Any rat-lovers here?

Li'l Irish

Or am I the only freak? I'm new to the boards (obviously) and no one seems to share my love of the long-tailed squeaky things.

I have four rats at the moment, two albino sisters named Briar and Rose, a very sleepy but quite clever black and white male named Miyamoto Musashi, and a black capped baby boy who knows exactly how cute he is named Yagyu Jubei.

( I know, epic peoms and samurai, what a combination. )

Anybody else like rats?

Tar.Aldarion

Well, yes I like rats, but then again I like all animals so eh, not more than anything else.
Great guys, rats.

jrey1981

Our Jack Russells like rats.

They particularly like chasing them, biting their necks and shaking them....!

junkyard

I like rats, they're generally very clever, I always wanted a pet mouse but just never got around to getting one, someday maybe.

mountainyman

Dont rats pee evrywhere?

MM

bounty_hunter

Yes, they scent mark as they walk along. It's not a lot though and most owners learn to deal with it for the sake of having the pet they want.

Li'l Irish

jrey1981 wrote:

Our Jack Russells like rats.

They particularly like chasing them, biting their necks and shaking them....!

Oh ho ho, how amusing. Suggesting my beloved pets be brutually ripped abart by obnoxious little dogs; I'm simply *rolling* in the aisles.

Now I'd like to tell you what I think should be done with Jack Russells, but I could have sworn there was a rule again wishing bloody death on other people's pets.

And yeah, you'll find the occasionally dribble here and there, but it's in such small amounts you don't really notice it. I let baby Jubei ride around on my head and I love my hair.

mountainyman

I thought that rats urinated EVERYWHERE, and they made your house stink?
Lil Irish you can report the postout the Jack Russels, by clicking the littleil? triangle.

How can you really love a rat though. Whats the lifespan, how can you bond with some thing so short lived?
MM

Karl Hungus

Never had one myself, but we had them in the pet shop I worked in, and they were fantastic little animals, very intelligent altogether. Nearly bought one, but I was up to my eyes with a Lizard, a Snake and a Dog.

Li'l Irish

They're not constantly leaking, if that's what you mean. They will pee on you, but you usually only notice a dark spot on your clothes. In thier cages they'll pee on things to differentiate 'mine' from 'yours' And if they get really scared they'll pee on poop out of self defense.

But if you keep thier cages clean and give them the occasional bath (which they hate), they don't smell much.

I have/have had rats that are shoulder sitters, head sitters, cleavage divers, rodoctors (they like to check your ears and nostrils to see if you're hiding anything good in there), and rodentists (same thing, except they like to look in your mouth), so get ferret wipes and spray to keep them passably clean. I have yet to master the trick of keeping a white rat's tail white, though. I've tried to toothbrush thing, but you'd need three more hands to pull that one off.

hullaballoo

Were Pinky and The Brain rats?

I like rats, but if I saw a wild one coming towards me, I'd run for my life...which is surely fair enough.

junkyard

Any photos?

WhiteWashMan

jrey1981 wrote:

Our Jack Russells like rats.

They particularly like chasing them, biting their necks and shaking them....!

to the people that reported this post, the poster has not wished that your pets should die.
he has merely expressed that his pets enjoying killing rats. and why not, thats what they were bred for. my family has 2 jack russells, and they are great ratters. mind you, i hate jack russells personally and if the rats turned on them and shredded them, it wouldnt worry me to omuch. although my mum and brother would no doubt be upset.

anyway, im not going to ban the poster for suggesting his pets kill rats. if you have further issues with this, PM the mod of the pets and animals forum (not me) and talk to them. they are of course free to ban whomever they wish...

meowCat

bounty_hunter wrote:

Yes, they scent mark as they walk along. It's not a lot though and most owners learn to deal with it for the sake of having the pet they want.

My siblings had a phase where they both had rats. For some reason my sister's never stank and my brother's always stank horribly. Used to totally freak the granny out!
Someone in a pet shop suggested to them that the strong odour depends on the sex of the rat. That true?
Personally, I never got into them....no offence, but rats just seems to me like an unnatural choice of pet. I suppose I just assosiate them with unhygienic conditions.

bounty_hunter

meowCat wrote:

My siblings had a phase where they both had rats. For some reason my sister's never stank and my brother's always stank horribly. Used to totally freak the granny out!
Someone in a pet shop suggested to them that the strong odour depends on the sex of the rat. That true?
Personally, I never got into them....no offence, but rats just seems to me like an unnatural choice of pet. I suppose I just assosiate them with unhygienic conditions.

