Do rats make good pets?

Question

i really want a pair of rats but my dad hates them so i want to convince him they are good pets does anyone have any personal experiences with rats and are they good pets? btw i have a budget of around 520$ per year will this be enough to provide for 2 rats?

Answer 1

i have 2 rats and i love them to bits, they make perfect pets and are very clean and very intelligent. rats are usually cheap to keep, the only expensive thing about them is the cage which should be a proper rat cage, if you get a good one,it should be around 70-90 pounds, i have a savic freddy 2 to keep both my rats in and i like it as well as my rats, i would suggest a jenny rat cage which is around £90, rats are easy to take care of and very low maintenence. you need to know which gender are right for you, does (females) are more active as bucks (males) enjoy sitting on your lap to be stroaked and it is not true what they say about males marking their terrotry with a horrible urine that stinks, they do this but it does not smell whatsoever. i have 2 girls but i enjoy them running around me like manacs, lol

Answer 2

OMG! $520.00 I seriously doubt it will cost THAT much for a rat for a year.......They make awesome pets....if you make them  a "social" critter.....Take it EVERYWHERE you go....BUT...........DON"T GET  ATTACHED>>>>life span is only about 4 years......GOOD LUCK!!!

Answer 3

Rats make WONDERFUL pets. Thet are intelligent, clean, very unlikely to bite, and increadibly friendly. It's like having a little dog with a naked long tail.

Answer 4

I've had my two pet rats for almost two years now.  Rats make awesome pets!  

They are very smart.  My one rat can find food anywhere in a room, even if it's on a desk.  She will jump from one thing to another until she reaches it.  I watched her jump from a dumbell to a low table, to a desk chair and to a desk to get at some jelly bellys my bf left there.  

My favorite thing is letting them run around our office where the cage is.  They don't p**p on the floor!!!  They are smart enough to know that their cage is where the bathroom is at.  You can also potty train them to some degree so you don't have to clean up as much after them.  Many websites tell you how.

They are entertaining.  My rats wrestle, climb all over me, wander around rooms in my apt (supervised of course), chase old toothbrushes, chase my feet, chatter at me, etc.  It's hilarious.

$520 should be good.  I buy my food online from Kim's Ark, which I recommend.  They provide lab blocks specifically designed nutritiously for lab rats.  You can get it for a dollar per lb plus shipping.  I go through 15-20 lbs a year, getting 10 lbs at a time.  I agree with ppl above about the initial costs can be high, what with buying a cage and toys, etc.

I haven't had my rats bite for the most part.  It only happened a couple of times with one of them, cuz she gets a little cranky when woken up.  She stopped doing that though, so it must have been a phase.  I've watched vets manhandled my girls and they never bit them.

You should also have some money set aside for medical emergencies.  I recently had a small tumor removed and the whole shebang cost $200.

Answer 5

They make WONDERFUL pets. :] (edit: eerie that the first answerer and i both said WONDERFUL, hehe)

I have 2 boys, Wolf & Templeton. Templeton is such a sweetheart. He rides on my shoulder and wraps his tail behind my neck. He loves to be scratched behind the ears, and he runs to the bars of the cage to greet me when I come home. :] Wolf is still shy, as he is new, but Templeton was that way at first. He'll come around, he's quite feisty. ;P

Anyway, rats are the best rodents you can get, really. They can learn their names, learn tricks, and even learn to poo in a litter box. ;P

$520 per year should be enough. The cost the first year might be more, as you'll have to buy a cage, the rats, all of their toys and food. But after that first year you should be just fine as long as you have a few hundred for emergencies.

