How long did YOUR rat live?

Question

Just curious. I now it's 2-3 years but how long did your rats live. The rat I've had live the longest was 4 years. The shortest was 9 months because she got a tumor.

Answer 1

I am a rat breeder and ALL my rats have lived to atleast 6. My oldest one was 9. It's all because of genetics and the DIET I give them. When I say ALL my rats, I mean like, over 50 rats. So ya..........I WUV RATTIES!!!!

Answer 2

2 hours after i found out....

Answer 3

The oldest one I had lived 6 yrs and had one that lived nearly 6 yrs.  I also had one that developed tumors after only 2 yrs and I had her put to sleep.

Answer 4

my first pair of rats lived to be 5.5 years old.  I still have all my current rats.

Sheila and Tex are close to 3 years

Peanut is almost 2 years

Luna is about 1.5 years

Charlotte is 6 months

Answer 5

My very first rat, Venus, was a small fancy, she lived for 5 years, we put her down because she also had a tumor.

Answer 6

Mine are still alive. The shortest got upper respitory, and died in a week. :-(

I've had mine for not even half a year, and they're my buddies!

Answer 7

When I was a little kid I had a rat I named Ronda and I treated her so fine with the best treats and she even had her own music source.  She lived so well she refused to die but after nine wonderful years Ronda rat bit the dust. I think I could see a smile on her little rat face at the end.

Answer 8

Usually only two. The longest lived to be four, my very first rat. The shortest lived to be only one because he was a genetic mess; Smokey messed up teeth and was undoubtedly bred for his colour and was dumped at the shelter probably for being a male, a common practice among rat backyard breeders..

Answer 9

Several of my rats have almost made it to six, and many of them have made it to four or five.

Most of the rats who go through my rescue end up living between three and four years, depending on where they come from.

Rat longevity is largely based on genetics and diet. If you buy your rats from a good reputable breeder and feed it a healthy non-processed diet, your rat is likely to live a long time. But if you get your rats from a pet shop or a backyard breeder and feed them a store-bought seed mix, your rat will probably only live to be 2 or 3.

Aina K: Somebody watches RvB. :) I used to have two degus named Sheila and Tex. I actually got to meet the actors a few years ago. :)

Answer 10

My girlfriend's rat, Zuzu, is turning four this year. :) He's our oldest out of all of our rats. His age hardly shows, though, he's as healthy as he was when I first got to know him a year and a half ago. And he acts even younger than he used to!

Second oldest is my rat Alice, turning three soon, if I'm remembering right. Her age shows, but she hasn't slowed down at all.

The shortest lived rat we've had was a girl from an oops litter, Snow. She left us just a couple of days before the day she'd have been three weeks old, because she had early onset megacolon. The condition is always fatal in young rats, so we had to euthanize the poor girl.