Yes, that is true. It's the same with a lot of rodents, most noticeably mice (the males stink!). But it also depends how clean their living conditions are and how healthy they are in general. Did your siblings keep theirs in seperate cages?

Blub2k4

I have three of them Li'l Irish.
One called Albert, he's got huskey markings.
One called Fidel, he's white.
One called Hugo, he's a berskshire Irish dumbo or some such nonsense.

I had another white hooded who died a few months back, he was called Che.

I dont know what peoples obsession is with the pee thing, they are extremely clean animals and the small inconvenience of a little spot now and again is far outweighed by the fun that these guys deliver.
Dogs **** all over the place and piss on peoples carpets.
Rats dont smell if they are cleaned once a week, mice on the other hand stink.

Hugo with the big ears



Che, who is not here anymore.



Fidel as a pup



Albert in his praying pose with Fidel.



And finally Albert in his hammock.

Blub2k4

WhiteWashMan wrote:

to the people that reported this post, the poster has not wished that your pets should die.
he has merely expressed that his pets enjoying killing rats. and why not, thats what they were bred for. my family has 2 jack russells, and they are great ratters. mind you, i hate jack russells personally and if the rats turned on them and shredded them, it wouldnt worry me to omuch. although my mum and brother would no doubt be upset.

anyway, im not going to ban the poster for suggesting his pets kill rats. if you have further issues with this, PM the mod of the pets and animals forum (not me) and talk to them. they are of course free to ban whomever they wish...

It must be getting hard to tell a troll these days is it?

Blub2k4

mountainyman wrote:

I thought that rats urinated EVERYWHERE, and they made your house stink?
Lil Irish you can report the postout the Jack Russels, by clicking the littleil? triangle.

How can you really love a rat though. Whats the lifespan, how can you bond with some thing so short lived?
MM

They dont urinate everywhere and also your house would stink if any animal were let free range and the place not cleaned, I suggest that you got your information from a very irresponsible pet owner who would have had a stinky house if they had had a cat, mice on the other hand stink to high heaven.
They need their cage cleaned about once a week and you will never smell them.
I was very aware of the potential for a smell when people call as our cage is in the living room so for a few months whenever friends arrived I got them to do a "smell test" for me as your own nose does not always smell what you are used to, not one of them could ever smell animals in the house or urine or anything of the sort.

The bonding is easy, they love people so they will investigate you any chance that they get, the new guy I have for example..any time I pass him when he is out on the sofa he launches himself at me for a ride about the place and wont get off me, runs around my shoulders etc, great fun.
Their intelligence and friendliness is what makes the bonding so easy.
They are as smart as most dogs and smarter in some ways.
They come to their names and can be taught tricks, I love the little guys and would advise them to anyone who like myself would like a dog but wont hold one while living in the city as that wouldn't be fair.
The short lifespan only makes their passing harder not the bonding.

Canis Lupus

Right I'm shortly gonna be moving house where there will be no girls present. (silly girls)

I'd love to get a rat HOWEVER I used to have a hamster and the problems I had:

First got him he squeezed out of the bars of his cage and we're talking the space I can just about put my little finger through and he vanished down under the floorboards of my room. I got him back eventually BUT how closely do you need to watch a rat? Is letting them loose a viable option if you are present in the room? How likely are they to feck off through some hole in the wall and never be seen again?

My hamster chewed ANYTHING left within range of his chompers. Many a sock/jumper was lost to him, if I get a rat it will be kept in proximity to pc cables and whatnot. Do rats often eat stuff they aren't supposed to?

Blub2k4

Canis Lupus wrote:

Right I'm shortly gonna be moving house where there will be no girls present. (silly girls)

I'd love to get a rat HOWEVER I used to have a hamster and the problems I had:

First got him he squeezed out of the bars of his cage and we're talking the space I can just about put my little finger through and he vanished down under the floorboards of my room. I got him back eventually BUT how closely do you need to watch a rat? Is letting them loose a viable option if you are present in the room? How likely are they to feck off through some hole in the wall and never be seen again?

