# Your Rats size



## Raven-Eve (Feb 25, 2008)

Hello Everyone. I'm more of a future owner of rats, as I don't have them yet. My husband has heard that Rats can get to rather monstrous sizes...not including tail. So I ask...How big are your babies not including tail? Help me put him at ease.


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## CaptainFlow (May 16, 2007)

My girls are between about 7 and 9 inches in length. Obviously, girls will stay smaller than males, but even so I think mine are on the petite side. 

But it's not about size! They'll never get to sewer rat dimensions, anyway. Just talk about how sweet they are, how trainable, how adorable, how inexpensive to keep (compared to dogs and cats; they still need vet visits every now and then), and how much fun they are. Show him some photos from the Meet My Rat section, and he won't care how big they get! Anyway, if you get rats about 6 weeks old, they start out very teeny, and you won't even notice them growing until you look at old photos!


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## Mana (Apr 22, 2007)

That's my oldest and biggest girl, for size comparison. Clearly, she's not monstrous ^_^


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## lostbutnotforgot (Apr 19, 2007)

I have 3, 2 neutered boys and a girl, and none of them are bigger than 10 inches not including the tail. Girls are typically smaller than boys. Yes, I have heard of giants in both genders, but I'm not sure how big that would be. The biggest rat I've ever seen was about 16 inches (I would imagine there are bigger ones). But all that really means is more rat to love on!


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## Raven-Eve (Feb 25, 2008)

I have always wanted to own rats...I think they are the cutest thing. I think he is worried about having to replace cage after cage. I showed him 

The Rat Retreat (R-685)
30" x 18" x 24" 

The Rat Highrise (H-600HR) 
18" x 11" x 24" 
on Martins cages web site. Would you agree that they would house two female dumbo rats?

http://www.martinscages.com/products/cages/rat/


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## crapola (Feb 12, 2007)

they would house two any-eared females, lol!! my biggest female rat is around 10", not including tail. this is just a guesstimate as she wouldnt stay still long enough for proper measurement. she is, however, 14.5 oz.


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## Raven-Eve (Feb 25, 2008)

I should also mention that I have a two year old daughter, but she is well mannerd and not mean to animals. The hus is also worried that Rats can be harmful to her. I wont be having my future babbies around my daughter unless I'm right there. From what I read there is not much that we can catch from rats...is this info wrong?

I understand of course that you keep the cages clean this reduces risk for both the rats and us.


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## Leala (May 31, 2007)

There should be no harm in keeping rats around your daughter. As long as she is mindful that they are not to be touched unless you are around.

Also the only two cages on the martins cages site that are really big enough for rats are
The Rat Skyscraper (R-695)
and
The Ruud Cage (R-699)

Also it's a HIGH recommendation to have it powder coated instead of galvanized steel. If you don't you'll be wasting a pretty penny for something that's going to have to be thrown out later due to the stench.


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## CaptainFlow (May 16, 2007)

I just want to say, I got my Lola from a woman who had a two year old, and decided they didn't mix. The child was obviously sweet tempered and loved Lola a lot (I felt like a horrible person for taking her, btw, but it had to be done). But she didn't quite understand that Lola was hurt when she grabbed her a little improperly, and she's still a little shy, I believe partly because of that. Of course, rats and small children can get along fabulously, as many members of our forum can attest to, but you might want to take the precaution of always bringing your rats to your daughter, rather than letting her pick the rats up, at least until she gets a good grip on what hurts a fragile creature like a rat, and what doesn't. 

As for diseases... there are a few, but most are so rare they're hardly worth mentioning, unless you happen to need to go to the Emergency room for something unknown. I think ringworm is one of the most common, but unless you let rats outside or with other pets, they're more likely to get it from you than you are from them. I would imagine the worst thing you'd have to worry about is allergies, they're common enough. But exposing kids to allergens early in life is supposed to be good for helping them develop immunities, and a little Claritin is all it takes to clear me up.


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## Phoenix (Jan 29, 2008)

My boys are 14 months and 3 1/2 and they get along just fine with the rats. The three biggest problems I have are:
1. My youngest wants to look into the cage so often he takes his step stool over and climbs up using the cage for support - we are going to brace it to the wall this week so it doesn't fall over on him 
2. My youngest sticks his hand in the cage everytime I open the door (he must have super hearing abilities because he can sense the cage door opening from the other room) and steals the girls toys then _sticks them in his mouth_ which I'm sure won't really harm him but I'd prefer he not do it!
3. My oldest feeds them his snacks through the cage in the wee morning hours when everyone else is sleeping. As a result the girls love him the best and readily take food from him over me or my husband. My concern is that they will start thinking anything stuck through the cage wires is food. So far they are real careful about determining finger vs. food before biting.

The rats themselves don't mind the noise or activity of the boys and aren't skittish around them at all, but we got them from a woman who had several elementary aged kids who handled the ratties fairly often so they were used to the noise and activity. I'd suggest since you have a young one to try to find a similar situation and go that route over the pet store route.


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## A1APassion (Jul 29, 2007)

Within the numbers I currently have I have rather petite to monstrous. 

