Reacting to Petsmarts rat care guide... 

I wish they would ☹️ unfortunately I still get a lot of people messaging me asking me to tell them “everything they need to know” after they’ve gone and bought the rats

@@Emiology Those are the irresponsible type who just go buy a pet on a whim. To them it's never about the pet and having a pet owner bond, it's an accessory to them, and also the type of person who thinks that because the vet bill costs more than the pet, to just let them die. Sure I do use pet stores but to buy inanimate objects. I think pet stores should just sell like fish but have connections to breeders if you want a pet. And make you fill out a questionnaire and determine if you're suitable.

@@Mean_Jean or maybe they just really didn't know, but now wanted to correct themselves? Not everyone who impulse buys a pet are bad, some are just simply misinformed. Some do learn from their mistakes.

@@Mean_Jean but yeah, you're right about petstores. But I think they shouldn't sell fish either. There's lfs for that who take better care than petstores.

I feel bad for all the kids who aren’t taking proper care of their pets and the animals

Lisa Fuqua same her and rat guru are awesome

@@Tessahayashida yes I also reccomend shadow the rat for DIY toys.

Lisa Fuqua same! My boys are very happy fatties

@Ashley Cyril you misunderstand my friend picked up pet store rats that were already pregnant when she got them. She didn't realize till afterwards. She found homes for the litter and all ratties are on single gender only cages. Neutering rats is not something that happens in pet stores and even many vets don't see a need when they live in single gender homes. Being mad at my friend who didn't realize her nee rats were pregnant till after she got them is kinda rude.

​@Ashley Cyril Neutering rats is a really bad idea, its a super dangerous operation and has a high death chance Ive lost a young, healthy boy during neuter so dont do it unless you REALLY need to (illness/tumours/aggression)

They are bad

So is pets at home

@@alannabrownlee7298 it is true. Both are bad

Ooh I also HATE petco!

I was at petco to pick up some things for my birds and I pass the bird care pamphlet and it was bad

Yeah he makes me smile.

Yesss, seriously! I always tell people that there are no beginner pets and if you want to get a pet for your kid as part of a learning to caretaker experience, get a pet you as an adult ALSO wants so if your kid isn't ready for it isn't a "burden"

@@langenandanimals the best beginner pets will always be plants. If your child can't take care of a plant they won't take care of an animal

@@thisisdumb660 yes!

We had a rabbit at home and we were 'allowed' to help feeding it, together with my dad. My dad cleaned the cage, always did that and we were 'allowed' to help sometimes. We did often just play with the rabbit or sat with him. Slowly, starting from age 6-7, we started trying to take over a chore, then again, we had 4 people in the house, so it was always being done, no matter by whom. We sometimes joked that he was happy whenever we went out with the four of us (and left him alone) that he'd finally have some peace. We were always cuddling him, he died at the age of 14.

@@Widdekuu91 sounds like you all had such a sweet rabbit!!

Starter means they are easy for beginners to care for and rats are easy to care for then most exotic pets.

Brianna Harter rats are actually very expensive to keep if done properly, and not as easy as people think, I personally would not consider them a suitable “beginner pet”

I never said they were cheap cuase no pet is cheap to care for.I said they are easy for beginners to care for cuase they defaintly are one of the easier pets to care for. Where are poeple supposed to start if all pets are not considered beginner friendly cuase all pets cost moeny and take some level of work?

Brianna Harter I just dislike the assumption that comes along with labelling a pet as a “beginner pet” as a lot of people may hear that and as a result assume it will be far easier than it is and as a result give inadequate care

I agree with Brianna Harter that people need some kind of pet to start with, but my personal opinion is that rats are not for beginners. Like Morning Rose said, "beginner pet" implies that they are easy to care for, which I don't believe they are. It's not easy to even find a veterinarian that will treat rats, at least where I live. Perhaps this would be an interesting topic for Emiology to explore and let her subscribers weigh in.

1foot x 1foot by 2 feet yes tiny. I'd only use a cage like that as a quarantine cage or to actually take the rats to the vet.

I know, right, that cage wouldn't be big enough for a mouse.

I agree

they're targeted towards kids and lazy parents who don't want to do actual work

Apple Sauce yup exactly, they have a higher chance of making money if they make them seem like low maintenance and cheap pets, so parents think that they won’t have to invest too much money or time in them.

@@OrenHofer And because they can sell you books in their stores. It would not be interesting for them to provide with free information when they can sell you another product.

Ya idk if this was a typo or something but I was reading the guinea pig care guide for PetSmart and it said 3,000 sq ft which is huge ?

Lazy pedants don’t read much to kid

lol, yeah she's worn it before in another video and I laugh.

try getting a rabbit poop from a rat when they think it's s treat and do the "hey look what I found look" then run off. I have free roam rabbits in my apartment and when I have my rats out on free roam time I have to watch when my rabbits come investigate that they don't leave any "treats" behind.

