Confession to make...

liontamer

liontamer

Member
I have a pet rat, and I am proud. I love my pet rat. Ive had him for a year now, and i couldnt be happier. His name is Manny, he is white and he doesnt have red eyes, he has black eyes. He wants nothing more than to chill out on yer shoulder. HE has been trained to attack anyone that i dont like. JK. I just bought him a huge cage to spend the rest of his days in. It is big enough to fit a ferret into, maybe even 2. He is the coolest thing ever, almost as cool as a dog. He even eats dog food too, lol. No joke. He is very tame, bites noone, but becuz he is a rat, noone likes him. So now everyone has to tell me why they all hate rats if they are this cool. Its like a stereotype, but now i can hear views from all over the world. Please start.
 
liontamer

liontamer

Member
And here is my brand new cage, from Martins Cages, which measures 30" wide by 18" deep by 36" high, which is actually quite large come to think of it.
 
avbryce1

avbryce1

Member
I had a pet rat too and he too was awesome I think they make great pets and it sucks they have such bad reps
 
wocka

wocka

Active Member
i think people dont like rats off the bat becuase they are known to be dirty and carry diseases, i myself dont hold and grudges against them, they are very smart and u can teach them cool tricks
 
marvida

marvida

Member
I too like rats. If you think people don't understand you & your rat, I used to raise pythons & other snakes....now that hobby will put you on a lot of people's weird list!
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Looks like a nice setup for the little fella, however, when I see a rat, I can't help but think of food for my pets.....
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
jk....don't kill me.
Honestly, in terms of rodent care, I find that fish tanks do a good job just because all the mess that rodents make don't get all over the place. Also, rodents tend to chew, chew, chew....even their house!. Obviously that doesn't happen in a tank.
 
birdy

birdy

Active Member
Rats are by far the best rodent pet out there, When I worked in a pet store years ago, I would always try to talk people into a baby rat when they came in looking for a hamster (now hamsters should be snake food, not rats :yes:). I think people just get freaked out by the tail, and male rats are very ummm.... shall we say it is very obvious that they are male.
 
lionfish12

lionfish12

Active Member
My uncle has a 10-12ft snake thats in a 500 gallon tank. Hes feeds it about 3-4 4'' rats a week.
( Im getting the 500 gallon once he gets a larger tank for the snake ) Well might get it...
I really dont like rats, but my old science tacher had mice and they had babaies! lol
 
yellowtail

yellowtail

Active Member

Originally posted by lionfish12
My uncle has a 10-12ft snake thats in a 500 gallon tank. Hes feeds it about 3-4 4'' rats a week.
( Im getting the 500 gallon once he gets a larger tank for the snake ) Well might get it...
I really dont like rats, but my old science tacher had mice and they had babaies! lol
if you get it will you turn it into an aquarium?
 
liontamer

liontamer

Member
Why do Rats creep you out then, please do tell. Is it the tail? The teeth? The stereotype of dirtiness and living in sewers? The rats that DO live in sewers and ARE dirty, yea sure, but why ALL rats? Are squirrels much better? They are rats with large bushy tails. Take away the bushy tail, u gots a rat. I personally dont even notice my rats tail, it doesnt bother me. ADn the teeth. All rodents have yellow "fangs" like that, cuz thats the way their teeth are designed. This is just like people all not liking pitt bulls and rotweilers cuz they are steroetyped as being mean, cruel creatures. Well, take a black lab, beat the crap outta it, treat it poorly, and uve got one really mean dog as well. But people dont see that. Yet, look at people on this site, with dogs like that. Perfectly sweet animals. ITs all about the atmosphere they are in. Rats inhabit the places that they do in the wild so that they can survive, and they adapt to what they have. When they are in cities, they will eat garbage, and seek shelter in the sewers. They are smart becuz they know that there is a lot of foods in the garbage, and they know that the sewer is a great shelter for them. That make sthem smarter than most animals, like pidgeons, who live on terraces and try to eat whatever people scatter for them, like seed. IF u do not get my point by now, then last one. You see a rat in a movie or on tv. It is ugly, teeth bared, squabbling around in filth. Well, you see a domesticated rat, which is a clean, actually handsome animal. It is organized, will eat out of your hand, and will roll over to let u rub its belly. (well, mine does) There are differences..
 
T

tizzo

Guest
I don't know which, but one of those common plagues of earlier times (maybe the Black Plague?? Gotta search), but anyway rats were the fastest spread of the disease. And back in the OLD days it was very common for infants to get bitten by rats through the night... Those are a couple of reasons people have a "built in" fear and disgust.
Personally, I am like you. I think they are cute, smart and personable (go figure). But I don't think they will ever lose their rep.
 
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