Aibu to get some rats as a present to myself?

[BloodyCats]

I’v been thinking of it for a while but dh isn’t keen on any more pets, although he wouldn’t be terribly upset and would leave me to care for them.

I’ve not had them before but did look after a friends for a week, they were the most delightful pets ever!

What do I need to know before I get some? Should I?!

Rats make brilliant pets. We have 2.
pros are they are very friendly and easy to tame. Cons are the cage takes up a lot of space and oh moans they are noisy at night.

Be mindful they need watching closely when out of the cage as they are big chewers and can't really be kept alone so if one dies, you have the dilemma of whether to replace or worry about a lonely rat.

I think rats are one of the best pets you can get if you want a child to take some responsibility. When tame they are easy to handle and funny and cute.

Definitely do it!

What you need to know:

• they need company of their own kind, so get at least 2
• they need bigger cages than you think. Google can be more specific than me, but I had a Ferplast Plus for mine (started with 2 rats but it comfortably housed 4)
• they need lots of handling/roaming time; 1hr a day minimum is recommended. Mine were happy to run around the living room, but I had to be very careful that they couldn't chew wires etc! Ended up getting them a child's playpen and putting lots of toys in there. Didn't have to worry about toileting on the floor, as they very reliably used their litter tray
• if their cage has wire bars on shelves, you'll need to cover them with fabric or they can develop bumble foot (I think that's what it's called!!)
• no sawdust as this can irritate their lungs. I used a shredded cardboard mix I think. Lots of people use fabric inserts and then wash and rotate them
• they're clever little sods and will learn their names and can learn tricks if you're patient enough. Boys tend to be more clever and high energy on average, IIRC - although I had all boys and they were sweet and cuddly, so who knows

Lastly and most importantly: please DO NOT buy rats from pets at home. They are not handled properly, and are often incorrectly sexed (so you could end up with tons of rat babies). There are rat breeders, have a look on Google to find one close to you. I travelled about 45 mins on the train for my boys and brought them back in a cat carrier. Think I paid £20 per pair. I miss them! Great pets 😍

I had rats growing up and really miss them!

Go for it!

Meant to add the lack of handling at Pets at Home means you could end up with very nervous, skittish rats. Rats rarely bite, but if not socialised properly from birth, you run the risk of essentially adopting a feral rat who can't bear to be touched. :(

Please consider adopting if you go for it, there are so many waiting for loving homes!

I had a pair of rats, just one now as her cage mate died. Personally I won't get rats again - they need a surprising amount of care and attention. The massive cage is no problem for me but they are quite dirty and need spot cleaning every day, lots of out of cage time and they have to be watched as they are so chewy. Now I'm out of the house all day/home late I don't really have time for them which is the main reason I wouldn't have them again.

Re being left with one, mine has been fine since her sister had to be put down. She's always been a bit stand offish and never wanted to play or be handled much (her sister was very cuddly) so we have a bit of an arms length relationship which isn't much fun but she's happy enough. I hand feed her, bring her out to play when she wants and set her up some fun stuff each evening in her cage for overnight. She sleeps all day and most of the night now, but she is getting old.

Rats grow tumours almost as standard and that can be pretty unpleasant and costly at the vet. The other rat grew a tumour that abscessed, burst and the tumour grew out of the wound as it was healing up - that was very expensive and heartbreaking and of course culminated in having to have her put down. The remaining rat is growing a tumour in her face which looks like it will very soon hinder her ability to eat, which will of course mean she has to be put down too - she is well over two though so she's had a good innings.

They are so, so noisy at night so I wouldn't contemplate having them in the same room you're sleeping in! Mine is two rooms away and she still wakes me up sometimes when she's being particularly enthusiastic about her various cage rearrangement schemes!

Definitely be careful about where the rats come from - don't go to P@H as they will come from a rat factory. Mine came from my local independent pet shop and they only bought their rats from a small scale breeder they knew personally. It meant the supply wasn't necessarily regular (we had to wait a bit) but what they got was well bred and well handled.

They are clever and fun though. My favourite things that mine does are when she clears out her nest bedding into a neat pile precisely every three days and puts it by the cage door so I know to collect it and put in fresh, and that she hates carrot so much that if I leave it in her veg bowl she will bring it to the cage door and give it back to me! Super cute.

Make sure you get the biggest cage you can, they need loads of space and things to keep them occupied (things to climb, chew, sleep in etc), make sure you get a minimum of 2 (3 is a nice number) and make sure you have lots of time to spend with them.

But yes, get the rats!

Love ratties 🐀 go to a fancy rat show and meet a breeder you will enjoy looking at all the fancy rats too.

Do you want to adopt the ones in my attic?!!!

I'd love some but no room. Get some and enjoy!

I used to keep rats and so did my mum. They are brilliant pets and I would have them again, but they need a lot of attention and care (you absolutely MUST get them out for a few hours every single day and they need supervising during that time as they chew electrical wires and get into everything) and can be very whiffy, even with daily cleaning. And unless they are very young when you get them, they may not be used to handling.

Personally I don't think it's ever advisable to bring pets into a home where one person doesn't want them, particularly pets that will have quite an impact on the family home in terms of the amount of space, time and attention they will take up.

Rats make lovely pets, you can litter train them so the mess and smell isn't so much of an issue, but the biggest problem we found was you can't buy a big enough cage.
I bought an old wooden wardrobe, added shelves and plastic trays from underbed storage boxes to make 5 levels connected by ramps and knotted ropes,, and added a wire front.
They also need time running around loose, and they pee every few feet to scent mark.
You can get males neutered to reduce the scent, but they are a higher risk under anesthetic than larger animals.

