My son REALLY wants a pet rat.

Question

My son REALLY wants a pet rat. He just turned 5. I looked up rodents online and a rat does seem to be the best rodent for kids. I do not know anything about rats, and my husband does not want to get one. I was hoping with some more information, we could decide if it is a good idea to get one. I am okay with getting one, and I think with more info on rats, my husband would be more willing to get one for our son. Also, is 5 an okay age for a rat?

Answer 1

Rats do make good pets but as your son is only 5 it will probably fall on you or your husband to look after it, so as long as you're prepared to do that then its ok. You also need to have a least 2 rats in together as they are very sociable animals and will get lonely on their own. So you need to be happy to have more than one. Also males tend to smell more and will sometimes pee a lot so it might be better to get 2 females. It might be better to wait until your sons older.

Answer 2

i wouldn't get a rat for a 5 year old i would go for something smaller like a gerbil. plus rats do really smell if you don't clean them out. but with gerbil you can leave it a week before  cleaning it out.