My hamster chewed ANYTHING left within range of his chompers. Many a sock/jumper was lost to him, if I get a rat it will be kept in proximity to pc cables and whatnot. Do rats often eat stuff they aren't supposed to?

For rat pup the bars of the cage cant be any larger than 1/2 inch spacing otherwise they will get out.
With regard to them freeranging, they can chew things but mostly only do that when they are bored.
If you allow them to freerange totally then you will need to rat-proof the room, the most dangerous thing is electrical cables, they will nibble them and the results can be fried rat or worse.
Ours know that they are allowed on the sofa and are happy to stay there as they can roam a bit on that and also reach a shelf from there which they also like.
If you want very active rats then get females, if you want lazy couch potatoes get males.

It is of course your decision but please seriously consider getting two rats, it is not healthy for them not to have companionship, people cant fill the gap, honestly.

Good luck with them, you can PM me if you want any help.

Canis Lupus

How about a carboard cut out of a rat?

Actually it will be me and another mate who will getting a place together so I could easily convince him to adopt a second one. In regards to smell I read up above that the females are the least smelliest? This correct or are they all comparatively the same once you put them in the washing machine once a week?

Blub2k4

Canis Lupus wrote:

In regards to smell I read up above that the females are the least smelliest? This correct or are they all comparatively the same once you put them in the washing machine once a week?

Honestly smell is not an issue with rats, clean the cage once a week and wash them in the sink with baby bath diluted 50:50 with water and you wont have any smells at all.
As I have never had 1/females 2/ a smell problem, I cant differentiate between them.
The only time there has ever been a smell was when I was a lazy owner and didn't clean the cage and left it longer than it should have been. Once a week is enough not to have any smell. Get yourself an office shredder and shred newspapers for bedding, if you use the wrong bedding there is a possibility that that would react badly with the urine and smell, otherwise you're home and dry.

<edit> I've just noticed that I didn't mention how often the actual rats should get washed, only wash them when they need it.
They will probably scratch the hands off of you until you learn how to bathe them correctly, so really you only need to wash them about once every 6 weeks, more often is too stressful for everyone I find, they keep themselves very clean in any case.

Shelli

Whats the best cage for a rat, should they have multi levels or just one?

Blub2k4

Shelli wrote:

Whats the best cage for a rat, should they have multi levels or just one?

I use a chinchilla cage and have added a level using an oven wire rack and a chopping board attached to that.
They need to keep active and have stuff to do and some of them love climbing.


http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk/information/habitat/cagecalculator/ has a rat calculator where you can input cage dimensions and get back how many rats it should be able to hold, this obviously increases if you add more levels.

bounty_hunter

Canis Lupus wrote:

How about a carboard cut out of a rat?

Actually it will be me and another mate who will getting a place together so I could easily convince him to adopt a second one. In regards to smell I read up above that the females are the least smelliest? This correct or are they all comparatively the same once you put them in the washing machine once a week?

Technically the males are more smelly, but as several other people have said, if you look after them properly smell will not be a problem. Contrary to popular belief, they are actually extremely clean animals. It's humans who cause the bad smell by not keeping the cage clean enough/using the wrong cage materials/etc.
Not only will keeping it clean prevent smell, but your rats will also thank you for it. They don't like to be surrounded by filth.

Sigma Force

Carefresh bedding is one of the best beddings for rats and other rodents for keeping odours in.

mini5476

I have rats there great pets, theres an irish rat forum for anyone interested
http://irishrat.proboards50.com/index.cgi
and http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk/community/
has loads of ppl willing to answer any questions you might have!

mini5476

genegenie

I've owned hamsters for years, and I'm considering getting a pair of rats... For those of you who have had experience with both, how does owning rats compare with owning hamsters?

bounty_hunter

genegenie wrote:

I've owned hamsters for years, and I'm considering getting a pair of rats... For those of you who have had experience with both, how does owning rats compare with owning hamsters?

