Any Rat Lovers Here?

[AlbatrossWarrior]

I have two fancy dumbo rats, Kevin and Kijone. They are sisters that I've had for about a year now, and I hope to get more someday <33 I'd love a hairless, rex, and siamese!


I'm really worried about Kevin, she has always coughed and makes not good rat sounds when she drinks. I am positive they both have lung diseases, since my mom surprised me with them and got them from a pet store. Kijone sneezes a lot and Kev coughs and breathes really loudly. I was going to mix Dynabac with some ruminant jelly and yeast, but I don't know if that will actually help.

Anyway, I thought I'd make a general rat thread since I don't think there are any?

 

[ratluvr76]

I personally, LOVE rats. in fact, my email is Ratluvr hah.

 

[AlbatrossWarrior]

<3 Yay! I was worried I was the only one!

 

[craze horse]

I had rats as a child, had a male an female briefly before we were over run ! Wasn't until.i was older I found out my mum was taking the babies out as it seemed so frequently. Yes we did get separate cage eventually........

 

[Exuviae]

Rats are really special to me. They were my first and only vertebrate pets so far. I had two sisters, Sunny and Bonsai, who were a red-eyed Himalayan and an agouti self, respectively. Bonsai lived to be just over 3 years old, and Sunny lived to be about 3 and a half years old, but sadly they both had to be euthanized due to cancer. They were some of the sweetest animals I have ever met, and so smart and cute, too! They gave me so much joy. It's been almost a year since Bonsai was put down and half a year since Sunny was put down, and I honestly still miss them both so much. Spoil your little ones while you can. This is my favorite picture of them:

 

[AlbatrossWarrior]

Rats are really special to me. They were my first and only vertebrate pets so far. I had two sisters, Sunny and Bonsai, who were a red-eyed Himalayan and an agouti self, respectively. Bonsai lived to be just over 3 years old, and Sunny lived to be about 3 and a half years old, but sadly they both had to be euthanized due to cancer. They were some of the sweetest animals I have ever met, and so smart and cute, too! They gave me so much joy. It's been almost a year since Bonsai was put down and half a year since Sunny was put down, and I honestly still miss them both so much. Spoil your little ones while you can. This is my favorite picture of them:

Awww <3 It sucks that rats have so many health problems Cancer and tumors are so common in older rats, I am really scared that mine will get something bad.
Rats are so easy to spoil! Mine just stare at me when I have food, like they're begging for it!

 

[High Lord Dee]

No

 

[Exuviae]

I totally get that feeling. To be completely honest, there's a good chance that they'll get tumors if they're unspayed, but my girls each lived for about 6 or 7 months after first noticing the tumors. They don't really seem to bother them, so if it does happen to you, just keep them comfortable and happy and they should still be with you for quite a while.
Haha, yup! I was pretty strict about what I fed mine, but you can bet that basically every time I went to the pet store, I came home with at least one new toy for their cage...

 

[AlbatrossWarrior]

I wish I could get them spayed, but my mom doesn't think they are important enough to spend money on. :L

 

[Illusion]

I keep and breed rats, partly because i enjoy keeping them, partly as food for other animals (always humanely culled first).
I keep dumbos and top-eareds, and have standard coat, rex and hairless. I also have one manx that sprang up in a recent breeding totally by surprise.
My best advice if you want long-lived tumor free rats, get boys! they are much less likely to get tumors (although it does still happen sometimes) and they do really well in groups, they are so fun to watch as they play a lot, often wrestling and charging about.

 

[AlbatrossWarrior]

Yeah, I would love some males, but I would never abandon my baby girls <33 I only feed them what I think is the best food, since it is te only food available near me that has proper ingredients. I'd love a rex, as well, so cute, and I'd never heard of a manx rat, wow! :O They look awesome!

 

[Illusion]

Yeah, I would love some males, but I would never abandon my baby girls <33 I only feed them what I think is the best food, since it is te only food available near me that has proper ingredients. I'd love a rex, as well, so cute, and I'd never heard of a manx rat, wow! :O They look awesome!

