pet rat?

[RustBottum]

I was thinking about getting a pet rat or maybe fostering some. Are rats good pets?
Does anyone on here own rats? Can someone please tell me how to care for a pet rat?

[Slap Maxwell]

Rats are AWESOME pets. They are smart and lovable.

http://www.petratscanada.com/ratcare.htm

[RustBottum]

Ok i have to ask my mom and i'm not sure if she will let me but i am very interested in getting some or maybe fostering. There is a shelter in MA that is for rats and other small animals and they are in need of foster homes.

[Slap Maxwell]

Kim's Ark right?

[RustBottum]

yes Kim's Ark, i also saw this rat that i absolutely love her name is Sheila. I am not sure what my mom will say.
How big shoudl their cage be? Can i use grids?

[Slap Maxwell]

I would use the kid's grids. Males are more cuddley and females are more adventerous. I would build them a 2x2 or 2x3 with at least three levels.

[RustBottum]

Ok well i am jsut investigation on them. I am not sure i am getting any or fostering. I was just an idea i had a few days ago! Thanks for your help Slap!

[Slap Maxwell]

No problem.

[DragonTamer]

Kim's Ark is wonderful... I was shocked to see anyone mention them here, hehe! I've done transport for them for a while (stopped this past year, however. I can't travel much right now and I have a rescue litter I've been trying to adopt out since November).

a few basics to rats:
they need to be kept in same sex pairs or groups.

A lot of commercial and readily available rat food is... well.. bad.. so research what you're feeding them. Many of us use mixes with high quality low protein dog food as a staple with added other things (cereals, soy nuts, fresh fruits and veggies, etc), others use harlan teklad lab blocks which you can get from Kim's Ark.

Wire cages should be no more than 1/2 inches wide spaced bars. a normal 1 inch by 1 inch wire spaced C&C cube cage may be OK for LARGE adult males, but females will squeeze through and young rats will be gone fast (at least they return to their cages, but I'd hate to think of one getting their heads stuck). Best cages we all recommend is Martin's www.martinscages.com. If you want to know the dimensions, check here: http://www.kristinewickstrom.homeste...nelApplet.html
remember that floor space is MORE important than height, though.

rats are awesome.. they make great pets and I've kept them for 11 years now.. the BIGGEST downside to them would be their very short life spans.. they live 2-3 years, and many unspayed females die from tumors (males as well but I've had more problems with getting female tumors removed than ever with males). Also they have a lot of respiratory problems... and the cheap 2 dollar rat will very quickly become the expensive 200 dollar rat when you add up those vet bills.. trust me there *smiles*

[Myspoiltpiggies]

I've heard rats are good pets! I've personally had bad experience with them ( I got 2 females from a petshop.. (this was years ago) they were kept in a tiny cage, and they banged the door of the cage shut each time they closed it which caused the rats to jump high in the air! I haven't been to the petshop in ages but they really are awful. Well we brought them home and they had a really big cage.. but they never became fully tame through being in this petshop and they were quite old when we bought them so I doubt they were ever handled at young age. We handled them often and gave them floortime - there would be a bite now and again, but they were getting tamer. In the end one of them (Autumn) died of Phneomonia (don't know if I spelt it right!) The other one (Kirby) was lonely without her sister. We got in touch with a lady with about 5 rats and she said she would house Kirby with them. I think she is/was happy with them. So I was quite unlucky with my rats. They never grew that fond of people ( But in most cases I think they are lovely!?

[Slap Maxwell]

The only problem I see with Martin's Cages are the GP ones. The 'standard' is equal to a 1x2 C&C cage, about 2.3 sq. ft.

[DragonTamer]

no clue about their GP cages.. but I have two martin's RUUD rat cages for my males and females.. and I love them (although they're 40 lbs and are a pain to lug into the shower to scrub.. but fun to decorate with hammocks and such). if you go to the rat section you can see the cage on the bottom.. it's 5 feet tall!

I've had good experiences and bad ones with rats.. but I used to help with rescues a lot, and I have a thing for biters especially. Right now I have a rat who lunges at you and bites without mercy... which is horrible.. we have no idea what happened to her, but I adopted her and her litter of 14 (17, 3 died) to raise and try to rehome. I took her and her babies because she was the one I believed had the least likely chance of finding a good home.. they were turned in by a very young boy who had something like 13+ rats, all pregnant...

here's the rat, Badger. She lives in one of the RUUDs with her 4 daughters, and 5 other girls who are my pets.. but her four daughters are adoptable still (but they can stay with me as long as they'd like.. I've already turned down a couple applications.. approved one but they turned around and didn't want them anymore).

[Slap Maxwell]

What a cutie!

[RustBottum]

she is adorable!!!

[bromers]

i want a rat now.

[Teria]

Rats are amazing pets. I had four, all females. They are very intelligent and make great companions, very loving and trustful if handled right. Sadly, they have been bred to develop cancer, so three of my girls got horrible tumors and had to be put to sleep. This is why I don't want a rat again. Otherwise, I can only recommend them.

[stitsy&codyPig]

Rats are great pets. I have one male, and he is so sweet. I got him when he was 6 weeks old. He is a cool little pet. They are not hard to care for. Mine rides around on my shoulder all day. The hardest thing for me is that I live in Texas and it is very hot, and rats overheat easily. But they are the cutest little things, my guinea pig and rat are good friends.