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Rats are intelligent, highly social animals and make incredibly rewarding pets to look after. They can form close bonds with their human carers – as well as cage-mates and should therefore never be kept on their own – but have complex needs and are difficult to look after well.
- Behaviour
Here's a handy checklist of what your pet rat needs to stay...
- Diet
It's a good idea to encourage natural foraging behaviour, as...
- Health and Welfare
Use a suitable, secure pet cage as a familiar travelling...
- Keeping Rats Together
Pet rats should be housed together from a young age and...
- Environment
Every rat deserves a good home where they can be healthy and...
- Behaviour
Jun 16, 2024 · Rats as Pets. Pros & Cons of Rats as Pets. The Pros of Owning Pet Rats. 1. Rats Are Affectionate. Rats are very social animals and they need company to thrive 1,2. They love to interact with other rats and with humans and will show their affection towards you at any given opportunity.
Sep 10, 2024 · Rats are foragers and opportunistic omnivores. The males particularly are also territorial over relatively small areas, foraging up to about 100 feet from their nest to find food. Foraging makes up a lot of their nighttime activity. Being avid foragers also makes them physically adept explorers who love to run, climb, balance and dig.
Dec 27, 2023 · Rats have great personalities. Hands down the #1 reason to choose rats are their personalities. Of course, every individual is different. There can always be rats that just never really get along with humans, or ones that have been treated badly in the past and have become distrustful or even aggressive as a result.
- Rats Don’T Live That Long… and It Can Break Your Heart
- Rats Have Teeth – and Aren’T Afraid to Use Them
- Starting Keeping Rats Is Easy, Stopping Is Harder
- Vet’S Bills
- Rats Are All Individuals – and Sometimes They Don’T Read The Rules
Given how huge their personalities are, and how strongly they can bond with their humans, losing rats after 2 or 3 years can be very difficult. It’s probably the most common reason for people who love rats to nonetheless stop keeping them. And it’s not a problem we can easily solve – even with the best care in the world, a fancy rat rarely makes it...
Most rats don’t bite. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t cause havoc with their teeth. Rodents get their name from those big incisors at the front of the mouth, and the fact they like to use them to gnaw. Rats live up to that reputation. They will chew things in their cage (the base, plastic and wooden cage furniture, even hammocks). Given the c...
There are two reasons it is hard to stop keeping rats. Firstly, just because they are so adorable. Resisting adopting just one more, or making that leap to having no rats in your house can be tricky. Secondly, rats need company of their own species, and can get quite seriously depressed if kept alone. That can mean we end up adopting new friends to...
Rats are awesome in every possible way… except their health. Fancy rats, unless they have been very well bred, are prone to a wide range of health problems. Particular issues are respiratory infections, mammary tumours, uterine infections and cancer. Just because rats can be quite cheap to buy does not mean they are an inexpensive pet. Without appr...
Most rats are friendly and outgoing. Most rats don’t bite. Most rats bond with their humans. Most rats don’t poo and pee too much out the cage. But there are no guarantees. Nervous and aggressive rats exist, lovely babies can grow up to be hormonally aggressive teenagers – and owners need to be prepared to deal with what happens. And by prepared, I...
May 28, 2023 · In my opinion, the No. 1 reason to have rats as pets is their multilayered personalities that never cease to amaze their owners. Not totally unlike dogs:
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Rats naturally want to explore and are a lot less nervous than other small pets, such as mice, hamsters and rabbits. They very rarely bite and their larger size makes them easier to hold. Rats are really intelligent – they enjoy training sessions and can even learn tricks.
