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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to be considering some pet rats?

55 replies

jollymary · 05/10/2011 21:26

Anyone have pet rats? Have DD11 and DS8, hamster and cat. How hard are rats to look after? How cute and cuddly? How smelly (kids will clean out v regularly). Any advice welcome, thankyou.

OP posts:

Arkady · 06/10/2011 01:11

My mum had a rat when I was a teenager. He was fab. He particularly liked sitting on my shoulder. I fondly remember answering the door with him there, and the look on the caller's face when he suddenly stuck his head out of my hair.

OhMyGolly · 06/10/2011 01:23

We have just got pet rats in the last 2 weeks for my daughters birthday. DO NOT GET PET SHOP RATS sorry I had to shout that, but one of ours is a bitey nightmare. This can be avoided by getting breeder rats that are handled daily and fully like humans.

Our rats are starting to come around, however they are hard work and I have been bitten several times, everyone in the family has had a bite .

They are starting to like us, but really, avoid p@h at all costs.

Rats are very good pets though, ours (2 girls) aren't smelly at all, they are also super snuggly when they settle on your shoulder/neck. If you get tame rats to start with they are super pets, very cute and as I say super snuggly and cute when they sit on your shoulder/down your top.

OhMyGolly · 06/10/2011 01:29

Oh also get a cage not an aquarium, they don't have the required air flow, ammonia will build up. I love the fancy rats forum, they are super friendly and helpful.

minimisschief · 06/10/2011 07:40

Agree with everything already said.

another bonus is i have neverhad a pet rat bite me. i am not sure if i am lucy but they tend to be very friendly and loving rather than something like a grumpy hampster that will bite you if you rub it the wrong way.

you can just get the one on its own (if you can manage to do that) but if you did you would have to invest serious time for it because they need the social interaction.

best to get two

splashymcsplash · 06/10/2011 07:57

I have also never been bitten and kept rats for more than 10 years. I think as long as you handle them correctly you are fine. Oh did get bitten a couple of times but he wasn't careful enough with rattie after he had been neutered!

5inthebed · 06/10/2011 12:54

You should get a dumbo rat, just look at those ears!

DS2 wants a rat but Dh has said no. Instead he is getting a bearded dragon

MissTapestry · 06/10/2011 13:41

I had one when I was a teeneager, a huuuge black male called Bubbles. He used to have a cage but the door was pretty much always open so he would hide in the bathroom and wait for guests. When they sat on the loo he'd jump up onto their knee! Oh how we larfed at the screams coming from the toilet . He used to come when he was called and never tried to escape, the only thing he didn't like was bathtime, but even then he put up with it. I wonder if I could persuade DP to let me have another one....

MissTapestry · 06/10/2011 13:41

FFS, *teenager

YouDoTheMath · 06/10/2011 13:45

They're supposed to be great pets for children. They're robust, don't mind a bit of rough handling and allegedly don't bite.

I wanted some when I was young but my mum hates them as much as I hate snakes.

Original poster

jollymary · 06/10/2011 15:34

Yay!!! Thankyou all. We are getting some, have emailed a breeder. We all want them, and am confident we can care for them well. Thankyou everyone!

OP posts:

bluebell8782 · 06/10/2011 17:26

Hello Jolly!
I've ALWAYS wanted rats. I'm now 29 and my husband bought me a cage for Christmas last year - along we went to the rescue centre and got three beautiful boy ratties! Rescue centre were very particular about the cage we got (understandably so) and were very helpful.

Agree that you should always get them from a rescue place or a good breeder - never a shop as they just won't be as sociable (you might get lucky with one) and it will only encourage shops to keep on doing it :(
They are brilliant pets to have. Lots of books even say they are as good as having small dogs. Super personalities, very clever and lots of fun!

Boys tend to scent so can be a bit smellier than girls, but they also tend to be a bit more cuddly. Thing is if you keep the cage cleaned regularly there shouldn't be much smell. They are very sociable and do need to be kept occupied with toys and things to climb etc otherwise they will get bored. You also need to make sure you handle them a lot..we try and do it everyday but not always possible with work.

Be prepared for loss though - our little Minty died this Friday night gone - it really is sad when they go.

So glad you've decided to do this - the amount of people that turn their noses up at the thought of a pet rat is unbelievable!!

As one of the other posters offered - please feel free to PM me if you need any further advice or just to talk about how lovely they are!

Blue xx

Pentagram · 06/10/2011 17:32

I warn you .... they are addictive.

