I Need Pet Advice = Rats

So these last few weeks everytime I go to my friends house I notice the same white rat hanging out at the bottom of his large snake cage.

He's had it in there since November, and for some reason the snake never ate it. So tonight I decided to buy it, even though I have no experience with rats.

Luckily my ex girlfriend loves rats and has three of them as we speak, unfortunately were not on the best of terms, so if any members out there have experience , please share anything you think I should know..... I'd hate for me to rescue this rat just to accidentaly kill it somehow.

His names Wesley !!! a rat with no past, and no patience !!! To Wesley @@

reply to post by IntastellaBurst


You would probably get better luck by posting this thread in BelowTopSecret.com. I myself have had my fair share of pet rodents in the past. Though they take a bit of upkeep, they are a joy to have.

Here is a link to an ASPCA article about Rat care with a lot of helpful documentation. www.aspca.org...

Scooby Doo...

reply to post by IntastellaBurst


I'm listening to my "pet" rats run aroundin my kitchen right now. They sound like a heard of elephants.

I had a Pet Rat. One of the best Pets I ever had.

They are very intelligent. They don't take much to care for and they only live for about 2 o3 years.
They eat just about anything that You or I can eat.
They love playing around and exploring new places and for some reason, They love going under things like Blankets and Towels.
They Don't like heat. Hot weather can actually kill the poor little buggers.
They don't bite. Mine never did, anyway.

I've had a couple of rats but in the end, I now have a dog that's not much bigger than a Rat. It's a Pappillon. (Spel?).

So, The rats I had were female. I heard that Male Rats can smell a bit but the Females Don't. They both have Noses though,

Have fun and I hope the little Rat brings you a lot of enjoyment. Mine did.

Oh, How I eneded up with my first Rat was, I went to get the Paper on a Sunday Morning. The Paper shop was near a Pet Shop. I went and got the Paper and thought I'd look in the Pet Shop. While there, a little White Rat was Hanging Upside Down in it's cage, Looking at me. I went over to it and it Said To Me in a Whispering Voice, "Take Me Home or I'm gonna end up as dinner for some Snake".. So I did. She Dided of a Stroke, 3 years later. She was named "Razzy".

reply to post by IntastellaBurst


You gotta hang out with the rat.

Close off the room and let him hang out with you for long periods of time.

Eventually he'll figure out who has the food, does the petting, makes the rules, is the master, etc.

Originally posted by IntastellaBurst
please share anything you think I should know

have a look at www.ratfanclub.org...

Rats don't do well with lettuce as I recall. It's poisonous to them. There are a few rat fancier web sites out there with advice. If you give the rat time and love it will bond well. If it is infrequent they can become rather estranged.

Rats are awesome as pets, I had a few, I had a three tank two habitat setup for them connected by those tubes. They loved it, I trained them to go from tank to tank through the tubes using cheetos.

I found that rats hate those ball things you put hamsters in, but one rat made the coolest nest with one, I placed a few toiletpaper tubes and cotton and other fluffy soft stuff in her tank and she made a really cool nest in the ball, made it nice when I cleaned her tanks that I didn't have to mess up her nest to do it.

Thanks for all the reply's guys, .... I also wonder ...


Is it ok to just let him run around my room ?? both the guy and my ex said it's not a good idea, .. as they can chew on power cords and kill themselves, .... they also said they can get lost, and be hard to recapture....

does anyone have any advice, .. or maybe tricks for this ? to keep to keep them save and easy to find.

Had a dozen albino rats some time ago and they stink with their poo and pee. They died after a stray cat somehow found itself inside my house and into their cage. I can't really recommend having rats as pets.

I remember my rat...."Duke". He was great.

Keep their cage clean because they can easily get infected if they sit/sleep on their own mess. Watch out for arthritis in the hind legs too, something I think that has come about from endless inbreeding over the years. Genetic and unavoidable in some cases.

Mine LOVED peanut butter. Good for their digestion because of the oils but not too much if it's salted. (Make your own, it's easy)

Power cords can be a worry and it's not just rats that do this. My kittens scared the cr*p out of me one day when I switched on a table lamp and "poof!" there went the bulb. THAT was close.

Maybe find something else them him to chew on that keeps him away from being zapped.

Good luck, have fun and I hope he makes a great pet for you.

I've had a half dozen at the same time. Yes, the males give off odor, and must be kept clean.There is lots of info you can google, but to state again what others have said..NO LETTUCE, NO CHOCOLATE..poison.
If you let him run around , it's like a toddler at disneyland..be prepared to watch him.
They really can be loving and affectionate, however..you said this thing lived with a snake for two months?
Poor thing probably has PTSD.

You folks are talking about RATS !!!

They are not pets, they are just vermin. Throughout human history they have been the vector for disease, destroyed crops, and fouled stored food.

My best advise for caring for a rat is to hit it with a hammer, set traps, or put down poison.

How can anyone even think of these as domesticated animals.