I don't actually have rats myself, but I know that they are infinitely more intelligent than hampsters to start with. They're also a lot more fun, and more sociable, which means they require a lot more attention. And where hampsters often prefer to live alone, rats prefer to have other rats as company and will get lonely very quickly without companions if you can't spend adequate time with them (even still, humans company doesn't compare to the company of other rats).

What this means basically is that they are a lot higher maintainance in terms of the amount of socialization they require.

Blub2k4

genegenie wrote:

I've owned hamsters for years, and I'm considering getting a pair of rats... For those of you who have had experience with both, how does owning rats compare with owning hamsters?

I've never had hamsters but my girlfriend has had both and says there is no comparison.

Rats CRAVE human attention. Once a rat is socialised they love people and want to know what we are doing and why they aren't included to the point of trying to latch on to you whenever you pass.
They need to be kept stimulated, it is enough that they have other rats but really to keep them socialised and safe they should have daily contact.
I find them like a miniature dog, with each rat having unique habits and personalities, if you can say that about hamsters....

shoegirl

Li'l Irish wrote:

Or am I the only freak? I'm new to the boards (obviously) and no one seems to share my love of the long-tailed squeaky things.

Anybody else like rats?

Yes. I like them myself but never had one as a pet. A reallly good old friend has had several and I used to regularly rat-sit. She also had another couple of friends who also kept pet rats. They lived in home-made cages and were very nice pets. Highly intelligent too.

Li'l Irish

I've done the home made cage thing and found that while the boys couldn't get out, my slender little girls could. Right now I have mine in a multi-level Ruud tower from Martin's Cages http://www.martinscages.com/products/cages/rat/ and I whole-heartedly recommend them to anyone with any type of small animal. The Ruud is taller than I am. I actually have it seperated into two sections with a grid of wire from a spare cage. The girls are in the top and the boys are in the bottom.

As for comparisons with hamsters, there is no comparison! I've had hamsters that weren't nippy, but they were few and far between. I've had rats for years and I've been bitten twice. Once was a race for a piece of food; the first rat got the food, the losing rat got the finger and the second bite was pulling cage furniture out of the cage to clean it and accidentally dragging my unfortunate Basil with it by one back leg. He bit me to get me to let go and he didn't even break the skin.

Our man in Havana

As a owner of gerbils, rats, chins, hamsters among others I prefer gerbils & rats over hamsters - although I do love my hammies & accept that I will get nipped & nibbled! - The smell is not a huge issue if they are kept clean & tidy etc.

Whiskeytango

Hello Li'l Irish,

No, you are not a freak. Rats are wonderful pets. They are very intelligent, really affectionate and they clean themselves and each other all the time. Blub2k4's comments about them are correct. Rats really seem to love the the attention of people. When I was in my teens I was lucky enough to have 3 horses that I loved and I enjoy my rats as much as I enjoyed my horses. I got my first rats 3 years ago and they both died within the last 2 months, I think this is the biggest problem keeping rats, the short life span. You WILL become very attached to them and when they die it really sucks. It is also important to consider the fact that they are prone to developing tumors.
My last rat died after surgery to remove a tumor from a mammary gland, a surgery that cost $300.00 US. This is hard for some people to justify financially, you pay a few dollars for the animal then have a large bill for medical care. For me there really was not a choice, it would have been like refusing to take proper care of my children. Anyway, good luck with your rats.

Russ.

Blub2k4

I forgot to mention one of the big advantages of keeping male rats is that you are less likely to lose them to cancer. The females suffer from mammary tumours all the time.
The main reason is that all the domesticated rats about basically come from lab stock and they used be bred there for their cancer properties as they are good for research, unfortunately this trait cannot be totally bred out of the domestic pets.

hairyheretic

I don't have any at the moment, but have had 9 over the last 5 years or so. I found they made very good pets.

As it happens, I'm looking to get some more right now. Does anyone know of any pet shops around the south Dublin that have rats in at the moment? Or anyone with a litter looking to home them? Preference would be for a couple of girls.

Blub2k4

Petland on Camden Street, had 2 females about 3 weeks ago, they MAY still have some.
Apart from that I would suggest contacting Bond|007 as they breed and supply a few shops in Dublin, and as far as I am aware they also supply petland.

