Rats! What, Where, and How 

I think people don't realize how great rats are when you're dealing with a rough time in your life. If it wasn't for my buddy Auggie, who looked like the huge rat she showed only he had the Siamese coloring and dumbo ears. He took away plenty of my tears. I miss him dearly.

Their intelligence is the biggest surprise for me. Typically, you'd expect intelligence in animals that have long lifespans. High brain function is expensive, so it's more of a payoff in an animal that lives longer. Animals with short lifespans don't need to be smart to be successful. It's just eat and breed as soon as possible. But rats are undoubtedly intelligent, and that breaks this rule. Same goes for octopods, but they are also invertebrates that developed notable intelligence.

Rats are still the cutest rodents to me. They've got such curious looking faces.

* dies of cuteness overload when baby rat comes on*

Sigh, I miss my Teddy rat so much. I had ten little rats (9 came as a "surprise" with the mother who I "rescued" from a feeder tank), and they were the best pets I've ever had. I really want another rat or two as companions, but the expectations from past rats (Teddy in particular would welcome me home from college or work by running up to my feet and begging to be picked up and held. He'd chitter when I'd walk by, and when he was dying I would pet him and it was the only thing that made him happy) and my schedule don't exactly allow for it. :/ He's the only pet that I think of to this day and tear up or even cry from the memories. If I wrote a tragic rock song about him, it'd hit top charts hahahah Thanks so much for the informative vid on these awesome creatures. Wish more people could see them for the wonders they are

Pimms is adorable. It's always been strange to me how there's a general conception of rats as dirty or ugly, while other similar-looking rodents like gerbils and hamsters are considered cute. (I think they're all cute, personally.) Thanks for sharing!

She ain't joking about rats' teeth growing fast. Once, one of my rats fell and somehow knocked out both his top front teeth. I had to feed him oatmeal because he couldn't bite off bits of his food, and had to file down his bottom teeth for him so they didn't get too long. Within a week, his front teeth had grown back to their normal length.

I had rats in High-School. They were the sweetest things and we became very close friends. I had three total, all feeder rats rescued from a local petstore. They were Virgo, Sagittarius, and Gemini. Virgo was a rat I got for my birthday, and so I named her after my star sign. She was super mellow and would easily fall asleep on me. She also liked to play "mom" and would try to groom my hair and my face. A note- Always remember to take off mascara before playing with your ratty friends. Rat teeth and hands+ eyelashes= no thanks. Sagittarius I got when she was older so she wasn't socialized so well and didn't like being held, though she did like chasing my brother about which was pretty funny. Gemini was the youngest of the three and she loved exploring EVERYWHERE. She even climbed up on the dog once, dog was not appreciative, though Gemini enjoyed snuffling around in the weird new ground she found herself on. Both Virgo and Gemini lived full happy lives, while Sagittarius tragically died quite young. I can never have another rat though, partly due to me being unable to do care for the little friends because college life is busy, but because I don't wanna have my heart break anymore by seeing my rat friends pass away after I grew to love them so much.

i recently had a rat that moved into the drawer under my oven! did not realize how common this is. none of the dogs or the cat seemed to mind, but i was scared i'd cook him, so i trapped him and took him to a park. he had collected some weird stuff- an old q-tip, a plastic bread tie, a glass bead that i had made downstairs (patron of the arts, clearly). i still wonder what he's up to out there

2:05 OMG HE SHRUNK!

I love rats so much! I've had two sets of them. But they have such a short lifespan, and all of my rats eventually got tumors. This video actually makes me want to cry because it was so heartbreaking to lose them. I can't have rats anymore because it's too painful.

My wife and I use to keep pet rats. Very fun and extremely smart little critters. Thank you for this great and informative video.

I love how excited you are when talking about these rats :) Take care, and God bless

I have a rat named Rattacate she is adorable and with the hair and the arm thing... its more of our hair mixed with a tiny bit of porcupine she is gray all over with like white slotches near her legs! I LOVE RATS

I'm so glad you finally did rats!! They're such amazing pets. I miss mine all the time, but the short lifespan and expensive vet bills were just hard to handle :(

My roommate and I adopted two rats from our university's behavioral research lab when they found themselves with a surprise litter - their female kept sneaking out for fun times with the males! Clarabelle and Benvolio have become a wonderful part of our family, and it's been wonderful to learn their personalities as they become more comfortable with us. They love crawling inside our shirts and exploring, burrowing in our hair -- Benny even tries to chew on my earrings sometimes! This video was really helpful for me when I was struggling to socialize with them. Thanks so much for helping me out - I can't think of what life would be like without them now!

I do research with rats and it is always the best part of my day to handle and play with our rats. They're super cute and cuddly! Some of the males, too, get so wonderfully plump and can be very calm and docile (I say they're pliant), and they're such fuzzy little goobers; love them so much

Thanks for doing this episode on rats! I enjoyed it a lot, and will share with friends and family :) I've had lots of rats throughout the year, and they have been some of the most lovely, affectionate and charming animals I've ever had the pleasure of living with.

