4 replies to this topic

[Imogen]

Before I got hamsters, I was really wanting rats. But me living under my parental roof still, I wasn't allowed because the "tails" freak my family out and hence why I'm not allowed them until I move in properly with my SO or have my own place that will allow me to keep animals.

I don't know anything about them, not a single thing.

All I know is, they need vertical space unlike hamsters, need to live in a pair or a group (I'd personally do a trio) and that's it, haha!

Let me know what sort of things I should learn and where I can start educating myself with correct info! Thank you!!

[oDrifted]

Hi!

Emiology and Shadow The Rat, both on YouTube have lots of good information.

I owned a trio of boys, and the first thing I can say is, they're amazing animals, incredibly intelligent, but very expensive and hard to keep.

 

You need to clean their cage out every one or two weeks, because they produce a ton of waste.

They need a lot of enrichment, an hour plus outside of cage time everyday, (Also lots of foraging toys.)

End of life care is really hard. It's common for them develop tumors, cysts, or lose their mobility in their back legs.

They do really well on lab blocks. (Oxbow is what I used, its expensive, but buying in bulk is better)

Cages are expensive but long lasting, and if you wait, you might be able to get a cheap used cage off craigslist or rat Facebook groups.

They need completely wired cages, with floorspace and height.
They live about two years.

You really need an exotic vet easily accessible, and if you can, an emergency vet that takes exotics.

They can be trained both tricks and too wear harnesses.

Lots and lots of climbing toys, they're nocturnal and though they can adjust to your schedule, good chance that they'll be most active when you sleeping, so a stimulating cage is important.

They might not be friendly, all three of my boys preferred to do their own thing, and occasionally wanted pets while free roaming. On the other side of the coin, you might get a rat that always wants cuddles and attention.

Females are generally more active, males are more chill, but might be more aggressive and are more prone to hormonal aggression with other rats.

 

Hope this helps!

[Sparrow]

Rats are amazing pets - very expensive though and take a lot of work.

I've got three girls and personally I'm delighted i got females as males, while larger and more cuddly, often have behavioural issues due to hormones. Female rats are playful and active. You're not going to get much cuddles out of them until they start slowing down with age but they are still very affectionate and loving.

They need massive amounts of space,both horizontal and vertical. Their cage needs to be packed full of stuff. You will be replacing their toys at least once a month and that in itself can get quite expensive.

The cage needs to be busy, extremely busy. Loads of enrichment, loads of climbing structures, loads of fall breakers and loads of foraging toys. A wheel is not necessary but some rats absolutely love them so it's up to you whether or not you get one.

They need about 2 hours of free roaming time a day.

Vet bills are a guarantee and make sure you have a couple thousands saved up before adopting your rats. Almost all rats will end up needing end of life vet care but also, they are so prone to illnesses from a young age that you really just need to be prepared at any moment in time.

The cage needs to be wired as they really need amazing ventilation, the ammonia in their urine builds up very quickly. The cage also will need to be cleaned once a week and their litter box spot cleaned daily.

Rats gain weight easily, so to avoid overfeeding, have them work for their food - there are a lot of different foraging toys around that are great for that but also, scatter feed.

Commercial food is a big no-no and making your own food mix is time taking, expensive and difficult. It took me months and months of research just to be comfortable enough to buy the ingredients and start mixing and measuring out ratios.

Rats are loud, they will bang things in their cage, rip things apart, scream at one another for apparently no reason, throw stuff around the place, bury all of their things and then get annoyed they can't find them... If they are in your room, prepare yourself for a loud night.

Rats need company, three or more rats is best, two is fine if only temporary.

They love digging, you might want to get a digging box as well as fill up the bottom of their cage with bedding.

Hammocks and tubes are some of their favorite toys.

If I can think of anything else to add to the list, i will update this post but I think I hit all of the major points

They are super rewarding pets and i personally feel like the time, effort and money is all worth it! After having my girls, I actually cannot imagine not having rats as pets. They are absolutely amazing.

[Imogen]

Hi!

Emiology and Shadow The Rat, both on YouTube have lots of good information.

I owned a trio of boys, and the first thing I can say is, they're amazing animals, incredibly intelligent, but very expensive and hard to keep.

 

You need to clean their cage out every one or two weeks, because they produce a ton of waste.

They need a lot of enrichment, an hour plus outside of cage time everyday, (Also lots of foraging toys.)

End of life care is really hard. It's common for them develop tumors, cysts, or lose their mobility in their back legs.

They do really well on lab blocks. (Oxbow is what I used, its expensive, but buying in bulk is better)

Cages are expensive but long lasting, and if you wait, you might be able to get a cheap used cage off craigslist or rat Facebook groups.

They need completely wired cages, with floorspace and height.
They live about two years.

You really need an exotic vet easily accessible, and if you can, an emergency vet that takes exotics.

They can be trained both tricks and too wear harnesses.

Lots and lots of climbing toys, they're nocturnal and though they can adjust to your schedule, good chance that they'll be most active when you sleeping, so a stimulating cage is important.

They might not be friendly, all three of my boys preferred to do their own thing, and occasionally wanted pets while free roaming. On the other side of the coin, you might get a rat that always wants cuddles and attention.

