rats

Gross.

totally

do your friends ever freak out when they visit and encounter your little pet?

i dunno, yeah rats are dirty but so are people
i'll never own them again though, but only because they usually all die of cancer and it's a horrible experience having yr precious ratty friend suddenly grow a tumor, and it get huge very quickly. I had to euthanize all of mine except one(that one died of a spontaneous stroke i think). them having cancer was horrible, imagine yr pet(rat or not rat) growing a huge tumor over the course of a few days, calling all the vets and none of them willing to help you, and yr pet dragging it's body, tumor and all, towards you because it still wants your affection, no matter how sick it is it still loves you and wants to be with you and you amke it happy, oh gawd that sucked....
i had to euthanize them at home, i did the research and vets usually do it with a needle and everything i've heard has led me to believe that only creates a painful death for them(cuz their small, it's not like giving a needle to a dog, the fluid goes into their body cavitie instead of their bloodstream, or they get stabbed in the heart with a needle, it's better to go with gas, but no vets arnd me would do it, and were all asses to me cuz they didn't like rats, i won't go into how i did it but it was humane, and i did a lot of agonizing research before i decided how to

uh, i got bitten by my friend's pet rat.. i hope i wont die...

Pedro says "word up".



He's a sweet little buddy, very friendly and curious, and I love to watch him chitter around his cage, nibbling seeds and nesting in the litter.

And I actually really like the freaky tail...it's all ropy like a big overgrown earthworm.

My husband used to have pet rats. He loved them and I think intends to have one again someday.

I pretend that freaks me out. Actually I think they are really cute and seem fairly intelligent. So, I really wouldn't mind having one.

Baby rats melt me into a little puddle.

I think that a lot of people on this site like Rats becuz they are more open minded.
A lot of people shriek at the thought of a pet rat. Some people don't realize there are differences between sewer rats and domesticated ones

mine jump from the table onto me. its sweet.

I'd assume because we all grew up reading The Secret of NIMH.
Personally, I'd rather have a dog.

ahhhh...CrazyWhiteGirl...how I miss your illogical, sophomoric, honestly crazy rants...

I'd like a rat. I'd also LOVE a dog, but that's completely impractical for me at this point in my life. so maybe a rat it is...

we just have 2 pet mice.
edited to add they're cuter than rats, because they don't have giant hairless tails.

[Edited on Mar 22, 2006 by themilkman]

I like the idea of owning a rat because I perceive it as something smart enough to have a personality and be somewhat trainable, but not nearly as demanding of space and time as a dog. And as much as I like cats, I'm alergic.

I don't know why there so popular here, but they're the cutest pets ever! I have two which were both adopted (i didn't buy them). they are adorable and cuddly and very inteligent. Plus, the girls are very clean and don't smell like hampsters and mice do.

In regard to that huge list of diseases that rats carry: the same could be said for any animal. It seems that much of it is talking about wild rats. The main reason wild rats are so filthy, is because they come into contact with OUR garbage.

Comparing a pet rat to a wild rat is like comparing a Golden Retriever to a Dingo.

Rats stink the least of any other "pocket pet" as long as you keep the cage clean. There are other animals kept as pets that make much less sense than rats, but people love those just the same. It just depends on how intelligent, affectionate and interactive you want your pet to be. Rats are all of that.

This is good advice. I used to keep snakes as pets (pythons only, Burmese and Ball), and when they're smaller and younger especially, they have a great deal of trouble (on average) killing live prey. I had a Burmese that never had a problem with it (but then again she was over 12 feet long), then I had a Ball Python that couldn't figure out which end was the right one to bit, so she'd clamp onto a mouse that'd clamp onto her, then I'd have to get involved and would invariably end up getting bit by one or both of them.

That said, I like rats. They're smart and surprisingly affectionate. I used to have gerbils, but they're hit and miss. One was very cute and very nice, and the other was mean and nasty. Go figure, the mean and nasty one killed the one I liked, and I was stuck with this evil little rodent for three years (a year longer then I had been told to expect) that you couldn't touch.

rats make me cringe. hamsters and the like do as well.
ugh