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Yes, many people think of these animals as annoying pests, but they are quite the opposite. With their incredible intelligence and a soft, warm attitude, these rodents make the perfect pets!
It is a well-kn own fact that male rats and female rats have different attitudes. For instance, males are more cuddly, while females love to explore!

They come in a variety of colors and markings, even some breeds with different ears, fur types, and sadly Manxes, which have no tail...

Dumbo eared rats are very popular and quite cute! Thay have slightly larger, rounder ears located more on the sides of their heads.

Hairless rats are also popular. They usually are not completely hairless, they sometimes have patches of curly fur.

Rex rats have curly fur and whiskers! These rats can be bred to produce hairless and Rex rats.

These animals, with their level of intelligence, need lots of cage space and toys. But they also desprately need a compainion. Otherwise they will become lonely.

So, any thoughts on rats? Comments?

I must say they are epic pets, and I currently own 4 females, two Dumbos are two Standards. They are very fun to watch with their antics! Haha.

I don't own a rat, but I do have a male fancy mouse. He is fun to watch, however, I can't hold or pet him, he's too afraid. He does like to nibble on my fingers though.

But anyways, I wouldn't mind owning a rat in the future.

All I can say is that they're cute. Never owned one, don't know if I ever will, but I like them.

Thanks for the input!

Mighty- I've considered mice as pets before. Because I have a LOT of old HamsterTrail type cages, and my rats are too big for them. But once I realized how small they were, i decided against it. Haha.

Yea rats really are a nice choice. I'll add some pictures to the topic soon.

I own a male curly-coated dumbo-eared brown rat named Ronny Rizat, a brown normal-eared female named Tobi and a white female curly-coated dumbo-eared with a silver head named Tink.

YES, the girls are in a different cage from the boy. I'm not stupid, I know rats can reproduce VERY quickly.


They are my babies, I love these 3 rats. I breed them every few months so I have the offspring as food for my python.

No, I'm not a heartless wretch. Snakes need to eat, too. It's called the circle of life. Simba would eat Bambi if he could.


On a side note, I have 3 female gerbils named Lucy (black), Johanna (Burmese) and Sandy (agouti) and 2 male gerbils, Willy (albino) and Wonka (silver). My male and female gerbils are also in separate cages.


And...I have a panda hamster named Po. Because he's a Syrian hamster, he doesn't need extra company. Syrian hammies are loners. I've had Russian dwarf hamsters, too, and they were very cute and friendly, but I prefer my Po-Po. And yes, he looks like Po from Kung-Fu Panda, and is just as fat

All of my rodents are friendly, gentle and very handleable. They never bite. They love to give kisses


I've always had bad luck with mice. They either chew out of VERY expensive 'hamster habitat' cages I've had, or they cannibalize each other, despite having plenty of food. They are also very difficult to tame; always biting.

So I have a bit of respect for anyone who has a friendly pet mouse.

Yeah, I have one! Her name is Voodoo. She is so cute and such a sweet heart. She's about 6 months old, and very pretty small for a rat. But I love her, she's perfect.

I've also had three other rats in the past. Two of them were white, and one was cream colored.

The one I have now is dark gray and white.

:]

Again, thanks for the response!


That is a smart idea, to reduce the costs for buying feeder rats!

I've had two others beside my four now, that I've personally taken care of. The three I had when I was younger were more like family-type pets, with my parents helping me take care of them...


I had a tan/champagne colored Hooded girl named Nut. She was called rattail fondly by many. Haha. She was a sweet girl, and was the "Pioneer" of herself and Berry. I usually introduced her to others, to show them how awesome rats are!

I also had a baby girl named Scarlette, whom I suspect had myco, or some other lung disease. She made a little coughing/chattering sound at times. But she was very innocent and loved me very much so. She was a little "lab rat" or a PEW(pink eyed white).

Well all I can say, is I've really only had one SUPER nice dwarf hamster. And I probably won't keep anymore rodents other than rats. I've fallen in love with them. :3


It's nice to hear such stories of sweet rats, though!

I love rats as pets more than any mice and hamster. They are very intelligent. I once had 3 hooded rats.
My first male named Tonio was my favourite pet. He was really lovely. We had to put him down due to his old age problems.
I kinda regret having my second rat, a female named Mafia. I began to have her while I still had my first male, and after he died, I used to have a cat too, so she didn't got to run free in a house so much like they used to, plus she was biting completely EVERYTHING she found when I was letting her go... Though she was funny when she used to bite my cat xD We put her down because of cancer.
My third and last(for now) rat was a male named Goku. He had quite unique personality and he never liked to sit on my arm like my other rats did, but he was a very nice pet too. He died of old age.

I wish I had a rat again, but now since I gave away my rat stuff and that I'm planning to move to live with my boyfriend, it would be difficult to get another one.

Aww, they sound like they were very sweet!

Yeah I have that problem too, I want to free-range, and I CAN put my cats in a room away from them, but Larka tends to want to go inside of my dad's essy chair. Pretty much every time we let them play on the couch and let our guards down for. Asecond...