I have two pet rats. No cage, but a safe bed and place for food. They understand what you say to them and they like to be clean. They come when I call them, and they are so sweet.
A more intelligent dog. Females preferred; generally (imo) smarter, FAR more active. The issue with pet rats and kids though is their short life span. You need two rats, cannot have a single rat, as a vet will tell you. Say you get 4. They all die after 2.5 years. Hard on kids. Otherwise the best pet by a mile.
I had 4 Rats. My first was Rasputin, he was a totally black berkshire. When we went to get him his first companion the fellow at the store asked if he was black underneath. I reached to my shoulder wher Ras was sitting, picked him up and showed the guy that yes he was totally black. The guy freaked and said if he did that to his pet rat it would go nuts. Ras didn't even move. I said handle your rat a bit more and be nice to him. He offered me $50 to buy Ras. Obviously the answer was no.
Rats and mice make especially good pets for seniors. They don't have to be walked. There is no heavy litter to dispose of. You won't have hair all over the house. They don't cost a lot to feed and you can DIY most of the things they need for their cage out of stuff found around most households. And unlike hamsters, mice and rats seem more than willing to adapt to their human's schedule if it means treats and some fun time. The only downside is that they usually don't live that long though my brother's rats lived to be 8 years old. But they were litter trained and spent a good part of the day out running around the house so that might have increased their lifespan.
Rats and mice also chew drywall, electrical wire and are the major cause of house fires labelled “cause unknown”. Why anyone would keep them as pets, let alone run about loose in their house is beyond me
@@nc8414 I don't know of anyone who lets their mice and rats run loose in their house. People let them out of their cages when they are there to supervise them. Usually the rats or mice are put in special playpens for their outing. Rats are highly intelligent and mice aren't too far behind them. They are also very clean animals and easy to care for. They biggest drawback is that they are physically fragile and don't live more than about 2 years, on average.
The worst thing about rats...their short life span. My girls Salem and Jinks were awesome pets...we went through multiple tumor removals but that seems to be very common for them. It sucks that they have terminal tumor problems but they are super smart and affectionate while they last.
Yeah I understand my wormtail her birthday today might be her last birthday she has a tumour I was told they can't operation on her because her age and the stress of how she was at vets I keep crying
Rats make adorable pets. They enjoy wearing costumes and meeting children while sitting on your shoulder. They also love eating little chocolate chip cookies! My three ladies were named Lucy, Ethel, and Melanie.
I have a rat, and my cat is fine with it, I had a baby rat and a cat and I left and left open the cage and the cat took the baby and treated it as a baby cat. So they can get along
Yes, I had a pet English fancy rat and two 12 week old kittens and they used to hang out together. You have to introduce them slowly with supervision. The rat can end up biting the kittens -- so you need to watch it. The instinctively will cuddle with each other. Rats should always be supervised and not be let let out on their own.
Thanks for the great information 👍👍 my daughter wants a couple of them and is learning about their care before we consider... Any recommendations on adopting rats in CO?
Rats are way better then a hamster. Hamsters are loaners bite don't like to be picked up the one I had I used a coffee mug to move him to a box while I cleaned his cage out. I think pet stores over sell hamsters because parents have bias against rats.
Don't forget that they laugh when you tickle them! And you didn't even touch on how intelligent they are! So great but not a long life span for anyone thinking this is a long-time pet, it's not. They only like like 3-4 years. :(
I considered a pet rodent and watched many RU-vid videos about their care. I was a kid in the 1970s, and It’s great to see how most people care for their pet rodents now. Such a pleasant change from metal chicken wire bottoms. In choosing which species of pet rodent I wanted, I narrowed it down to rats or Guinea pigs. I’m left at a standstill now and can’t decide. Rats are more intelligent and affectionate like a dog but can’t be kept in an open enclosure like how Guinea pigs can be kept in. Rats are so intelligent, but so much so that they are great escape artists. Also, Rats only live for about two years and that seems a tad too short, especially since they need to be kept in groups, and when introducing new Guinea pigs to replace one that has past away, if you want a baby or younger Guinea pig, you need to introduce two of them together so they will have a companion in their same age group while adjusting to being included to a new home with older piggies. So even though they have short life spans, keeping them as a group turns into an almost endless cycle of commitment. Guinea pigs on the other hand can be kept in an a more open enclosure, and live longer (3-4 years), but seem skittish and like little mindless eating machines. I can’t decide because I want my favorite parts of both rats and Guinea pigs rolled into one but the aspects I like about one, the other doesn’t have. Until I decide, I’ll just keep watching more meat RU-vid videos.
