Anyone here have pet rats?

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ajevans

New Member
Location
Birmingham
Just curious....

My new girlfriend's got a hamster and it's made me nostalgic for keeping rats like I did as a teenager.

Very tempted to get some now.
 

Mr Phoebus

New Member
I looked after my friends African Rat while he went on holiday.
It was nearly as big as the cat:ohmy::biggrin:
 
my mate's got three and they stink, i'd never get one! had to feed them while he was on holiday, they almost had my arm off.
 

Big Bren

New Member
Location
Yorkshire
Male rats stink because they're incontinent.

I kept rats some years ago (females!) and found them to be ace pets - intelligent, inquisitive and very robust. The only downside I recall was that their teeth grow like fingernails, so if you don't give them an appropriate chewy thing to grind them down, they have to be snipped by the vet.

Bren
 
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ajevans

ajevans

New Member
Location
Birmingham
stink? Rats don't have a natural odour likes mice or hamsters (males have a habit of scent marking though). They only stink if you don't clean them out enough.

It's also super-rare to get bitten by one.

Those African Giant Pouch rats are huge! Clever too, they're used to sniff out mines.
 
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ajevans

ajevans

New Member
Location
Birmingham
Keith Oates said:
I can't imagine any reason for keeping vermin as pets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My mom thought the same thing when I was a teenager, she soon fell in love with mine.

Pet rats are the same species as the Brown rat, but bred to be docile and more interesting colours. They make much more interesting and intelligent pets than hamsters, rabbits etc.

You soon form a bond with them. When I used to enter the room, they'd run to the edge of the cage for some fuss. They particularly like to ride around your shoulder snuggled up to your neck.
 

Joe

Über Member
I used to keep rats, they were amazing. One of mine, who was the tiniest thing, had twelve babies in one litter!

I was just checking out those African pouched rats on youtube and came across this:


Amazing:biggrin:
 

Mr Phoebus

New Member
Joe said:
I used to keep rats, they were amazing. One of mine, who was the tiniest thing, had twelve babies in one litter!

I was just checking out those African pouched rats on youtube and came across this:


Amazing:biggrin:

Blimey!!! If the Andrex puppy saw that, it'd sh*t itself!!!
 

Peyote

New Member
Vermin are just animals in the wrong place, just like weeds are plants in the wrong place (ignore the fact that 'wrong ' is subjective).

So rats can be vermin to one person, and pets to another, and to a third they could be their next meal!

By sister used to have a rat, she was called Badger (the rat, not my sister) it was really cute, far friendlier than the half dozen guinea pigs we had.
 

Keith Oates

Janner
Location
Penarth, Wales
Mr Phoebus;35781][quote name= said:
I can't imagine any reason for keeping vermin as pets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You keep mosquitoes, don't you???????????????????????????[/QUOTE]

I don't keep them from choice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Peyote said:
Vermin are just animals in the wrong place, just like weeds are plants in the wrong place (ignore the fact that 'wrong ' is subjective).

Quite right, to a cattle farmer, foxes are excellent animals that work hard at keeping down the rabbits that eat the grass his cattle need. To the adjoining sheep farmer they're vermin.
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Patrick Stevens;36036][QUOTE=Peyote said:
Vermin are just animals in the wrong place, just like weeds are plants in the wrong place (ignore the fact that 'wrong ' is subjective).

Quite right, to a cattle farmer, foxes are excellent animals that work hard at keeping down the rabbits that eat the grass his cattle need. To the adjoining sheep farmer they're vermin.[/QUOTE]


Whereas, to Patrick 'man o' the wild' Stevens, they're Goulash...;)
 
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