any pet rat folks out there?

[ConchRepublic]

Quote:
HOLY CRAP that's a big rat. I want one but my husband is not so sure.

He's big but he's the sweetest one lol. Our other rats are smaller but they will bite you like no tomorrow if you even have a small sent of something edible.

This guy would rather be cuddled.

I love my rats, smell better than any other small animal, a lot smarter, and most of them are so much nicer. I especially love the hairless, my female died after it got attacked by another female we had that learned how to open the cages. She was so sweet too

 

[teach1rusl]

I've only had one...a pretty cream colored little girl named Lilly. She was very sweet and docile. Sadly, she started developing tumors at around 2 1/2 years of age. She went downhill quickly and I had to have her put down

If I ever choose another small animal pet, it will be a rat.

 

[MandyH]

I want a sweet, fat rat but the only pet store here has pitiful, dinky little rats.

 

[Goat_Walker]

Ive ha dtwo different pairs - all female. My first pair i had for three years and loved very much. I still miss my little brats. I have plenty of stories to share about them lol. Whenever people came to our house id have them riding around on my shoulder and it was such a hoot to hear some of the women ( and men!) give little screams of shock. We even had a lady fall into the pool when she say my rat run across the yard when i called her and climb up my pant leg onto my shoulder.

 

[MagsC]

We have had rats before too and if the opportunity presented itself, would do so again. They were really smart and friendly.

 

[pardygwyn]

We have three girls right now. One is a crotchety old lady, the other two were bought to give her company after her sister developed a huge tumor and died. I'm away from home right now and don't have access to pictures of the older rat, Julia, but here is a funny photo of the two youngsters, Lily and Lexie:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/Gwynnie/longrat.jpg

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

got one 3 year old rat who lives in a big ferret cage

 

[SillyChicken]

I had one once. Definatly a better pet than a hampster or Gerbil (I've had all of em)...He'd open his tank and greet us at the door when we came home. One night he got out and walked across my husbands face as he was sleeping - freaked my DH right out, I laughed my butt off!

Today we have a small white mouse we found on a sidewalk last fall. We were on the motorcycle so he had an hr bike ride home in style! Very sweet little fellow. Comes up to greet me when I open his cage to say hello. Has never tried to bite us.

 

[jjthink]

I'm curious what the collective thinking is re: why they are so prone to tumors.

I have never had a pet rat but I don't have the animosity toward them that so many people do (including many people on this site). Do I want them living with my chickens - no, no, no. But I don't wish them harm.

Some years ago, when I was caring for birds in another coop at another location nearby, rats moved in. At first I used hav-a-hart traps to try to get them out and one morning found a youngster in the trap, which had been supplied with food and nothing else. When I found the little one, it was all cuddled in a straw nest in the trap. I don't think this could have happened without adults feeding straw into the trap for the youngster. Kind of broke my heart. I didn't harm any of them but did make a fortress of the coop with lots of hardware cloth so none could gain entry again. Call me a criminal but I did move the ones caught to another location, nowhere near homes. I was torn, knowing this isn't the best habitat management but unable/unwilling to kill them. Feel like I broke up families but didn't have a better idea.

A couple of days ago I found another one in a more recent coop location and I did the same thing but have caught no others since, nor do I see any evidence of them at all (no poop, no food taken...)...I think she got in through a dug hole that I now have blocked with lots of wire. But I feel bad for her, as she is now separated from whoever she knew before. Unharmed, but alone. Ugh - no easy answers.

JJ

 

[chicks4kids]

I had a pair when I was younger, Hampton and Hailey. I loved them to death! So sweet. Now my daughter, who is 11 has had her rat Tink for 3 years now and he is the best pet she has ever had. He loves to snuggle with her, loves to play outside, just is an all around sweetheart.

She went to the pet store with the intention of getting a hamster. The guy put the hamster in her hand, it bit her, she tried to shake it off, the hamster went flying across the room! I suggested the rat in another cage, she held it and fell in love immediately.

They are wonderful pets!!