I've had loads over the years - mostly rescue - i got them from a lovely small animal rescue - and all lovely Only ever been bitten once and that was entirely my fault as i surprised a neglected newbie.

Pentagram · 06/10/2011 17:33

I had one once who was literally the size and shape of a dinner plate

WorzselMummage · 06/10/2011 17:34

I used to have rats and they are pretty awesome pets :)

Midori1999 · 06/10/2011 17:35

Rats are absolutely brilliant pets! They don't smell any more than other pet rodents, maybe less so, especially if kept very clean and you can litter train them too, to help keep them cleaner. They are sociable, outgoing, trainable (can be taught to come to their name) and very rarely bite.

I agree a proper breeder is the way to go. It will mean friendlier, healthier rats that are likely to live longer and also support once you have got your rats.

The downsides are they do need a big cage, lots of toys/activities and also need time out of their cage every day.

Pentagram · 06/10/2011 17:36

Wooden pellet cat litter is good for the bottom of cages as it doesn't give them the sniffles so much - they have sensitive noses....

pastawine · 06/10/2011 17:37

i agree about a breeder - the ones we got while lovely didnt seem to have much personality and died young from cancer, we made the mistake of getting them from a pet shop rather than a breeder.

they are lovely pets and id have them again if we had the room. (the cage was massive!)

Pentagram · 06/10/2011 17:41

One last thing .... there is nothing so lovely as watching a rat eat a raw egg - gently lifting off the shell #stickywhiskers

WidowWadman · 06/10/2011 17:46

Rats are great, however don't get very old - usually it's over after 2 to 2.5 years, you can see this as a positive (not tied down for long), however it hurts to let them go so soon, and it was one of the reasons I stopped keeping them.

Aim for a minimum of 2 rats, they're very social. Look for a cage which gives them plenty of space to climb. I used an aviary like this and later built my own out of an IKEA bookshelf and chickenwire. I've also seen some brilliant cages made out of wardrobes - the IKEA Aneboda lends itself very well for that type of conversion as you can easily knock the plastic panel out and replace with chickenwire, so it's open to the front, giving it plenty of air, but it has enclosed sides/back which gives more protection from draught and means litter will only fall out of the front. You need to make sure though to build enough climbing equipment in and leave at least 30 cm between levels so they can stand on their hindlegs comfortably.

I had mostly rescues and would advise against shops. If you go for a shop, don'y buy females unless you want to end up with 20 instead of 2. Rats will be fertile at about 6 weeks of age.

WidowWadman · 06/10/2011 17:51

Oh, and please please stay away from some fancy breeds as they're quite cruel

Rex rats look cute with their curly fur, but having curly whiskers means they're disadvantaged as they can't use them as effectively as straight whiskers, and curly eyebrows are known to stab into eyes.

Dumbos often have hearing problems

Manx rats don't have a tail, which is very important for climbing/balance

Blues often are bleeders.

Please don't support breeders who put looks over welfare

SickleBOO · 06/10/2011 17:56

Love, love, love ratties. One of my girls used to groom my hair. And won 'kissiest rat' at a show once. Miss you Millie
Anyway. YES, GET RATS!!!

Dakiara · 06/10/2011 20:01

Also worth considering homemade rat food - we gave ours Suebee's mix and they loved it. We got lucky with our pet shop rats and one lived to three, the other to three and a half. Still miss them though, lovely cuddly, bright, friendly pets. :)

Lara2 · 06/10/2011 20:09

I started off with 3 rats and within a year I had 4 caes with 16 rats!!! Definately addictive. Sadly, I have no time for them at the moment, so am ratless. Someone once described them as palm puppies!!! How cute! I really miss having a rat on my shoulder, sniffing in my ear, and going to sleep in my hoodie.

Naoko · 10/10/2011 12:45

The issues with some fancy varieties depend to a very large extent on breeder ethics and line. I've never heard about the effectiveness of curly whiskers on rex, but then I've never had a rex so I wouldn't know. Dumbo hearing problems is line specific, rather than an issue with the dumbo variety in general. Same for blue bleeding issues, I know a number of blue breeders and although it was an issue a few years ago it has been bred out by this point in proper breeder lines, I'm not saying there are no blues left with bleeding issues.

I agree on manx rats though, it's just plain cruel. Rats really need those tails for balance. Never pick a rat up by the tail either!

The other variety you need to be careful with is hairless. There are very, very few ethically bred hairless out there, most of them come from backyard breeders or rodent farms.

Pentagram · 10/10/2011 12:52

The only very ill wheezy rat i ever had was a Rex (rescue again) - his name was Dali - God i am so original

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