How to tame a wild brown rat? I know, I sound insane.

[rosemarythyme]

In NY, NY the rats outnumber the population. I am certain you could start a huge collection there.

Ha, my friend in NYC always tells me that whenever I mention I miss having pet rats!

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Its a bad idea overall.

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

I'm going to be honest.

Don't do it.
It's a very very very very bad idea!
If you want rats(Errggg, I hate calling them rats.Im calling them Mini Dogs)Then ask your parents.If you have a small Hav-A-Hart Trap, Trap the wild rat and release him far away.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

am with the others, wild rats are disease ridden, they can kill chicks and pass there diseases on to other things, i would not try to tame it, but again am not you, (i would shoot it or trap it with a rat trap).

 

[MageofMist]

I got a humane trap set up out of a home made grass drying cage and filled it with all sorts of tasty treats such as mixed salad leaves, wild bird seed mix and some apple, just so if it got caught in the night it'd have some extra food and even put a rodent water bottle attached to it through one of the holes. It did go in there once as I noticed the apple had been nibbled, but couldn't pull the string to catch it in time.

I have heard of people capturing and taming wild rats before though with no or little issues, even with Rattus rattus which carry the plague. Usually with rescued pups, but I have read some cases with wild adults too. Also in the UK, it is illegal to feed live prey to snakes so there is no rescuing I need to really do there. I prefer to not kill "vermin" as they are often just as intelligent as any other animal, just because they can cause disease due to, well, not having anyone to care for them.

Plus... I wash my hands after I handle any of my animals, which is even recommended for domestic rats due to their urine trails and poops, and I read the statistics and... The chances for even a wild rat having "rat bite fever" is still quite low. And the fact I am very much likely already exposed to the germs on the rat for even living near it, and I am not sick. Plus the two bacteria that cause Rat Bite Fever are in North America and mostly in Asia, though there is still the chance, it is unlikely. And if the rat DID have it, he'd likely not have lived to the size he is now and have died earlier as he has been around for a couple of weeks from the looks of it. And if it was sick, it'd likely be more stand-offish than timid and curious.

"Brown rats are sometimes mistakenly thought to be a major reservoir of bubonic plague, a possible cause of the Black Death. However, the bacterium responsible, Yersinia pestis, is commonly endemic in only a few rodent species and is usually transmitted zoonotically by rat fleas—common carrier rodents today include ground squirrels and wood rats. However, brown rats may suffer from plague, as can many nonrodent species, including dogs, cats, and humans."
If he did have the plague, I'd have caught it already from my cat who was recently treated for fleas. And my neighbors would be sick from their dogs. And Toxoplasmosis... Again, my cat, I probably already have it at this point and the rat is scared of my cat, not seeking her out like infected rodents do.
The ones transmitted by urine can be fought by simply keeping my hands clean, and the ones transmitted by air or bites... Also have cats and sometimes dogs as a vector so, I'd already be sick by now from my cat if it did have it.

It is weird, people freak out over rats being germy, yet attract and feed squirrels and even hand feed and let climb up them... Who are just as bad as rats when it comes to diseases, just because they are cuter and fluffier. I have nothing against squirrels and would do the same as anyone else, but I know the pathogens they CAN carry. Just because they CAN carry something though, does NOT mean they do have it 100% of the time.

I have also done Animal Care in college which included handling rats that are well, quite nippy for doing health checks. Either base of the tail or scruff em', the scruff being the better option. And in case it DOES somehow wriggle around and nip, I have some thick gardening gloves I can layer over my hand... I used to do Agriculture in college before Animal Care and kept losing them, only to find pretty much all of them after I finished the course.

Plus I finally managed to convince my dad regarding the rat, hence how I was able to set the trap up. I also explained the rat poison would probably kill our cat for if she ate it when it was in a drunken stupor before it ruptured into a slow painful death from the toxins still in it's system, leading to one costly and avoidable vet visit, or one very sick and soon dead cat, and the implications for if any of the crows or magpies, who are nesting around here and keeping birds of prey away, ate the rat that ate the poison.

I was the person in Creatures 1, 2 and 3 (old games I know) looking after Grendels despite them being seen as disease ridden, ugly brutes in the game who often hurt your creatures, but in the first game all they wanted were friends but their code forced them to slap instead of tickle, and in the second... They were poor souls who lived in a volcano or swamp picking up all sorts of illnesses and often dying early due to no one caring for them. In 3 they were more aggressive, but again, the disease part was due to the environment and lack of care, not the creature itself and it could be tamed and healed with a little work... So yeah, it was no surprise to my dad when I wanted to save the rat.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I wont tell you not to try it since thats not what youre wanting to hear it seems.
My only advise is when you get bite or scratched to tell your dad. Dont keep that a secret.

 

[kwhites634]

I thought I'd heard just about everything, however......

 

[dainerra]

you also need to consider the fact hat the rat might not adjust well to caging. the nature of wild animals doesn't usually go well with caging. It will take an incredibly secure cage to secure a tame rat and even more to contain a wild rat. tehy can squeeze through incredibly small holes, much smaller than you would think

 

[AlleysChicks]

Let me tell you a little story.

Once upon a time I was a animal loving teen. I use to sneak animals home all the time. My mom knew, dad not so much.

One day I brought home a hamster in my purse from school. A little Russian dwarf cute as can be. I'd had hamsters before and they were nice. My one had died several months before from extreme old age (she was 4!) Anyway I had hide a tank in my closet with everything ready. What I didn't expect was to be picked up at the end of school and take to Walmart. With a hamster in my purse! 3 hrs or so later I made it home and put the hamster in his new house. He turned out to be really mean due to lack of handling before I got him. I couldn't touch him and had to scoop him up in a rolly ball to clean the cage.

Fast forward a few weeks and I was itchy and had little spots all over. Turns out the hamster had fleas! It must have had one or two when I brought it home and they'd multipled and infested the house! Cost my parents a lot of money to get rid of them. All because I didn't get a hamster from a reliable source.

Now if you really want pet rats I would look for a reliable breeder and get siblings from them. Or even get on petfinder! There are some really cool looking rats out there! Research and plan plan plan! Talk to your parents.

 

[cassie]

I don't think you are insane. I would do the same thing. How well the rat adjusts to captivity depends on the individual. If he settles in and adjusts, taming him shouldn't be too hard. Rats are smart. Just go slow and give him time to get used to you and his surroundings.