Rats are some of the best pets. They're smart, clean, full of personality and soo loving. I rescued a rat named George that would come to his name, sleep on my pillow, groom me and bring me "gifts". it's been about 20 years since he passed and I still think of him as one of my very best friends. I wish more people would give them a chance.

Yaay! Thank you so much for doing this video! I had two rats as pets a few years ago and they were so smart and full of personality.

She gives excellent tips on the living environment to establish for pet rats. They absolutely need cage mates and a big cage with lots of water, toys, ledges, & lab blocks. But the "scoop" method may be better than just picking them up by wrapping your fingers around them. Notice how the rat squeaked (sign of alarm) when she picked it up by grabbing it instead of using the scoop

They are some of the cutest rats I have ever seen, completely and utterly adorable.

Great video, I feel like some people are unfair to rats.

I've had a total of 10 rats in a span of 3 years. Up to 5 at a time. I can't have anymore because of heartbreak when they eventually die. Awesome video. Brings back memories.

That's it, I'm getting rats next time! I've had gerbils for a long time and I love watching those silly things hop around and bolt away at full speed, but they're not very cuddly or interactive. Jessi, I really enjoy your informative and enthusiastic videos, thanks for making them!

So happy to see this video! I used to have rats as a kid and they make such great pets!

Everybody I know who has said they hate or are scared of rats have completely changed their minds on rats when they've been introduced to mine. One of my friends went from thinking they're gross to considering owning them. It's amazing really.

When mentioning their vocalisations behind our hearing, you should be mentioned that they also giggle, too cute! I miss my darling rats so much, they're really wonderful pets.

thanks for the awesome video Jessi! I've been wanting a pet rat for many years now, but have been waiting till I was out of university (done) and more settled with a job (not done :p). This video filled in a couple of holes I still had in my newbie knowledge!

aww yea, I've been waiting for this episode, as someone who has a couple of rats. They're so awesome

I got two rats a few months ago (dispite my family's protests and disgust) and they are some of the sweetest pets I've ever had!

I've had many pet rats over the years and they're my favourite companion. My last one was so smart she learned how to open her cage door. The only time she used this skill was when she was old and she would sneak out in the middle of the night and come and sleep on my pillow near my head.

Rat couches! That's adorable. And the little rat belly rubs! So cute.

I took in 3 rats recently from an animal shelter. They are great. I was just thinking about asking you for a video about rats. Thanks for making one! :)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this video. My ratties mean so much to me. If only others could see these beautiful creatures for what they are.

I didnt know most of this stuff when i adopted my first rat. Thank you so much Jessi.

It's so refreshing to see a *good* and *accurate* info video about rats

Excellent video, thank you!

thanks for uploading this, I'm going to share this with the rest of the Pittsburgh Rat lovers club tonight. I know my girls love watching your show with me. I have 2 black hooded Long-Evans rats (rescues from a university) and Black Irish Standard Dumbo who is such a sweet heart.

I chuckled when you mentioned how clean rats are. It reminded me of my first rat Nosedive, and boy was he one ripe little dude! That booger hardly ever cleaned himself and would sleep in his own filth. I had to bathe him almost weekly because he would gradually smell of homemade nachos (sorry for that comparison, but seriously he did). He was an awesome buddy though; very chill.

I had rats for a few years, and I loved them so much. My main girl was grey and white with a triangle blaze on her nose. Her favourite thing do do was sit on my shoulder and stand against my head, sometimes climbing on top of my glasses but eventually she got too big to do that so she settled for grooming my head instead. She lived for over 2 years and developed a tumour, but she didn't let that stop her from being her happy little self, until she couldn't hold on anymore. After that we decided not to get any more rats so we spent as much time as we could with her sister so she could have our company. It's a shame they have such short lifespans because they are such sweet animals and they really are the perfect starter pet.

thank you for this. now i have something to send to the rat haters in my life. ;) also, sooo muuuch adooorableneeesss. the fact that you named him Pims nearly killed me. too cute.

I love rats, I'm glad to see a good video about how to care for and keep them happy! I had a couple rats, well they were technically my sister's but we both kept them. One was albino, red eyes included, and the other was a honey. They were brothers, and they snuggled up on their hammock together. I miss the boys but they lived a long life.

I heard of an experiment that scientists did, were there were two rats, and one of them had a lever, and whenever that rats ate some food, the lever was pulled, and when the lever was pulled, the other rat got a small electrical shock, and when the first rat found out that it shocked the other rat when it ate, it stopped eating because it didn't want to hurt the other rat

Oh my gosh! Those little rats are so cute. I love them so much!

