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Original poster

Rats or guinea pigs for Christmas?

46 replies

Impulsesealer · 26/08/2018 17:01

Ds has been bugging for a pet for ages so I’ve decided to get him one for Christmas (don’t flame me! They will be well loved) but we can’t decide between rats or guinea pigs, or is there any other small pet I should be considering?

Also where do you get these pets from if not pets at home? I’ve not heard great things about them but I might be wrong?
Would you get the pets ready for Christmas Day or give an I.O.U voucher?

OP posts:

Aprilshowersinaugust · 27/08/2018 11:47

Rats are great! I had 3 brothers when I was a dc, they had the run of our flat when I got in from school!
Brill pets!

QueenOfCatan · 27/08/2018 12:22

Definitely rats, and I'd always recommend at least 3 tbh. We had an incident with one of our first pair and for a few days we didn't know if he'd survive, this was within 6 weeks of getting them so I wad frantically calling breeders trying to find somebody with another male ready to go as the breeder we used hadn't got any.

Go with an nfrs breeder if possible and you may have to expect to travel a bit to get them. It's worth it though. Our latest 3 came from a breeder 1.5hrs away and they are wonderful. Well worth the drive! And we got to see the breeder's set up which is handy to see (and her Gambian pouchies! Beautiful creatures).

Cages have to be very big. Aviaries make decent rat cages for youngish and agile rats (with lots of hammocks to break falls!) but a lot of "rat" cages are not big enough at all. You have to be careful of bar spacing too as females and young rats can get out of big bar spaces! We have a savic royal suite, bloody expensive but I love it, we are only using half at the moment for our small mischief but one day the entire thing will come out again. It's really easy to clean and set up, something that can be an issue in the larger cages with small doors. But it is very expensive.

It's handy to have a couple of small single level cages hanging around too as hospital cages as when they injure themselves they aren't very good at resting and not climbing. We have a carrier sized one that we use instead of a carrier as we found they preferred that to a carrier when it needed to be used, it was helpful for long car journeys too as you can attach a water bottle to a cage.

bengalcat · 27/08/2018 12:27

Either . I love rats and they make great pets . We have Guinea pigs - two boys my daughter brought back from the city farm she volunteers at - they make me look healthy when I buy their veggies from Waitrose with my wine - they also have biscuit and hay - live inside in a cage but in the summer have an outside run ( we bring in at night just in case mr fox gets them ) .

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Original poster

Impulsesealer · 27/08/2018 13:02

Thanks everyone, think I am leaning towards rats! Will have a look for massive cages

OP posts:

EnidButton · 27/08/2018 13:14

I think getting some of the stuff and going with him to choose the actual animals would be better than giving him the pets on Christmas Day. Just because it's an extra exciting day with lots of things going on and the first day with his new pets should be a calmer one to ease them into things. Plus I know half my excitement as a child would come from looking forward to getting them and going to buy them myself. Stretches it all out a bit. You can include a How to type book in the present so he can read up on them first too.
He'll be so excited!

EnidButton · 27/08/2018 13:15

By 'getting some of the stuff' I mean like others have said and wrapping the cage etc up for Christmas Day.

KathrynOfArrogance · 27/08/2018 13:19

We lost our poor piggy six weeks ago
He was like a small cat used to sit on the sofa with us
A proper little character

bastardkitty · 27/08/2018 13:25

Love you little piggy so much. So sad.

bastardkitty · 27/08/2018 13:25

*your

0h · 27/08/2018 13:32

We got guinea pigs in January and I'm now obsessed with them. I can talk about them for hours!

They get pretty fat and big and are perfect for cuddling and petting. Rats may be smarter but they won't keep your lap warm!

Ours are in the living room so get masses of interaction so are entertaining little pets as they get used to you and come when called and seem to love it when we laugh at their antics so do it all the more!

These are my boys - they are a lot smaller here but I don't have a recent pic that's person free! Look at those wee faces, there was parsley just out of shot.

KathrynOfArrogance · 27/08/2018 13:33

@bastardkitty thanks! He was such a cool little chap!

0h · 27/08/2018 13:36

His colouring is amazing. Love his wee ginger face and white body!

KathrynOfArrogance · 27/08/2018 13:36

@0h I couldn't agree more, the more you put in the more you get back. Such great little individual personalities! The noises they make and their little bums when they walk!
I really need another one or two or seven
But I've just had a baby and OH won't let me
cries

KathrynOfArrogance · 27/08/2018 13:38

Ps I could post pictures all day but this post isn't about me is it hehe

@Impulsesealer please watch some videos on piggies popcorning! And please rescue some pigs, there are a lot at rescue centres :)

TroysMammy · 27/08/2018 13:40

Rats. They don't wee everywhere and they can be toilet trained. They can be trained to do tricks and sit on your shoulders. Guinea pigs don't.

KathrynOfArrogance · 27/08/2018 13:42

Pigs can be toilet trained to an extent also :)

0h · 27/08/2018 13:44

Guinea pigs can also be toilet trained and most definitely will sit on your shoulder. That's their favourite spot! The can snuggle in (licking my face occasionally) while surveying their domain and demanding any food if you dare walk past rustling something!

bastardkitty · 27/08/2018 13:49

Piggies definitely toilet train.

SheepyFun · 27/08/2018 14:02

Rats are awesome - we have three. However I should warn you that we were on a waiting list for over 6 months to get them, and Christmas is closer than that.

Our cage has a footprint of 0.5m by 1m, and is about 1.3m high. The breeder sent us suggestions, and insisted on seeing a photo of the cage before she would hand the rats over. The rats had been well handled before we got them, so they were socialised rather than scared.

I think you mentioned a cat. You will (obviously) need to keep the cat and the rats apart - a local cat got into the bedroom with the rats in (through a first floor window; we now have a screen for it), and they were terrified for the next couple of weeks. Our rats at least would not appreciate regular encounters with a cat!

fluffypudcats · 27/08/2018 14:04

What about a house rabbit? Toilet trainable and can go outside in a run

QueenOfCatan · 27/08/2018 16:45

A big thing about rats that you also need to consider is time. They need a lot of interaction, I'm not sure if it's true for Guinea pigs too but ideally rats should have at least an hour of interaction a day. It's something to think about as they are very intelligent and get bored easily. Cage set ups should change regularly too to give them something new to explore.

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