I love rats. They do make great pets. The only bad experiences I've ever had with them, I bought one from a pet store without really handling her there and she turned out to be mean. IDK, she just didnt like me. Also because she had babies, maybe that's why she became mean. So one bad experience out of all the rats I've ever owned.I keep hearing about the great things about pet rats, but what about you owners who've had bad experiences?
There is something very fishy about these rodent questions asked by Amanda L. that are getting a massive number of votes, as revealed by her list of questions in her profile. Her's are the only questions that get this number of votes. This is called Point-gaming at YA, and it has to be reported.
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I loved my rat. I did not shop carefully for him though and he was only a feeder rat from a pet shop. He did not live long. My only regret was that vets at the time told me only to feed him pellets and seeds- bad idea and that when he got sick, there was no one who would treat him. Vets are changing though and the internet mean that good information is at your finger tips.
They do wee on you, especially the boys, so don't be skittish of pee if you get a rat.
Usually the only bad things that happen with rats are when people get them from a bad pet store where they have not been handled enough. If they buy a rat that is not very tame it won't be as friendly and may even bite. This causes some people to think that rats are not a good pet, where it wasn't the rat's fault.
With a good, properly socialized rat, you will experience very little problems. I'm not sure exactly what kinds of things you are looking for, but here's a few 'bad things' I can think of:
1. Rats are prone to respiratory infections and tumors, and getting those under control can sometimes be a frustrating and costly battle.
2. Rats do chew, and they chew on everything they can get their hands on. If anything is within an inch or two of their cage, they can and will grab and destroy it.
3. Rats do take a lot of time and space, and if you cannot spend more than 1 hour per day with a rat, you probably should get something that doesn't like to be handled as much.
4. Rats don't live very long, on average 2-3 years. Considering the impact they make on your life while they are with you, it can be awful to lose them so soon.
When raised properly (and often even if they aren't), rats do not bite aggressively. I have owned probably about 100 rats in my lifetime and have only ever had two that were aggressive enough to attack me. I've only ever been bitten to where it broke the skin three times.
For more information about rats please visit my website (link in profile) or feel free to email or IM me by clicking the link in my profile. I'm always happy to talk rats!
EDIT: You should select your new pet carefully so that it doesn't get a chance to be mean. If you happen to get one that is, there are steps you can take to try to tame him but if he is truly aggressive there isn't a lot you can do. Read the Behaviour section of my website (link in profile) for more about mean rats and trust training.
I had rats when I was younger, I can not really remember but they both died of tumors.(They were both female).
some of them are mean (or can turn mean)
I've seen the consequences of people buying rats and being unprepared. The worst experiences I've had are rats dying, and socializing a rat that was neglected. Death comes way too soon for rats, and its a sad experience when they have such great personalities. Socializing the neglected rat was a long road, but she turned into a cuddly, loving kissy rat after some hard work. I feel there are very few who are naturally mean, just owners who are inexperienced with animals, or just don't care enough to handle the animals the way they need to be. People buy them thinking they're just a pet to pick up, pet for a few minutes and put away, like most people do with hamsters. They don't realize that rats are far more intelligent, and with that intelligence comes bad behavior if they're ignored, neglected and not given the time to exercise their minds. Most animals, humans included, develop mental issues when left alone and deprived of contact, either with the same species or another. That leads to problems that the owners claim is aggression, or just a bad animal in general, when its because of how its being treated. I saw a rat today, that I'm debating adopting, that was literally dropped off in a shoebox. She's a rex, with some unusual markings, so its most likely not a 'pet store' rat in this area. She's completely fearful of humans, and very, very dirty looking. Someone hasn't cared for her at all, and you can tell. I'm waiting for her health checks to come back and then she's most likely going to come home and I bet within a month she's kissy and loving like my other two. My boyfriend has been bitten by random rats twice. I was examining some babies, and my boyfriend decided to put his hand right in front of the mommas face to let her smell his hand, and she didn't seem to like the way he did that, so she bit. About 2 minutes later she was sitting there enjoying him scratching her ears. The other was earlier today with the neglected rat, he put his hand in the tank and she did a run by bite. Neither bites were horrible, and neither were the rats fault.
I also believe that most dog bites and other animal attacks are caused by people, not animals. So any bad experience people have with an animal is generally caused by something that the person did, whether not caring for the animal in right way, providing the proper stimulus or training it in the right way.
I have had the good, the bad, and the ugly, of keeping rats as pets over the last 12 years. I have had a few bad experiences and I could tell you some of the bad experiences of hundreds of others but I'm not going to air that here at YA. There's too much information to list here. If you want to know more please e-mail me at spazrats@yahoo.ca
If you want to know more about pet rats and their care join one of the pet rats-only Yahoo forums. Two of the many groups that I belong to are:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ratlist
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/holistarat
In the 200 rats that I have had so far I have only 3 that were biters (mean) so the chance of you getting a mean rat is very slim. The bitey rats that I have had get the same care and love for their entire lives just like any other rats would.
Edit:
Could you please clarify by what you mean by, ';the bad things that have happened';?
Chewing the base boards, dealing with Tumors and Myco, short life spans are just the cons, and these are all a given when you have rats as pets. I understand your question as asking for the bad things that have been experienced by experienced rat-keepers like rats being attacked by other animals, rats escaping into the wall or outside never to be seen again, a litter of rats dying because their mother couldn't lactate, a rat having a door slammed on it's tail, cages falling to the floor because the dog jumped up on it, rats killing other small pets, rats dying untimely deaths, children being bitten, people not being prepared enough (lack of research) in getting their first rats and the sadness of rats dying too young because of it, etc.
spazrats
';my life has gone to the Rats';
I have probably... 50 or so rats. I breed them, and my breeders are really nice. I've never had any problems with any of my rats, actually. Out of how many I have and how many I've had at once in the past... the only problem I've ever had is just them getting lose. But I've always been ablet to find them so it never really became too much of a problem. good luck!
Like what do you mean that its being mean?
If you just got it and it bites you then it's scared of you and you should probably be by it without touching it
Or if it just bites you for the hell of it, it's bad socializes on your part or where you got it from. If you have other rats and if it's picking on them put it in a another cage or something else to separate them. If it's just mean to you eave it be with the others and I guess you'll just have to leave it alone and play with the others. sounds mean but really nothing else you could do.
My bad experience was that i got a rat that hated me no mater how gentle and patient I was with it, she also tried to pick a fight with my other two girls but they were bigger and put her in check...so now she just beats me lol
if they are neglected they stink really bad, and they like to burrow if you have them out of their cage, and they are wild [some]
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