Skye you can feed rats dog food?

@Horse yes

Horse as long as you check the ingredients

Rats shouldn't have dog or cat food as a base for their diet because these foods have more protein than necessary and rats don't need THAT much protein only some. Dog or cat food however can be a wonderful occasional treat

@@tinyflyingdragons9432 I read that Cat food is an absolutely nope, but dog food ~which usually has a less amount of proteins since dogs aren't strictly carnivores~ is the Bast way to get good proteins on homemade mix. My two little girls love it mixed with quality rabbit food, muesly and pasta, grass and dehydrated berries. I'm still learning so any advice would be lovely ❤️

To be fair when I went to pets at home for bugs in my bioactive rat setup one of the workers was very knowledgeable about it and was very useful about isopods

Hi I am a fan I have four rats and I've been watching you forever and I do not agree a pet stores

You do know the rats and guinea pigs aren't natural at all and are completely domesitcated?

@@briannaharter4411 They started as wild animals lol? And wild rats and GPs still very much exist

Dogs started has wild animals to.but you wouldn't consider a dog a wolf would you? While they do exist comparing them is like comparing a dog to a wolf.you're not going to find a hooded dunno rat in the wild or a wild guinea pig that's cilco.

Brianna Harter There are still wild dogs that aren't wolves so that's not a great comparison :'-) You said rats and Guinea pigs are unnatural, not just dumbo hooded ones, so I was pointing out that wild rats and GPs do exist

Those wild dogs aren't even in the same genus has our domesitcated dogs and only share similarity by name. I was talking about our domesitcated ones.cuase they are unnatural.

Wow!

He must of taken very good care of them :D

then im sitting here confused about the measurements because i live in america why does america have weird measurements?!

Tildachu 775 because only three countries in the world haven’t adopted the Metric system and the USA is one of them. The others are Libya and Burma I believe :)

@@ellef3478 the funny thing is in the American manufacturing industry metric is pretty standard practice, just not in everyday life lol

@@f1shstiks agreed. But as a american i have no clue either

C Baelz i live in Cali too and I was just thinking “does petsmart even sell rats ??”

I remember these care guides being way worse than this, so this probably IS updated

I completely agree with your observation. I've had pet rats for about 30 years. I also noticed over the years their life spans seemed to shorten. My first rat lived 4.5 years. He was a PEW my mom purchased as a retired breeder from a local pet store.

@@Chickie61382 where do you live? I live in the UK. I'm guessing the rats here and the states must be a little different. I know at least one of my rats back in the 90s went a few months into their 4th year.

@@deoranjed8118 I live in Pennsylvania, USA. I think over the years breeding them for certain genetic traits might have at some point shortened their life expectancy. Over here most breeders I have spoken too say a long lived rat is usually 2.5 years. Also back in the 90's tumor growth seemed less prominent. I think trying to weed out some poor genetic traits led to other genetic traits to flourish.

I feel the same. My first rats I got them in the mid 90s and they lived over 3 years. Now my babies tend to pass at 2 and a half years.

Average is 2 years, but it's possible for them to live up to 5.

I think the hairless breeding is much better in the US, assuming that's where you are!

@@pgakt I live in Canada! I do believe some of the lines are from the US. :)

@@ellens.bookishcollection Ah same area! The UK is awful with hairless

@@pgakt Thank you for clarifying! I have to admit, I'm not well educated on UK lines. I'll definitely have to do some research!

But it is true some are lower maintenance than others, it's best that someone getting a pet for the first time should get a lower maintenance pet

Some pets are defaintly more beginner friendly. For example getting a macaws has a first pet is a really bad idea.but a parakeet is much more manageable for a first time pet owner.

@@briannaharter4411 when you say manageable do you mean less expense?

No I mean easier to care for esipceally for someone who has never kept a pet in their life or any pet from that group. Every pet cost moeny even a proper cage for a parakeet or actually pair of parakeets is going to be costly since the cage needs to provide them room to fly. But not every pet will rip themsleves apart if you changed your routine slightly,scream has loud has a jet engine or break your fingers cuase it's breeding season and they are moody.

Beginners do need to start somewhere, and though all pets have needs, some are “easier” to care for than others. For example, a goldfish, even in a proper sized enclosure with proper food, is going to be less maintenance than a puppy, and therefore is a better pet for someone who wants to learn how to take care of an animal. All species have different care levels, but just getting used to routines like feeding and cleaning are a bit difficult for someone who has NEVER had a pet before. There are also hardier pets who are more forgiving of mistakes and will be okay, vs. some pets that are extremely delicate in their care needs & will die with one wrong move. I think the bigger issue is that pet stores have a mentality that smaller = easier, and that a hamster would automatically be an easier pet than, say, a tortoise, which may or may not be the case depending on the types and temperaments of those animals. They also contribute to the idea that these are low-commitment animals, but a cat or dog is a bigger commitment. Because of that, there’s a culture that suggests small animals, especially rodents and fish, are disposable and replaceable. The other issue is the common cultural attitude toward “beginner” pets, as a concept. People don’t realize that “beginner” still doesn’t mean “easy.” They see “beginner” and think of all the other “beginner” things they see: beginner bicycles, beginner books, beginner cameras, etc. and associate “beginner” with “for kids” or “good for kids.” People use “beginner” as a teaching tool to teach responsibility, at the expense of a living breathing animal. Heck, the “beginner pet” narrative is the reason I’ve been teased relentlessly by friends and family members over having 4 hamsters as a 23-year-old, because people just don’t get the difference.