I had never intended to breed a manx, as they can have some real issues, but she just popped up, just the one in the whole litter, little 'Tails' The genes must be in their somewhere, trouble is i don't know who mum is as i always breed in groups.
She's very cute, funny looking when she runs but in a cute way. I was so surprised when i first noticed!

 

[AlbatrossWarrior]

I had never intended to breed a manx, as they can have some real issues, but she just popped up, just the one in the whole litter, little 'Tails' The genes must be in their somewhere, trouble is i don't know who mum is as i always breed in groups.
She's very cute, funny looking when she runs but in a cute way. I was so surprised when i first noticed!

She sounds precious <3 My rats are such jerks sometimes xD But I can't stay mad at them because of their adorable faces

 

[SabrinaBoost]

I love rats. I've been looking them up a lot lately. I just recently sold my snake i have had for 9 years because i was tired of feeding him frozen rats (refuse to ever feed live) And i always wound up getting the cutest black/white ones, it made me so sad.. So now that the snake is gone, i am very interested in owning one. How funny lol. Do you have any pictures of yours?

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Rats are cool but only Rattus rattus IMO. The worst, vile, filthy sewers full of tramp folks and diseases they jumps out, the better.

 

[mmfh]

I have owned rats since I've been 15. They are awesome pets. I had a pair of free range rats (Sampson and Nicolas ) but nick passed away 2 weeks ago . I have 2 babies (Abraham and Ezekiel ) they are still bonding with me and learning the world is not a scary place lol

 

[Cavedweller]

I begged my parents for 6 years to let me get a rat, they finally gave in and let me have one for my 10th birthday. Moe was a great little guy, but I only had him for 2 1/2 years. This was long before the days that everything had a camera in it, so this is the only photo I have of him.

Rats are great, but the short lifespan is too sad for me, so I don't think I'll ever keep them again.

Yesterday I saw a rat walking down the stair railing outside my apartment, I was very conflicted. My kneejerk reaction was "awww, rat", but I guess having rats on the porch is bad, lol

 

[Coconana]

I love rats!! I always had them growing up... It all sarted with a giant albino rescue male we named Diamond. He was my sweet old man.

When he passed, we got a pair of grey and black self dumbo brothers. One of them was named Jericho.

After they passed away, we got a hooded agouti female that I don't remember the name of... We came home one night to find that our Rottie mix had strewn her insides all over the living room, like tinsel

I must've been about ten or eleven. Man, I cried my eyes out and gave what was left of her a funeral. I haven't owned rats since, but I did own a few pet mice for a while up until this last year.

I suspect one day, I'll have more; just gotta get the hubby on board (he says no more rodents until we need feeders for the BP's)

 

[AlbatrossWarrior]

I begged my parents for 6 years to let me get a rat, they finally gave in and let me have one for my 10th birthday. Moe was a great little guy, but I only had him for 2 1/2 years. This was long before the days that everything had a camera in it, so this is the only photo I have of him.

Rats are great, but the short lifespan is too sad for me, so I don't think I'll ever keep them again.

Yesterday I saw a rat walking down the stair railing outside my apartment, I was very conflicted. My kneejerk reaction was "awww, rat", but I guess having rats on the porch is bad, lol

Aww, I love the blazed marking on his head. And whenever there is a rodent in my house I always want to keep it, but I guess it's better for everyone to release them, haha

I love rats!! I always had them growing up... It all sarted with a giant albino rescue male we named Diamond. He was my sweet old man.

When he passed, we got a pair of grey and black self dumbo brothers. One of them was named Jericho.

After they passed away, we got a hooded agouti female that I don't remember the name of... We came home one night to find that our Rottie mix had strewn her insides all over the living room, like tinsel

I must've been about ten or eleven. Man, I cried my eyes out and gave what was left of her a funeral. I haven't owned rats since, but I did own a few pet mice for a while up until this last year.

I suspect one day, I'll have more; just gotta get the hubby on board (he says no more rodents until we need feeders for the BP's)

:'( That's horrible. I'm so worried my cat will get into my room, and the rats' cage bars are wide enough for little cat paws. I just hope they are smart enough to stay away from her.

 

[Illusion]

Darn it, I meant to take some photos of some of my gang when i went up to feed them this evening but I totally forgot!
They're in a loft room and it's all the way up a ladder, so i'm not going back up now