the more. As a young kid my brother had a hamster, and in my opinion that's more difficult to take care of because you can't litter train that one.

I do not own rats at this time. When I was a teenager I had more rats, rats with fur and no fur. They are simply the best if you treat them correctly and handle them well, they will be sweet, loving and caring. I had my hairless rat for about 5 years before she passed away of cancer. After Saggy passed, which I named my hairless rat, I bought Boots. When Boots with little he was pocket sized, then he grew so much, almost a foot without tail and 8 pounds, I could not carry him with me anymore after that. I tried to breed him myself in hopes of another hairless, but he was so big, he squished all poniential mates. Then my sister found a big female, and we bred her until we came up with hairless rats.
I would have a rat over in the other animal in the world. I love them that much. They are intelligent and can be so loving. You just have to play with them and show a lot of affection, just like any other animal if you ignore them, they'll like go wild again or something.

Two of my daughters kept rats as pets for many years. My youngest daughter had a hairless rat named Saggy (after the childrens story book Saggy, Baggy, Elephant) because of all the wrinkles in her skin. She bathed her regular and kept baby oil on her skin because with no hair, her skin would dry out. Saggy would hang by her feet or front paws from the top bars in her cage and swing back and forth and it was very amusing. My daughter would carry her around the house on her shoulder, but she never took her outside. Saggy lived to the ripe old age of 3 and died in her sleep. My daughter was heartbroken.

Persephone sounds like an adorable rat!
I have not had rats for about 10 years but I have enjoyed them in the past!
It is nice to hear of sweet stories like yours.

My daughter had a pet hairless rat she named Saggy because of her wrinkley, saggy skin. She was really a cutie. She loved her bathes and had to be bathed often because she has so few oil glands in her skin. After her bath she would get rubbed all over with baby oil and she loved it. Saggy went with us outside the home on occasion, but not often. We were afraid of losing her. She lived for several years and my daughter was heartbroken when she passed away.

Does it count that I used to be? Haha. Money struggles right now are preventing me from having more rats, to be specific, another hairless rat. I miss all my passed on pets, but my Manx and my hairless rat I miss the most. I want another hairless rat so bad I can taste it. Saggy was my favourite of all my rats I've had. She was sweeter and more loving than all the rats. I rarely had more than one rat at a time. I had Saggy as a single rat for 5 years. One day I will have another.

I want a pair of rats so very much, but I currently have five cats with high prey drives and I just can't see the two species getting along well enough to make it work. I don't want the ratties to be terrified all the time by the predators lurking outside their house, and I don't want my cats to try to kill the rodent members of the family.

I do see people here have made that work. Did your cats simply not have high prey drives, or did you train them somehow to stay away from the rats? If so, how?

Assuming this could be worked out, I understand that rats are social critters and it's best to have a same-sex pair at least. Also, they need a lot of stimulation and love. How big of a cage is recommended? (I really don't want them to have a cramped space.) Do they enjoy those running-around-the-floor balls or is it better to have them free to climb all over you when they're out of the cage? Is it better to save them from a pet store or try a rodent rescue? (I know there are books out there for things like this, but I also want to learn from others' experiences.)

How long did your rats live? I understand the lifespan is about three years. I don't want to make anyone sad, but how do you cope when they reach the end of their lifespans?