# Gender Preference.



## ThreeMagicBeans (Dec 16, 2012)

Since I will be getting two rats in a little while, from a local breeder, I need to choose a gender. I realize it depends on the rat for personality, but there are different characteristics per animal when it comes to gender. Like with female horses (mares), they can be moody. Our last two rats were boys. They were very loving, but dirty, they peed on everything. I know with small animals usually the male is smellier, from my many experiences.

So, my question is ... Which gender of rat do you prefer, if any, and why?


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## catland (Sep 3, 2012)

I have male rats because I heard they are easier to bond to. My males don't sent mark and I've never noticed any scent difference.I also have a mare and I wouldn't say she is moody. I don't think gender is that important honestly.


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## ThreeMagicBeans (Dec 16, 2012)

Yep, I was just wondering. Some people have gender favorites, and some don't.Oh, and when I made the reference to mares, I just meant for example. They can and are more likely to change moods than males. Again it depends on the horse. I know many mares that have never ever been in a bad mood.


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## catland (Sep 3, 2012)

I've only worked closely with mares but I don't feel like there is too much of a personality difference. I would just make sure you find a sweet animal.


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## ThreeMagicBeans (Dec 16, 2012)

Thanks for letting me know. I was just using it as an example, because it's a stereotype some people have. I hope I didn't upset you! Thanks for the advice. I was just trying to find what characteristics were typical for genders. Thanks again.


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## catland (Sep 3, 2012)

No I am not upset. Haha I have heard that stereotype a lot. I guess it just a generally accepted thing. No problem


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## RatGirl_Red (Nov 26, 2012)

i lean toward males with most animals  from my experiance with rabbits...the bucks tend to be the ones who crave the attention while the does are impartial. not always, but mostly  and cats...lol, females tend to spaz, males seem more laid back. i would have gotten male rats except these were for my daughter, and i was never fond of the man bits  my male rats were squishy and i loooove squishy pets


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## JBlas (Oct 21, 2012)

I favor males! I have 5 males and 3 girls. While they each have individual personalities, the males are much more laid back and loveable. I like squishy rats that like to be held and carried around. I know females tend to get more squishy as they age. I just find that many times the male is more laid back and females more hyper, etc. I do wish the boys didn't scent mark all the time, but they do, and I've learned to deal with it Good luck finding the rats that are right for you!


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

I favor males, probably cause I've only ever had male rats (I've met females, but they weren't too friendly). They can get big, Some are hyper, my guys are on the hyper side for males actually (They are 17 months old and still act like they are kids), though they are starting to slow down now. They do scent mark, but after a while rats get the hang of it. Older boys don't scent mark as badly, Babies haven't learned how to scent mark properly and will let their whole bladder out on you, so for the first few months expect to have to change clothes. Soda and Storm I barely notice it, Bentley and Liam who are 7 weeks let their whole bladder old out on.

Plus, when males get old (which is sad) They get Squishy! I'm not sure if females do but I love Squishy rats. I'm kind of sad cause Soda is very squishy  Happy cause he's squishy, sad cause that means he's old. Oh well, he should make it to his second birthday (we had a deal that he would live longer then Charles, who lived 20 months before dying of a PT). Storm hasn't gotten squishy yet (he's the same age as Soda).

Another plus to males is not having to deal with tumors (males can still get tumors but it's rarer). Not sure if it's a male thing, or bad luck for me, but so far all of my rats have had eye issues (Einstein Might of been born blind literally and might have had an eye disease, Charles had a Cataracts, Soda has Cataracts in both eyes, Storm I'm pretty sure has Colomba, which is an eye disease).


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## thelittleredladybug (Aug 8, 2011)

I prefer females since they are cleaner but as far as personality goes, I love males. I have had several nice females but the males were always super cuddly and sweet.