2:53 If that doesn't say cute, I don't know what does. Rats are adorable!

Thank you SO MUCH! I love rats. I've had them as pets as a child and they're the best.

Over all, an excellent video. Thank you! Just to clarify about cages, however: you need at least 2.5 cubic feet per rat, and a minimum of 5 cubic feet, even for one rat (in the very rare circumstance that you have a rat incapable of getting along with other rats). There also needs to be a space in the cage tall enough for the rats to stretch to their full length when standing on their hind feet. Rats love to climb, so horizontal bars are best, and the bar spacing should be no wider than 1/2 an inch, or baby rats and small females will be able to escape.

Finally a video on rats! :) love these little creatures.

Thanks for the video!

Grew up with these guys and had much fun with them, far cleaner than most would believe. Wouldn't have them now though as their lives are too short for my heart to bare.

Great videos, Jessi! I love the content and was happy to buy something in your Amazon Wishlist for you. I just had a quick note about what you said about the Plague, rats, and gerbils. I googled if gerbils were more likely to blame for the Plague than rats and it appears that the study that spawned this idea didn't mention gerbils directly. It only provides an alternative hypothesis for why the Plague lasted so long stating that "the bacterium was continuously reimported into Europe during the second plague pandemic" which some news sites have assumed to be gerbil imports from Asia (as that was happening at the time). This study (as far as I could read) doesn't state that the existing rat population weren't a larger, more deadly secondary plague reservoir after the primary plague reservoirs introduced the bacteria. This study _does_ cast doubt on rats being the initial plague reservoirs of the second plague pandemic in medieval Europe, though. I did not know that there was ever _any_ doubt, so thanks for inciting this search for knowledge as I have learned something new today. PS. Love the show! Source: www.pnas.org/content/112/10/3020 (Original study)

i love how peppy u are!! lol i subbsribed!!👍

This was beautiful! My favourite animal.

I love my boys. Clark (brown dumbo), Glove (brown normal), and Edmund (gray dumbo). I've had a lot of different pets in my life, and they are easily my favorite companions.

Whenever I need to introduce my pet rats to people who don't like rats I tell them that they are "Mongolian long-tail hamsters" and suddenly the rat-haters are ooh-ing and aah-ing over how cute and adorable my pets are, especially the dumbo long-tail hamsters.

Pims is the cutest friggin rat I've ever seen.

hehe, great video, lol obviously I loved it. Only thing is I had great success with aspen as a litter box substrate. It is too dusty for all over litter, but I also found carefresh a bit too dusty as well. when I still had my ratties I used a few layers of newspaper(vegetable based ink) then a piece of fleece over top for an all over bedding. :)

I had pet rats as a kid. and I loved them. So playful. So cute.

Yes I have had a rat and I miss him so much. I have thought of getting another one but I can't yet. His name was Socrates. :) He would walk all around my shoulders any time and often. - Heidi

I really want rats, but as a broke student at the moment, I can't really get any ;u; But once I'm in a stable job and done with school, I might just get two, or more!

My cousin had rats when I was younger and she had them potty trained. They were so friendly and cute. Wanted one ever since but having a cat that likes hunting has made it improbable to do.

I have had 5 pet rats over 2 1/2 years. but today I am very sad because one of my rats named bubble has just passed away but this video has cheered me up a lot. thanks 😊

thanks for this!

this makes me miss rats! we used to house rats that had no home because they were abandoned or their owners couldn't take care of them anymore. they are so much fun to work with!

I seem to recall reading about a relatively recent study on rats that found they are among the only animals that can not only think, but actually think about what they are thinking.

They also like going down your shirt! Shelf bras are their favorite :) Pro tip: if you have a wire-sided cage (preferable for ventilation) you can secure their water bottle to the side of their cage with thick metal wire (often comes with the bottle) and don't have to worry if you already have a plastic water bottle, or just don't want them to have the chance to hurt themselves on potential sharp edges.

awesome video!! i love rats ♡♡

I have two huge boys, i bring them at work to play with kids and teach everyone how cool they are. They enjoy it a lot! They have a suuuuuper huge cage with multiple levels and dozens of hides and toys.

I had a pet rat when I was a kid! hands down my favorite pet, she was so smart and sweet, I trained her to sit on my shoulder while I went about the house

I use empty tissue boxes for my rats instead of igloos.

Great pets. I have two right now. Very friendly and playful.

Thank you I asked for this 😘

I had two pet rats but they both recently died, they are wonderful pets and the only thing stopping me from getting more is i'm going to Uni soon and won't be able to look after them. There are definitely going to be more rats in my future! Thanks for the great video :)

I have two pet rats: Arthur and Alvin Jr. Arthur is a hairless rat and Alvin Jr is a beautiful blue dumbo.