THAT'S 3 DAYS BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY

How are your babies doing!

What are the signs of distress you saw? I'm studying veterinary technology and we take care of rats in cages of two.

@@TruffleSeeker54 They don't have a pack structure, it's pretty much just a forced pair, so they will fight more and can't establish a hirarchy. Very common is excessive grooming to the point where one rat has bald spots (happened with my boys). Over time, the rats will lose social interaction skills. There are studies that show how rats in bigger packs have lower stress and lactate levels, are less neophobe and more explorative. In a pack, you can have different rats to cuddle, play and sometimes fight with. In a pair, there's only the one other rat and so it will always be that other one. You can't go and cuddle with another rat when you have enough of the one partner.

They’re better than chain pet stores but you still have to be careful! At least in the U.K., none of the reputable ethical breeders would ever sell their rats through a pet store. It’s important for their lines that they oversea the homing of the rats themselves to make sure they’re going to a good place but also to stay in contact with the owners, without this they wouldn’t be able to be updates of any health or behavioural issues in their lines and wouldn’t be able to improve them. They’d also like to ensure the rats are kept in appropriate enriching environments while they’re waiting to find homes instead of sitting in a pet store. So you do still have to be careful that the breeders selling to the store aren’t backyard breeders who don’t understand genetics and what they’re breeding.

@@ourladyofyogurt I also have a ferret and I've had him for around 3-4 years now. I did tons of research and have found a lot of videos and forum posts of people with only one ferret so I don't understand why you said that every video suggests you need more than one. Mine is alone but he is completely fine and happy. He gets multiple hours of free-roam and play. It is better to keep multiple ferrets, sure but some ferrets can also be aggressive towards others. Ferrets can for sure benefit from a friend and if you can get two then go for it... But they don't NEED it, unlike rats for example. I'm a first time ferret owner and I'm honestly glad I didn't get two right away. I think if you have only one ferret then you need to provide much more play and outside time for them. You have to understand that ferrets are extremely expensive pets and in some places they are even considered exotic(where I live)... so keeping more than one means you need to provide both of them with vet care(extremely expensive if ferrets are not common pets), food, enclosures, toys, etc and it will add up to a lot of money in the end. Rats have been my most expensive pets so far but my ferret is a close second in terms of vet bills for example. Yes they are social, yes they can benefit from a friend but in the end it won't kill them and they can be happy without one.

What confused me was that they mentioned the rats poor eyesight which means they rely on other senses to navigate, yet they encourage putting them in exercise balls?

lol 😂🤣

ForestofTooMuchFood Exactly

How did u make slanted writing. Unrelated but oh well

Sophie Grace Richardson You put underscores ( _ ) on either side of the word that you want in italics, like this: ._Hello_ (ignore the dot at the start)

Emma Solomon they dont sell them in california either

They dont in Missouri either. Its honesty for the best

Petsmart and Petco don't in Indiana either. From what I heard, both changed their small animal suppliers a few years ago to ones that didn't have rats. The change may or may not have had anything to do with the 10 year old who died in 2017* *[His family claimed he died of rat bit fever due to being bitten by one of his 2 rats. However, in the article linked below, it is mentioned that the strain of bacteria that causes RBF can also be contracted by just handling rats, and there wasn't any evidence the rat bit him) www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-rat-bite-fever-20170420-story.html

mitsukitai2713 thats the reason why they stopped selling rats, especially in california. I have to go 2 hours away to a breeder...

Deci P yeah I’m having to drive 4 hours in a couple weeks to get my boys, a lot of breeders in Missouri haven’t been active

You only have one though, so you don't seem to have learned that much.

You can

Emiology That is cool I didn’t know that I honestly thought looking back at it it was a marketing trick nice to know their was at least a bit of truth among lies :)

They can be trained basically like dogs, HOWEVER, they do not have a dog’s appetite, so it takes 100 times longer, maybe a bit less with clicker training. But they are really smart animals.

@@tiner8414 or attention span ;)

my hairless girl is the healthiest out of her two furry sisters

I dun like petsmart

I would honestly never trust petsmart to inform me properly about any animal... sure sometimes employees are educated but that’s a personal effort and not an effort by the corporation who is only looking for a quick buck at the expense of the poor animals that are suffering in their care