I had a rat once.
It was cool, but I think it deserved alot more attention than what I could give.
It was a male and his "jewels" were HUGE!
Best advice? Keep it happy and you'll have fun with it.
Always wondered how they produced feeder rats.
Clones, or biological births?

I've had scorpions, hamsters, rats, etc.
There's really no more advice I can give because they're simple to take care of. Plus, everyone hit the nail on the head here already.
Just make sure to keep the cage clean. Keep the water fresh.
Just like any other pet.

Best pet in the world, by far, is my dog. Period.
Nothing compares.
But, if you have a chance to own a rat, do it.
Its a good experience and a good conversation piece.

We had a pet rat a few years ago, his name was 'Ratty Rat'. He was a great pet...very tame, clean and domesticated (unlike me).

He would sit on our shoulder(s) pirate style and used to play with one of my dog's Ozzy.

I'm not sure what 'breed' he was, but he was white & tan and had a long and happy life.

I would get another but I live in a "zoo", so enough creatures great and small at the moment.

sanc'

Originally posted by anxietydisorder
You folks are talking about RATS !!!

They are not pets, they are just vermin. Throughout human history they have been the vector for disease, destroyed crops, and fouled stored food.

My best advise for caring for a rat is to hit it with a hammer, set traps, or put down poison.

How can anyone even think of these as domesticated animals.

All in your experience Anx..
When I lived on a farm we had big brown rats that I poisoned and beat the hell out of with a shovel...
but the white domestic ones just captured my heart when my daughter brought one home.

Unleash the fury.

Originally posted by IntastellaBurst
Is it ok to just let him run around my room ?? both the guy and my ex said it's not a good idea, .. as they can chew on power cords and kill themselves, .... they also said they can get lost, and be hard to recapture....

That would really be down to the individual rat.

I used to have loads of them as a teenager, I had 2 boys and 2 girls most of the time, I let them breed a few times and then sold them for a few quid each in the classified ad's.

A single rat can get depressed, but then again a single rat may not take kindly at all to new company (of course I never had that problem! - They were all related).

They can and will chew power chords, they seem to like plastic and rubber for some reason - I think it's the texture... They HAVE to chew their teeth down so you will need a variety of things they can destroy, I was always looking for the right bits of untreated wood and stuff for them - a great tip is the cardboard pee catcher things they have in hospitals! - Free and they last a couple of weeks, they make a nest and eat it from the inside out.

As far as recapture goes it's actually a lot less effort and stress to have the fella's just want to go back to the cage or whatever on their own, if that is the most comfortable place and they feel safe and all their stuff is there they go back. - I always had one of the 2 converted 3 foot aquariums open (boys or girls), so they were always free to an extent, to call them back I could flick the glass because they all knew that meant the fun food was coming out (fruit, veg bits of cat food).

One time though one of the mommey rats did spontaneously decide to move her nest of about 15 kits to underneath a chest of draws, I just decided to let her, and gave her whatever she needed - when I could finally get in there when the kits were up and active the corner stank and the carpet was chewed up.

Oh yhea, another thing about the pee, people say they can train rats not to pee everywhere - I never could, most of the time they only pooped in the aquariums but as for pee, where ever and whenever just in a small trickle - it's almost like they are incontinent!

[edit on 31/1/2010 by Now_Then]

I loved having pet rats and they were always allowed out to play in the living room in the evenings.

They chew anything they can get their teeth into so it's best to hide anything valuable and cover wires if you can.

They're little thieves too. You can make life fun for them if you leave things lying around that you can spare. One of mine kept trying to nick my necklace (I was wearing it) so I gave him an ear-ring. When he realised that metal isn't much fun to chew he didn't bother me for my necklace any more.

I could never stop him from stealing the ribbon from my hair, though. He'd yank it out and when I looked round for it, it was gone. He used to stand there absolutely straight-faced and dare me to accuse him

You can have fun with a bag of nuts - they like to store food and you can play a game all evening where they will come to you for nuts then run off to stash them away. Rice crispies or small pieces of bread will do, too.

It's best to clean up straight away if they wee. If it dries it can be murder to get rid of. It's quite pungent so it's generally easy to tell when they've 'been'. Sometimes it's not quite to easy to find out where

You're going to have such fun - well done for rescuing Wesley from the snake.

Wow, I didnt know Wesley would be such a handful !! I had to wait a day for my friend to find a cage, ... so I kept him in an upside down plastic laundry box, .....

He chewed out of that thing within 15 minutes. I went to check on him... and he darted back inside his " cage". I spent the whole night awake and worrying about him getting away, ... it was so stressful, I didn't like the idea of him roaming around my bedroom while I slept.

Unfortunately I gave him up for adoption today to one of my friends, I think she'll take great care of him. So even though he won't be stayinig with me, ... he will have a nice, loving home, ... instead of being eaten by a python. I miss my Wesley already and feel guilty for letting him go.

thank you for all the input everyone, ... I know I could have done research myself, ... but nothing counts like experience, ... and I trust ATS'ers much more than any other website or community.

Thank you, from me and Wes.