My new pet rat. Meet Earl...

[mountainbunny]

Pet rats! My time has come!

Things always go in and out of fashion with pets, but my go-to was always oxbow's rat food. NOT their mouse and rat formula, this one: https://m.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=16965

Cardboard boxes and fleece will be your best friend honestly as far as toys go I stopped bothering to buy them. My boys' favorite thing was a toilet paper roll with food inside! And tissue boxes to hide inside of.

They're awesome animals. One of mine even went to a college class with me to do a public speaking presentation - everyone thought he was a ferret! How do you even mix that up??

eta: If you do end up looking for a friend for him, please consider a rat rescue! Yes, they really exist - and there are tons of boys out there in need of homes! Since you're in Indiana, Mainely Rat Rescue might be able to help you find a local rescue or you might be able to get a rat train going to transport one of their lovely rats to you. They also offer neutering/spaying already for their lovelies who are young enough.

There's nothing wrong with pet store rats, either, but I just wanted to point them out because so many people don't KNOW there are rats out there in need of homes already! All 4 of my boys were from pet stores, actually.

I won't harp on the stuff that's already been said a ton of times - I'm just super happy to see you're getting a multi-level cage and a friend. You're going to be a great rat parent.

Thanks... I'm actually in central rutal arkansas and did search around Craiglist and rescues 1st but all the listings we're old and no response. So Petco it was, where I found my sweet Earl. I guess he is still sort of a rescue because the girl asked if I was buying him as a feeder or companion! When I was a teenager and bought my first rats, I got them at a feed store that sold them as snake food. I got to very sweet loving pets instead of food for a snake!

 

[1cock2hens]

I used to have a rat that looked just like yours named steve! // hello from my tiny home in sw missouri

 

[koturnix]

Indeed, it's amazing how rats love to learn tricks. There's many videos on Youtube on how to train them. Here's a compilation of some clever things they can learn to do:

 

[mountainbunny]

How could you not love this face!!!!
I guess I really do need to join a rat forum, I'm just so much comfortable here.
This is Earl standing up for a carrot.... His 1st "trick" we've trained him to do.