keeping rats is quite addictive...

Street rats are disgusting! Urgh! They're icky and horrible.
Pet rats are nice and lovable! :D

And meggy, your mouth scares me :(

(Edit: Just noted - the jaw in your sig can have my sig's upper face! :D Genius :D)
 
We had 2 rats and they were the best pets. They had the run of the place in the evenings and would go from person to person, just sitting on your shoulders for a while before moving on. Sadly they both succumbed to cancer, but I would recommend them to anyone wanting a small pet. Much better than hamsters or gerbils who are annoying, irritating creatures of the night.

By the way, the rats got on very well with the cats as long as the cats understood who was boss.
 
sara said:
For you guys who let them have the run of the rooms in the evening - did you have a wee litter tray in the corner, or what? Really curious...
Click to expand...

I had rats and let them roam every evening in the living room. Apart from the rare little dribble to mark their territory they were very good and would hold it until they got back in their cage :) Even from the first few times we let them out they never went to the toilet outside of their cage.
 
Matthew.M said:
I had rats and let them roam every evening in the living room. Apart from the rare little dribble to mark their territory they were very good and would hold it until they got back in their cage :) Even from the first few times we let them out they never went to the toilet outside of their cage.
Click to expand...
Amazing. Were they males?

Can't wait to get mine :)
 
sara said:
For you guys who let them have the run of the rooms in the evening - did you have a wee litter tray in the corner, or what? Really curious...
Click to expand...

My rat only went outside his cage the first day we had him, because he was nervous. He didn't bite though. After that first day, he always went in a corner in his cage.

RIP Bobble.
 
I've just bought me a cage :D Bargain £50 incl. delivery!

60317.jpg


It has rave reviews but the bar spacing is fairly wide, so going to attach some B&Q mesh to it while the critters are small :D Now just got to wait a couple of months until I can get my baby boys from the breeder!
 
I know hamsters and gerbils are nocturnal, but was never sure about rats?

Do their sleeping patterns change when you have them as pets or do they still sleep through the day?
 
As far as I understand they are nocturnal too, but might adjust their sleeping a little bit so they're up in the early evening when you get home etc...
 
I don't know the technical term but rats aren't strictly nocturnal - they are active in the evening and the morning - i.e they sleep for 6 hours, wake for a bit, sleep for another 6 hours, wake for a bit etc etc.

Mine are usually awake from 8-midnight and about 6am till 9am, then about 2pm-3pm
 
Woop woop woop it's massive :D Got the chicken wire today too, now just awaiting some toys (hammock, tube, bed, rope). Bought this stuff because it was all on offer, but having it is making it more infuriating that I've got to wait for the rats themselves... well, better than an unprepared impulse buy, eh...

DSCF1636%20(Custom).JPG
 
sara said:
Amazing. Were they males?

Can't wait to get mine :)
Click to expand...

Sorry didn't see this reply earlier, yes they were males :)

A small note of caution, the first few times they come in contact with you they may try to "taste" you, this involves them putting their teeth on your finger and licking it. Try to relax and let them do this, they'll soon learn your not food and wont do it again. It doesnt hurt at all just feels weird, and the instinctive response when you feel teeth is to jab away, try not to do this!! If you do and you startle the poor rat it'll clamp down like its life depends on it which'll scare the poor guy, and you get bitten :p Most people mistake this tasting as an actual bite, or provoke it into biting by moving suddenly. But like I said just relax and let them get on with their business and no pain will be involved and it's doubtful they'll do it again :)
 
We managed to steal a huge cage off my housemates brother the other day and the rats are loving it :D But who wouldn't love a ceiling hammock and paddling pool!

cage.jpg



peekaboo.jpg


And how both of them fit into that tiny house I'll never know!
 
Simmy said:
We managed to steal a huge cage off my housemates brother the other day and the rats are loving it :D But who wouldn't love a ceiling hammock and paddling pool!



And how both of them fit into that tiny house I'll never know!
Click to expand...

That's the exact cage we used to keep our ratties in :D They loved it.
 
That is the same cage that belongs to the 3 girls I'm rat-sitting for now :) (dumbos)

I'm thinking of naming our house "The Rattie Hotel" - Phillip went home sunday and the girls got dropped off yesterday morning :D

Maybe there could be a business idea here - The Rattery :D
 
Yeah, all my rats were (and sometimes are) quite licky - they do learn after a while thou. only sometimes if I startle one of them and they think its food they will launch at it but realise at the last minute and don't clamp down, lol :)

my black one is still unnamed :(
 
This thread makes me think of all my rats I've had. I'm not allowed any now as I'm at uni. :(

It's really interesting how rats have really taken off as pets, when I first got one of mine there was nothing you could buy for them, I had to make tunnels etc using cardboard tubing from carpets as everything was too small and designed for mice.

A couple of my rats used to get a little carried away when they thought my hand was food, they would grab it and bite it then realise and lick it instead. We used to let them wonder all around any room we were in, they were out between 4 and 8 hours a day. I regularily took one of them to supermarkets and even on a paper round in my armpit. Every so often she would come up and peek over my collar and scare some poor person witless. :p

Ill post some pics a little later.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom