Training Your Pet Rat - G. Buscis

Breaking the stigma - fancy rats as pets

Advantages: Clean, intelligent, affectionate, fun-loving, good small pets for kids
Disadvantages: Short life span, stigma, pet shop rats often badly bred with more tendency for inherited problems

cats or dogs. Rats do not and never did carry the Plague. Wild rats (not pet rats) carry Leptospirosis, also known as Weil's Disease. Q. Don't rats bite? A. In my experience, you're far less likely to be bitten by a well socialised pet rat than by one of my three children! I've had far more bites off cats, dogs and even hamsters. I've only ever been bitten once by a rat and he was ill and sore, so it was my fault for pestering him then. When socialised correctly from birth they are docile, friendly and have no reason to bite unless you are hurting them or scaring them - a risk you take with treating any animal that way. **About Fancy Rats** Rats make amazing family pets. They are intelligent, clean, and friendly with proper socialisation and handling from birth. Rats can even be clicker trained, like dogs! Out of all ...

FelineGroovy 02.06.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Rats

Rats : Not a pet, a friend

Advantages: Friendly, loving and adorable
Disadvantages: they die

Rats make fantastic pets. I dont understand people who don't like them, or even are scared of them. Especially people who have no problems with a hamster or gerbil. So let's dispel a few myths. Rats are dirty and disease ridden. Sure wild rats have been know to carry diseases, (plague, anyone?), they're wild animals so they're bound to have fleas and tics, and invariably rats (wild and domestic) go where the food is. That means that in towns and cities they'll wallow in dumpsters, they'll head for the tips and they'll scavange through your bins. But I'm not suggesting you have a wild rat as a pet, I'm talking about domesticated rats. They too might have fleas or tics, but only if they've picked them up from somewhere, just like cats and dogs. De-flea them and they'll be fine, at least til next time Fido wanders too close. Now I ...

dextermummy 11.03.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Rats

Rats as pets

Advantages: Great companions, lovable creatures
Disadvantages: POOP

. Rats need a diet that is low in fat and is best to give them standard rodent food every day, but they also love treats like fresh veggies, dried fruit and maybe a salt stick to file their teeth down. Ideally they need at least an hour outside of their cages a day. Most at pet stores would suggest a cage the size of a hamster cage for keeping rats, but ofcourse I housed my babies in a 3 level ferret cage so they would have room to play, eat and sleep. They are nocturnal creatures, so if you give them a huge ferret wheel to run around in, be prepared to hear it rolling along all night long. They do eat through things, be sure to secure any wires and block any holes they can squeeze their little bodies into when you let them out to play. They are not litter pan trained and never will be so when you let them out you can expect to have ...

jenn-of-the-roses 22.01.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Rats