Our man in Havana

I do supply petland & I have a litter that will be ready to leave here at the weekend, so you can either get some from me direct or wait till they arrive at the shop sometime after monday I guess.

Blub2k4

Bond-007 wrote:

I do supply petland & I have a litter that will be ready to leave here at the weekend, so you can either get some from me direct or wait till they arrive at the shop sometime after monday I guess.

I got one of yours recently and I have to say I can heartily recommend them, he's a lovely little guy and more inquisitive and smarter than the others we have had so far.

hairyheretic

Bond-007 wrote:

I do supply petland & I have a litter that will be ready to leave here at the weekend, so you can either get some from me direct or wait till they arrive at the shop sometime after monday I guess.

I've PMed you.

Our man in Havana

Blub2k4 wrote:

I got one of yours recently and I have to say I can heartily recommend them, he's a lovely little guy and more inquisitive and smarter than the others we have had so far.

What colour did you get? is he a dumbo or normal eared?

Blub2k4

He's a dumbo alright, pretty close to an agouti, if not agouti, one of the batch from petland about 3 weeks ago, there were two females and a male.
beautiful little animal.

Our man in Havana

Ahh the colour I call chocolate - looks like a cup of hot chocoalte to me - with a white belly I have a few more in the latest litter like that & some hooded one too.

Blub2k4

Bond-007 wrote:

Ahh the colour I call chocolate - looks like a cup of hot chocoalte to me - with a white belly I have a few more in the latest litter like that & some hooded one too.

Yeah I suppose chocolate would be accurate, the Canadian rat loving friends went a bit OTT with their description and reckon he's a Mink Irish Berkshire, to be honest I find that level of dissection of what is rattus norwegicus differentiated by colour a bit embarrassing from a biologists point of view, chocolate is much more succinct and less pretentious.

This guy is a vertical climber, a real daredevil, he will climb straight up me once I get near him on the sofa, he is the only guy so far to make it to the tops of our heads all by himself.

Kastro

i have me a Mink Irish Berkshire - Dumbo.. hes the cutest little fecker.. mates of mine brought him down to me from dublin.. im livin i waterford atm. cudnt get rats here at all when i wanted one. he was reallly good to handle and loves his exploration and climbing.. think he was gotten on camden st.. anyways.. he seemed a bit lonley, i got him a little friend, bigger cage and a bunch of toys an stuff.. they always do their mess fighting - rolling around jumping on each other.. i ended up calling my rat "rat" for the simplicity.. the other rat is my gf's.. she still dosent have a name for it 3weeks later... yea so as i was saying my rat is dead friendly and didnt mind being picked up. then when the new fella came along.. (oh yea their both male) mine kinda fights to get away when im goin to lift him up.. he wont simply run up my sleave no more and the other one has bin scared ****less of humans since day one. if i go near the cage rat looks for the attention but the other one (thinkin of calling it moxie at this stage) just hides in its house. it does take food from my hand but i just cant figure it out. i leave the cage open so they can run around, they always find their way back in, granted i keep an eye on em as well..
any good sites as to making friends with rats
anyways.. heres a few pics.

Rat:






Moxie hiding..:

gypsygirl

Li'l Irish wrote:

Or am I the only freak? I'm new to the boards (obviously) and no one seems to share my love of the long-tailed squeaky things.

I have four rats at the moment, two albino sisters named Briar and Rose, a very sleepy but quite clever black and white male named Miyamoto Musashi, and a black capped baby boy who knows exactly how cute he is named Yagyu Jubei.

( I know, epic peoms and samurai, what a combination. )

Anybody else like rats?

My Mother loves Rats, we had them as pets when I was a kid along with ferrets and dogs and cats; Rats are extremely clever, Mums favorite was a male called Amadeus (after Motzart) he danced on her shoulder whenever she played music, gave many a visitor quite a start seeing a Rat on my Mums shoulder when she answered the door, Amadeus loved when Mum was ironing, he'd run all over the clothes while she tried to iron them and dive into her pockets 'cos he knew she kept treats in there. I don't have any rats at present 'cos I have a very predatory cat but in the future I definitly will. Rats are terrific pets and soo entertaining.