Two of my adult females (8 month plus) are about 6 or 7 inches in length & I would guess their weight to be about 250 to 300 grams (about 1/2 a pound). Compare them to my largest female who is about 12 inches long & likely pushing 1 1/2 pounds. Then there is DD who I would guess to be a solid 3 1/2 pounds & 16 inches without his tail.


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## calvo88 (Feb 3, 2008)

the girls are quite tiny as their quite young but my male rat is about 8/9 inches (not including the tail) he is such a softie, will measure him properly again soon


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## Urithrand (Feb 12, 2008)

My male is about 10" excluding tail and my females are only ickle cause they're still babies


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## Raven-Eve (Feb 25, 2008)

I think everyone put him at ease, so thank you. My daughter has always been good around cats and dogs, which my parent have a few of. We are in the process of moving into our first apartment, which only allow cats. I'm not a big cat person, rats just sound like my perfect type of pet.

Thanks everyone


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## AZratkeeper (Jan 27, 2008)

my biggest rat was about 14 inchs long without the tail but he was one of my first rats and he lived to be 3 1\2 years of age and he has since passed away


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## Raven-Eve (Feb 25, 2008)

*Hugs* I'm sorry to hear that. I can see that being my biggest issue...not wanting to say goodbye, but I'm sure everyone on here might say the same thing. 

Is it hard to litter train rats? I have heard a few mention it.


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## Forensic (Apr 12, 2007)

Your husband may have been hearing about Gambian Pouched Rats (they're gi-normous.) But those aren't pet rats. 

Litter training takes patience and persistence.


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## Raven-Eve (Feb 25, 2008)

There is just too much bad going around abouts rats....poor things. He is not against it, even says he would play with them. He is just worried that they might get to be the size of a cat. I'm thinking people at his work told him horror stories. The lady at the pet store said that two rats does not take much more then one rat. I'm looking around for breeders in my area....not really wanting to get them from a pet store.


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## Leala (May 31, 2007)

Have you thought of looking into shelters? Shelters is probably the best way to go!


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## bloodraven (Jan 27, 2008)

Different rats will become different sizes. I have two boys, step brothers, that are three weeks apart. Remy is the oldest, and is already the size of a full grown female at only 2 months and 2 weeks old.










Emile is right at 2 months old (almost) and is MUCH smaller


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## sonoma (May 26, 2007)

Thereâ€™s lots of info about litter box training on this site if you check out the search feature. :wink: 

Iâ€™ve seen a couple good-sized rats, but none even close to the size of a cat. Here's a couple more size reference pics- 

Fiona, an average sized female









Fiona and Lana, my smallest girl


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## Nicotine (Jan 2, 2008)

I won't say much on rat sizes, since everybody has already commented on it, but I will mention: DO be careful about your rats and how you interact with them through the bars of your cage, especially with your little girl.

I'm not saying all rats bite or snap through the cage wires - that's really dependent on the rat itself and how you interact with it. But it's something to be careful about, because I'm sure your husband won't be much more keen on them if your daughter gets bitten by them through the cage bars. 

My Alice is the friendliest rat I've ever met - if you stick your finger at her through the cage, even unexpectedly, she takes it and sniffs it and asks for pets. She doesn't even seem to think of biting, even if you've startled her by petting her while she was asleep or if you have food. Alice, though, is also very sociable in nature and when I got her I was literally always home, so I could reinforce my "don't feed the rat through the cage wires" rule. 
The group of four Emily and I got later on, though, are really something to watch out for. Fletcher's not so nippy as he is quick, but he'll grab your finger with his teeth and startle you. Damian's just now learning fingers aren't for biting and only because we were really focused on teaching him so, because he was one of the worst (especially with food - he kind of liked to play hit and run, only biting instead of shooting). I just received a blood-drawing bite from Emily's Zap the other day. Zizzle, well, we keep giving her an excuse because she's still stuck with the products of her one night stand.
All of this is undoubtedly because the four came from a pretty bad place and were very poorly socialized, and Emily and I assume that the petstore owners didn't really care how they were bred as long as they made a couple of bucks. And, in the case of Damian and Fletcher, I was getting out more on the weekends when I got them so my parents would feed them through the bars no matter how much I tried to remind them not to. Eventually, their idea was "whatever comes through those bars is food and I have to take it as fast as I can."

These are just examples, and obviously it depends on a lot how the rat will be, but I figured I'd mention it even though it's evident you've done your homework.  You seem pretty aware of how to care for a rat and socializing them with children (and kudos for avoiding getting them from pet stores), but it's always a good thing to be cautious no matter how gentle your kid is with animals. And, of course, supervision is a must.


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## rattieluver (Dec 29, 2007)

My girls are about seven inches long, and one is a little on chubby side, but hey, the squisher the better! As it was said before, girls are much smaller than boys, but everyone wants a big lovebug to cuddle with, even if they don't know it at first!


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## Raven-Eve (Feb 25, 2008)

I know for my husbands sake we were wanting to get 2 females, but with what I'm hearing about males...Well I really want 2 cuddle bugs. I know each rat is different, I think I have read every forum on this site within that last two weeks ^_^.

I have a lady giving me a large ferret cage, will have to put hardware cloth around it of course, but can you really beat free? I will fix it up once I get and make sure it will be its a dream home for them. *dances around*


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