Here are some great rat websites!

http://www.ratsrule.com

http://www.ratfanclub.org

http://www.ratpalace.com

http://www.ratforum.com

EDIT: YES, rats are VERY clean. They groom themselves all the time. Plus, since they can be litter trained they don't usually p**p all over the place like other rodents. They are also the LEAST likely rodent to bite you. Hamsters are much more likely to take a chunk out of you than rats are. ;P I work in a pet store and interact with hamsters, gerbils, chinchillas, guinea pigs, mice, and rats. The rats are still my favorites. They actually get happy to see you! <3

Answer 6

rats are excelent pets and yes they are smart they can learn alot od stuff and live longer then mice..  yah for rats its like at most 20 bucks month or less. but the cage will be around 80-100.. you need a big cage.

Answer 7

Rats are very smart creatures, and wonderful pets. They are not nasty and dirty at all. Daily, I will often find my rats cleaning themselves and each other. $520 will be plenty to provide for two rats. For two rats, you should buy a large cage, water bottle(s), food dishes, rat food, bedding, and get an initial vet checkup. My rat cage has a built in wheel, and my rats enjoy that, so you should consider buying one if your cage does not have one included. You should also buy chew toys for your rats, as their teeth never stop growing. For more information, check out books on rat at your library, or ask questions here where there are many rat lovers online. And also, don't believe everything you read online, especially about rats. My rats are a joy to have, and I love them very much,

Answer 8

rats are great pets! they are connective, smart and friendly

Answer 9

Rats make excellent pets. I have four myself, two dumbo and two standard. They are highly intelligent and can be taught to learn tricks, recognize your voice, they can even be potty trained. They are social and highly affectionate, so it is good you are getting two. Two rats aren't really any harder to take care of than one. Research online and show him the facts. Some good sites are dapperrat.com, ratbehavior.com, ratsauce.com, and ratfanciers.com (a forum site). All you can do is try to explain to him that they are not diseased and won't bite. Many people do not know it was the rat flea, and not the rat itself, that caused the black plague. The rats themselves also fell victim to the disease. Rats are very clean and are constantly grooming. They really only need baths once a month (males especially with buck grease). Domestic rats are great, however, do not go messing around with any wild rats. A good cage will cost around $80, food around $6 (you can put young rats on hamster/gerbil food til 4 months), basic toys are a hidey house, tube, and hammock. You can expect to spend about $30 on toys. It's good to get lots so that way you can change it up when you clean out their cage, so that way they don't get bored with the same thing all the time. I started my rats off on Oxbow's Healthy Handfuls and moved them to Regal Rat when they were 4 months old. Or you can just give them lab blocks all through their lives, giving seed mix only as a treat as it's fatty and they don't get proper nutrition. For training treats, I suggest Yogies, or any type of yogurt chip. You can personally message me if you have any questions cause I love talking about ratties :)

Answer 10

All rat owners have heard comments like these before, and most of them have learned that many people are set in their ways and refuse to believe anything else. This really makes me mad, because I think that if people are going to choose to hate something, they should know why they hate it. If you or someone you know has been "dissing" rats, here are some facts:

Rats are as smart or smarter than dogs. They can learn to come when their name is called, do tricks, and I'm sure if they were about four times larger they would be great seeing-eye animals.

Fleas that were carried by rats were responsible for the spread of the bubonic plague, (14th century) also known as the black death that plagued (no pun intended) Europe and killed approximately one-fourth of the population.

Humans were at least partly responsible for that outbreak by creating unsanitary conditions in which rodents and insects thrived. Need details? People would throw their garbage and contents of their chamber pots into the streets, and if someone were to die back then that person would often be left to rot in the streets.

Still not convinced?

The reason rats are often used in medical and scientific experiments is that they are quick to learn and very adaptable.

The Renaissance was considered a time of rebirth, when the pace of life slowed considerably and allowed more time for scientific research and art. After one-fourth of the population of Europe died, there was property and jobs for everybody. Some of the worlds most famous paintings and poems were created during that time. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and William Shakespeare were some of the more well-known artists that flourished during the Renaissance.

There you go.

I think that 520 dollars should be enough?

Answer 11

I have 4 rats they are they best pets they don't shed and they are very cool I love them get a rat rats are awesome