Females are generally more active, males are more chill, but might be more aggressive and are more prone to hormonal aggression with other rats.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Rats are amazing pets - very expensive though and take a lot of work.

I've got three girls and personally I'm delighted i got females as males, while larger and more cuddly, often have behavioural issues due to hormones. Female rats are playful and active. You're not going to get much cuddles out of them until they start slowing down with age but they are still very affectionate and loving.

They need massive amounts of space,both horizontal and vertical. Their cage needs to be packed full of stuff. You will be replacing their toys at least once a month and that in itself can get quite expensive.

The cage needs to be busy, extremely busy. Loads of enrichment, loads of climbing structures, loads of fall breakers and loads of foraging toys. A wheel is not necessary but some rats absolutely love them so it's up to you whether or not you get one.

They need about 2 hours of free roaming time a day.

Vet bills are a guarantee and make sure you have a couple thousands saved up before adopting your rats. Almost all rats will end up needing end of life vet care but also, they are so prone to illnesses from a young age that you really just need to be prepared at any moment in time.

The cage needs to be wired as they really need amazing ventilation, the ammonia in their urine builds up very quickly. The cage also will need to be cleaned once a week and their litter box spot cleaned daily.

Rats gain weight easily, so to avoid overfeeding, have them work for their food - there are a lot of different foraging toys around that are great for that but also, scatter feed.

Commercial food is a big no-no and making your own food mix is time taking, expensive and difficult. It took me months and months of research just to be comfortable enough to buy the ingredients and start mixing and measuring out ratios.

Rats are loud, they will bang things in their cage, rip things apart, scream at one another for apparently no reason, throw stuff around the place, bury all of their things and then get annoyed they can't find them... If they are in your room, prepare yourself for a loud night.

Rats need company, three or more rats is best, two is fine if only temporary.

They love digging, you might want to get a digging box as well as fill up the bottom of their cage with bedding.

Hammocks and tubes are some of their favorite toys.

If I can think of anything else to add to the list, i will update this post but I think I hit all of the major points

They are super rewarding pets and i personally feel like the time, effort and money is all worth it! After having my girls, I actually cannot imagine not having rats as pets. They are absolutely amazing.

Hi, I'm tagging you two since you both said very similar things.

As you guys mentioned, I do recall learning they're prone to ilness. Especially during their older age. I didn't realise how expensive and time consuming they were, I guess it was the hamster part of my brain trying to compare the two alike when in fact you guys have obviously clearly proven they're not! I guess in some ways yes, but it appears rats are definitely way way harder to look after than I'd imagine.

Thank you, I will do a ton of research and hopefully own rats sometime in my later life.

Much appreciated!

[Taxonomist]

Medical Stuff

 

I know it's been mentioned by others, but I wanted to touch on some of the medical challenges you may run into by sharing details of my experiences.

 

The first thing you run into is spay / neuter. Now, technically you don't have to, but there are definite pros to doing so. Especially with boys, because it prevents them from becoming hormonal little monsters during puberty. If they get aggressive with each other once they start maturing, you may end up having to neuter whether you planned to / wanted to or not. For me, neutering has run about $250 - $300 per rat.

 

I had one of my past boys break his leg somehow. That was a $500 vet visit ($150 emergency visit fee, $200 x-rays, $100 cast, and $50 in medicine). That rat then had a reaction to the medicine, resulting in another $200 vet visit (he was ultimately fine, but he was just so lethargic that we rushed him in).

 

One of my girls developed a large grape-sized tumor under her arm. That was a $600 surgery. Totally worth it because she was young and healthy, and she actually outlived all of her sisters.

 

Most of my rats developed severe respiratory infections at the ends of their lives. This meant antibiotics 2x a day...every day...for months and months on end. The cost of the medicine was not insignificant - it was about $35 per medication, and there were several (doxycycline, azithromyacin, theophylline, meloxicam).

 

Cleaning

 

I agree with the weekly cage clean, but wanted to point out that that is not the only cleaning that needs to be done.

 

Rats may be very clean animals in terms of grooming themselves, but they are little mess makers in their cages. My boys right now are just not getting the potty training thing, so I sweep up poops literally every single day. Well, poops and food crumbs, pieces of wood / cardboard that they've shredded, etc. A crumb sweeper is excellent for this by the way! One of my secret rat hacks. I also wipe down the cage bars every few days.

 

Supplies / Costs

 

Cages are expensive - it's not like a hamster where you can get a $40 tank on a Dollar-Per-Gallon sale or an even cheaper bin setup. Good cages can be a few hundred dollars...but a really good cage will last a long time. Double Critter Nations are the gold standard, and typically run around $300 new if you can't get a sale.

 

Rats can be very hard on supplies. I'm constantly having to replace toys and chews. It's not like a hamster who might take a quick nibble on a chew toy. My boys turn them into a pile of splinters (that I then have to sweep up lol). Cardboard boxes are your best friend with rats!

 

Them being hard on supplies can also apply to fleece, unfortunately. I've had some rats that just ripped fleece to shreds, which is not fun because it isn't necessarily cheap to replace.

 

I recommend glass water bottles for this reason as well, just in case. You will need to have multiple water bottles in the cage, which does add to your cleaning schedule.