Rats

[Flippetydip]

Hi - DD (soon to be 9) has been talking about rats for about 18 months now. We have finally relented and said she can have some for her birthday coming up. I have been in touch with a breeder who said the first thing we need to decide is if we want boys or girls.

So - please help

1. how do you choose?
2. how big a cage for 2?
3. if you let them out of the cage (as I understand they need outside exercise) how do you get them back in?
4. if we shut the bedroom door when they are out will they be OK - we have a greyhound so they cannot have free reign.

Any advice gratefully received.

Bumping this as I would love to know the answers too. My DS who is also 9 is super keen!

Boys are a bit smelly but fairly docile. Girls more affectionate (our were anyway).

You can train them to go back into the cage themselves. A lot of the time they want to. Handle them as much as possible and give lots of treats. We found just sitting on the floor and letting them come to us was a good way to build trust.

You'll be fine shutting the bedroom door as long as there's no gaps to escape down. We had a whippet / greyhound cross at the same time and we just shut the door to the room we were in.

As big a cage as possible to give them lots of room - the love hammocks, old socks, big tubes etc to sleep in.

One of our girls won 'kissiest rat' at a local show

Kissiest rat - that is hilarious! I can't quite believe there are rat shows!

Oh yes. Good fun. We might have 'accidentally' come home with another addition to the family

I had a group of 15 at one point, everyone got fed at bedtime after playtime so they soon learnt that shaking the food tub meant go home for supper

15??!!! OK, that's definitely not happening!

I've just taken on one after a neighbour found it sitting in middle of our road. I've tried to find owner but fear he was dumped. I've bought him brand new equipment and am getting him 2 baby friends on Wednesday. I can't believe how sweet this boy is. He was so skinny but has put on 75g since last Thursday (375g now).

I grew up with rats, OH wasnt keen but was walking around the house with one in his hood within 2 days. I find the boys a bit musky, but bigger and loving. The girls were alot more active, would squabble every now and again. One was an absolute sweetheart the other liked just being inside my jumper and a bit more flighty. Id love to have some again but they do need a decent sized cage.

We have two boys. Best pets ever. Cleverer than the dog (not hard) they sit on our shoulders and watch tv in the evening.

Rats are the absolute best pet ever and great for children. I have the Savic Freddy 2 Max from pets at home. It's a great cage with a really good size door which is handy for hanging hammocks etc up. I have 4 girls in this cage who fit very comfortably. I think it would be good for up to 5 girls or 3 or 4 boys.

I chose girls because they are a bit smaller than boys and a bit more active. My 4 each have different personalities. I have 1 that is super active, 2 that are more cuddly and 1 that likes to snooze. I would recommend going to a reputable breeder for your first rats and handle the babies and choose by personality, that's what I did and they've all ended how I expected.

They absolutely need time out every day for at least an hour I would say. Mine come out on the bed (with a throw because they pee on everything) each night and love running around, climbing all over me and having a snuggle. They are super easy to handle so when it's time for them to go back I just say 'home time' and them jump up my sleeve/on my shoulder and sit there until we get downstairs to their cage. They love sitting on my pockets when I'm wearing jumpers.

Rat Rations is a great website to get hammocks and food, just FYI.

Also, I started off with 2, and a month later I went back to the breeder and got 2 more. I love having 4. It means that someone always has a friend to cuddle if I get 1 or 2 out, and when 1 passes away there will still be a group left and it will be easier to introduce a couple more babies. Just something to think about.