As someone who has had both, I highly recommend rats. You will have a much closer bond with them, guaranteed. Guinea pigs always seemed like a child's pet to me, as in it's a cute, fluffy thing on which the kid can project all their love and affection, but they're never really getting anything back. Rats are the exact opposite. You'll see them observing you and actually THINKING about what's happening around them. I've had rats that I could swear were smarter than some three or four year olds. They are indeed more work, but for an exponentially higher reward. The only thing you said that I would fully agree with is that their life expectancy is pretty low, which can make for fairly frequent teary goodbyes, but it's something you learn to live with. After a few of them have come and gone you'll realize that their tiny Earthly time would be just as short whether they're in your life or not, so why not make sure they're comfy and happy? "If you want something done right you gotta do it yourself," if you will. Rats will give back every ounce of love you give them ten times over. Some of my best friends in this life were these little tiny mammals that couldn't imagine squeaking a single coherent syllable at me - but we understood each other innately.
probly not the 1st 2 say....luv wat ur doin as im thinkn of gettin a rat or 2...but bein from England u named ur rats aftr herbs n not spices...jus sayin! X
Have you heard of Rat Bite fever? My daughter use to raise rats but almost died from it. They are great pets just don’t let them lick an open wound on you.
I was looking to get two rats after I was finished researching them but after looking into this rat bite fever that fancy rats also have I will not even consider thinking about getting them now, this fact should be pointed out to people so that they know what danger they face, it's not worth it unfortunately.....
@@jayceewalje2005 It's okay, I found out that people who go round going on about rat bite fever are people who are anti-rat, most likely through misinformation just like what happened to me and then you just have people who just don't like them enough to come out and say misleading things about them. So in the end I know that fancy rats are okay to have there is no need to worry about getting that fever by owning a fancy rat.
@@PowerRU-vidrViewer It’s not a common thought when you are a kid and didn’t realize you have an open cut. And nice to say knowing I said she almost died from it. Good one :(
I 💯 agree with you people think owning a pet rat makes you weird but if anything pet rats make the best pets damn straight unlike snakes as pets rats u can actually play with them but i hate people that judge pet rats without owning one like making a terrible joke about “sewer” ratd
Could you please tell me how smelly rats are to keep compared to mice? I had a couple of mice about half a century ago, and they smelled terrible. Actually, I got used to the smell, so it didn't really bother me, but when my mom made me have an overnight birthday party, I stayed upstairs, rather than watching scary movies with them. I have a very active imagination. They were scared by something like a branch scraping the window; thirteen little girls screamed, and ran upstairs for safety. They then smelled my mouse, screamed "EWWWW!", and ran back downstairs. Mr. Bianca was worse than whatever scared them. Another time, another mouse, who smelled bad enough after I cleaned her cage that I put her cage on our front porch, which had a screened window. A cat smelled her and came to our closed door from three houses down. My hamster smells much better. So, how do rats smell? My mom never let me have one, insisting the rat would outsmart her, and I'm pretty sure rats aren't acceptable pets at my complex, so I'm stuck being curious. Thank you.
@Wu Xeitan Atreides don’t clean the cage ever 4 days, that will make them smell more. And rats don’t smell if you use the right bedding and make sure to wipe them down with a baby wipe if they smell of pee
Mice and hamsters smell horrific. Gerbils hardly smell at all. Rats are in the middle. Their poo IF it is allowed to dry doesn't smell at all. Their urine does not smell.....until it gets old and rots, just like any urine. I empty their litter boxes every 4 days. I deep clean their felt covered huge cage every 14 to 20 days. DAILY, I have pick up many poos that they don't quite make in to the litter box. They have a 25% miss rate. I dust bust vacuum their felt every two days. I have SIX rats. Two more than I had planned. Two to four rats is a much more manageable number. Daisy just destroyed beyond repair my $70 blue tooth ear buds. They have no chewing boundries. Nothjing is safe.
@@deplorabledave1048 agree and mine always use their litter box oop ! I always hear people say that but some how I got lucky and never ever find poo anywhere else
@@divineclispe You have very smart rats that are wonderful roommates. My male dwarf hamster, Bug, is nicknamed "Stinkbug". He's definitely got a cleaning in his future.
Mice definitely smell more then rats, especially male mice. With rats, the smell mostly just comes from urine, not the rat themselves. Males tend to smell like corn chips, and females usually have a sweet smell like berries or chocolate. Stay away from using wood shelving.. this is probably one of the #1 things in your cage that will build up alot of smell because it soaks in urine an is very hard to clean. Stick with using plastic or metal. The only wood items in your cage should be stuff for them to chew on. Clean the cage every 3-4 days but only a spot clean. If you deep clean to often, then they are just going to go around remarking harder to readd their scent. Having an air purifier helps wonders to.
a lot of pet rats are the size of your forearm, hamsters are smaller than the palm of your hand, also hamsters are not social AT ALL but rats are much different
I have 5 female rats and three cats (two were strays). Needless to say one of the strays loves rats and thinks himself a rat. So, you’d be surprised that some domestic cats actually get along with rats, as Heka (my rat-cat) plays with them. He was raised with them, so it’s different... Anyway, your cat may actually love rats, but not in the way you are thinking. 🥳