They are wonderful pets, charming, intelligent and full of character

BUT

They chew everything. Wires, clothes, carpet. They really do smell quite a bit, and the more you clean them, the more scent they will pump out to mark their territory.

And, this is why I don't have them now, they die young and unpleasantly, always. Very short lifespans ending, as a pp has pointed out, in tumours, or some horrible thing where they bleed out through their noses. I've read somewhere that pet rats ate descended from laboratory stock who were bred for a tendency to get tumors, don't know if that's true.

Oh and it's really hard to get anyone to look after them when you go away as the cage is so massive and many, many people hate rats.

Yes! Rats are lovely. I haven't kept them myself but friends have had a large cage and filled it with fuzzbutt stuff.

Oh yes, the end of life can be awful. One of mine slowly lost the use of his back legs, which is apparently quite common. He spent a while dragging himself around and I had to clean his bum every day until he was PTS (he was still happy for a while, just couldn't climb, so I had to rearrange the cage for him until his quality of life declined and he stopped eating/grooming himself).

And PP are correct about chewing - we had holes in our bedsheets and my boyfriend's expensive wool coat 😬

On balance I think they're absolutely worth it, and will probably get more one day after our dog is gone - but they're nothing like hamsters in terms of "easy small pets", they really are like tiny dogs in cages personality-wise.

I was rather reluctant when DS said he wanted pet rats but quickly became a rat-convert.

Absolutely gorgeous creatures. So friendly & smart. They would respond to their names or the opening of a treat packet like mini dogs too.

We sadly lost our two at the same time as one of them had dragged a marker pen into the cage & they'd eaten it Poor, silly things poisoned themselves & we didn't realise exactly how until we moved the nest.

I have a new found love and respect for rat-friends.

Do it! I had two male rats about 10 years ago and, other than the dog I have now, they were the best pets I've ever had. They were very intelligent, funny, brilliant characters, loving, very clean and just wonderful companions. They made brilliant pets and I was devastated when I lost them, I still miss them! I wish they lived for much longer

Yes definitely get some pet rats!!

Me and my oh have 2 sisters, we adopted them at about 1 year old from pets at home.
In our first house, as I had just finished uni we were living with 6 other people (well OH lived with me when he was back from offshore) we let them have run of our room for a few hours and then back in the cage.

The house we live in now, they have the pantry room to themselves, houses to sleep in, ropes to climb and cage but free roam(which they love)

as others have said, you need a large cage and they will chew through everything they can. But I can honestly say, they are the most adorable, friendly, loving baby girls and they make my night.

One night Patsy stole a corn on the cob, ran to the end of the bed, jumped off (it was a low bed) and ran in to a cupboard to go eat it!

Unfortunately edwina is really unwell and we are going to have to get her put to sleep, but they have out lived the life expectancy, they’re about 4.5 now! Keep bawling my eyes out going in to see them both, but happy we have given them a great life and they have given us an amazing 4.5 years!

Get some! They honestly are so easy to look after and will bring so much joy to your life!

There’s some in my garden that you’re more than welcome to op. If you don’t mind rounding them up yourself, like

Another one saying yes to getting rats but please not from pets at home!

When I was younger and DH and I were living together for the first time we wanted a pet, we weren’t allowed a dog in the rented flat and I’d always wanted rats so we decided to go for them. Regretfully I didn’t really look into the details of where to get them from as much as I should (I know better now!) and we got a pair from pets at home.

The poor girls were terrified. They would covert away if I tried to touch them and were not at all the cuddly friendly animals I’d expected. It took literally months and months of trying to get them to come near me. I even used to have a couple of vest tops I’d wear in the day and then put in their cage to try and get them used to my smell!

They were lovely in the end but it was really hard work to begin with and I feel awful that I contributed by buying them from pets at home, breeders are a much much better idea.

Enjoy your ratties!

I absolutely love rats! I am an adopt don't shop kind of person but I really recommend going to a breeder for your first set of rats. I tried to get some from a rescue but ended up going to a breeder and I'm really glad I did. I got 2 at first and then went back about a month later and got 2 more to add to my original 2. I love having 4, they are a great little group and as they are so sociable it means they always have someone to hang out with.

They can be smelly, but mine are litter trained and their cage base/hammocks are all fleece which makes cleaning and keeping on top of smells pretty easy. They do pee on everything, so be prepared for that, and they will chew holes in your clothes! But their cute little faces are easy to forgive!

I love rats. Currently have 4 and have had others in the past.

They are very hard work though, a lot more work than a cat, for example. Making sure they have sufficient free-range time is the biggest bind. We get up early to give the rats an hour running around in the morning before work and go straight home after work to let them out for the evening. No weekday evening out for humans in our household.

Also, they will destroy things. We're lucky enough that none of the current four are wire-chewers but most of my previous ones have been. They will likely damage electronics, furniture and clothing during their lives.

Litter training for poops is seldom a problem but male rats will scent mark everywhere. Some of the females do too.

If you have other pets, and it sounds like you do, then I'd only recommend it if your other pets are low maintenance (and not cats or dogs).

If DH isnt fully onboard, I wouldnt get them. They are lovely, rewarding pets but, if you're being a diligent rat-parent, they will absolutely take over your life for 2-4 years.