Yay rats! I've kept them on and off for nearly 20 years and currently have 2 hooded males. I converted an Ikea cabinet in to a massive 4 level cage that is about 6ft tall and posted a video explanation and tour of it on my channel.

They're really adorable. You have to get to know one to know how awesome they are. I didn't like them until I interacted with some during a research assignment. They are super affectionate. I have a pair of female gerbils right now. I'm having issues trying to get them to be relaxed with each other. I bought them together initially, and they started fighting so I put a perforated divider between them. They kept trying to get at each other though, and eventually chewed through the divider after a few years. They are older now, so they don't fight anymore, but they start to look a little ungroomed and their weights start fluctuating after two weeks. I don't really know what to do since I know they are supposed to be social, but they also don't seem at ease with each other.

I love rats so much. I have two and they're both amazing and friendly. Most people mistake them for giving diseases and biting.

I never had rats, but I DID used to keep gerbils, but I never knew that the historical plague came from gerbils rather than rats. I learn something new every day.

i have two rats right now and had a single rat when i was a kid. Biggest advice is get them young or they will be extremely difficult to handle without biting. I like them, they are funny and always excited to see me since i usually bring them a small treat everyday.

I've had pet rats since I was 13 and they are seriously the best pet ever!

i work at a place very similar to animal wonders and we don't actually have rats but we do keep frozen dead ones to feed to our raptors and other meat eating animals. I often have prepare the meat and i have kind of distanced my self from them but gosh darnitt you made me fall in love with them. I am dreading the next time i have to do that.

I've listened to podcasts on play in animals & discovered that rats laugh when tickled.

I have two pet rats and am absolutely in love with them.

Hey Jesse coule you do a what where and how on a patagonian cavy because im getting one and wondering if there was some stuff i didnt know so please do one

In my developmental psychology class we were studying attachment and bonding. A lot of research has been done on rats because they socially bond a lot like a human would. Because of this research, it has be down that when you play with rats and tickle them, they laugh!

SOMEONE ACTUALLY UNDERSTANDS MY LOVE FOR RATS!

I love hairless rats, have 15 of them, they are the best. We bred two red dumbos together and a majority of the babies were 100% hairless, and half of the hairless ones don't even have whiskers. Also, TONS of breeders say that aspen bedding is the only woodchip bedding that is totally fine to use, yet you said it isn't... so I'm wondering which is 100% true. Because I've been using aspen on all of my 35-40 rats for the past year and a half and it's been fine thus far. (Mainly because it is far cheaper to buy in massive quantities, and hasn't caused any problems)

Thank you. As a rat lover (they are my preferred companion) I find it's hard to convince people that rats rock. :)

AMAZING 😍❤😍😍 I love my rats so much 😍😍😍

You should talk about finches. I'm thinking about getting one but I can't find enough info on there intelligence and how they can be trained to interact with humans. Thanks and I love your show!

I had two rats as pets when I was a kid. One that I got from a friend and one that was a "rescue" as in some girls in my science class didn't want it to get feed to the snake. So they snuck it out and I took care of it. Eventually it escaped its cage and lived in our couch for a while coming out at dinner time to eat with us. Sneaky little one was so good at hiding we could never find her when she was in the couch.

Just saw this video...I miss my little buddy Chronic. He was the smartest loving little guy ever...Rats are awesome pets.

Our Rats are called, Roland, Ratatouille , Pickle, Lilly, Moonstone, Amethyst , and Topaz . Tanzanite passed away 😿😿😿 xxxx

Rats are one of my favorite mammals! They super cute! They behave a little bit like a catdog but are smaller, cleaner and they dont need so many time outside (they need some!) ! (i have two syjamise standard dumbo boys ^^) :3

Yo what coffee do you drink that gives you so much energy Man you are hype My favorite Rats will always be Pinky and the Brain

I had all sorts of small animals as pets and rats are by far my fave. I wish they lived longer.

When I was I High school I had a rat she when ever where with me she was a fun animal. I enjoyed have her she got me thought some really hard times. They make great pets and after they get to know you they will just want to spend time with you.

they really are such clever animals, i had a rat about 15 years ago and it stayed in its cage at night all the time for years, my boiler broke down for 4 days in the winter one year and the bloody rat managed to break out of its cage and climb up onto my bed and snuggle up under my armpit haha. I watched it the next night when i put it back in its cage and it climbed on the ceiling and pushed the latch of the door open with it feet and ran across the floor and jumped up onto my bed.

I have rats and they are fantastic little companions! I would like to correct you on one thing though: there is nothing wrong with using aspen bedding. It is cedar and pine you new to avoid. Aspen does not contain the toxic oils that they have.In my opinion (lots of people love it, so I am not going to say it's bad) carefresh isn't great. In my experience it is dusty as heck, doesn't absorb the smell of urine well (my room always stank when I was still using it), and gets e v e r y w h e r e. I would only really use it as a nesting material.