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## Ratty859 (Dec 15, 2012)

I have two females, and am new to rats.My older girl, lucky (had her a few weeks) is still very shy, and won't leave my arm, Burt's her head in my shirt when anything happens, but my newest girl, Adeline is VERY friendly. Taking treats (lucky still won't) from my hand on day 1, and already crawling into my hand from the cage.She also will not sit still, but than again lucky is still pretty young, and Adeline is bigger, so maybe it's just an age thing.I like the females though, even if they are squirmy!I've had male gerbils, but they aren't really the same so I won't even continue with that.I have all female fish (except moon beam out half crescent king Betta) a female snake, and they are all very loving


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## Incandescent (Dec 17, 2012)

It also depends on what you want from a pet rat. I like both males and females, but I like different aspects of each. I find boys much more cuddly and physically affectionate, but mine have always been the sweet-but-dumb variety. They're good for quiet companion animals. I wouldn't necessarily say that they smell worse than females, but they definitely smell different (I have almost no sense of smell, though, so I may be weird in that). I apparently have a mild allergy to rats which seems to have something to do with urine, and boy rats usually make me break out worse than girl rats. Girl rats, by contrast, are much more hyper. They can be harder to handle, especially if there are little kids around. That said, all of my girls have been brilliant compared to my boys. The girls have been more motivated, enthusiastic and overall engaged with the world than their male counterparts. As someone who loves trick training, that's a great feature to have in a pet.

All in all, it comes down to what you want from a pet rat. Obviously there are variations from individual to individual, but that's been my experience: girls are more bouncy and clever, and boys are more mellow. What type of rat experience do you want to have?


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## RainOnRahoon (Dec 17, 2012)

I tend to prefer females as far as most animals go. Cats are really the only animals, out of the pets I've had, that I prefer male. Both my ratties are female, and they are both very clean, super loving and playful. Though, I have not had male rats, so I have nothing to compare it to, really.


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## FallDeere (Sep 29, 2011)

I prefer females. They're cleaner, more pleasant to touch (my boys have bristly fur), and a lot of fun to watch and play with.

My boys do cuddle a _bit _more than my girls, but I wouldn't call them cuddly like people say males are. My boys urinate on _everything_, though... Of my girls, only Peaches urinates on me purposefully, and not very often. Silver will accidentally every few days, but I can tell that she would rather go in a litter box. Silver is very hygienic and poops and urinates in the litter box 90% of the time whereas my boys... The only poop in the litter box was put there by my in the hopes that they would eventually get the idea... My other girls aren't as good about the litter box as Silver, but they're not as bad as the boys.

Overall, though, it's more a _personality _thing. Silver is very OCD and keeps the cage clean (I even saw her put poop into the litter box.. _picked it up and set it in its spot_. I kid you not.), but that's a Silver thing, not necessarily a female thing. Also, my girl Peaches is a LOT like the males in several ways. She's the most hyper of the females, but she's a slob and urinates on things.

The boys are really stinky, though. I say that with love, but their cage always stinks more than the girls even though I have three girls, only two boys, and clean the cages at the same time. The boys' cage is always covered in poop, but the girls have a lot of poop in the litter box so the only mess is chewed up cardboard. With the boys... pure poop. They don't chew as much as the girls, so there's never a mess of anything except poop. and a lot of it.

I love my boys, but I'm not getting any more once Gus Gus and Bartok are gone unless it's neutered.


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## ThreeMagicBeans (Dec 16, 2012)

Thanks to everyone who contributed! Erg. It's definitely a tough decision for me. And I suck at deciding. All of our animals, besides dogs, have been males, you name it rats, hamsters, horses, mice, frogs, gerbils, etc. I don't know if this is relatable but... This summer I got another Syrian (hamster), when I went to the rescue I wanted a male but they had been adopted out. So I ended up with a female. She is the first female small animal I have had. She pees and poops in a litter box. But hates being cuddled, and as soon as she is out of her cage, she is on a mission. e_O I still love her equally as much. ^_^ But she is less cuddly. 
I was leaning towards getting a female in the beginning for their cleanliness, but I forgot how smooshily (even a word??) cuddly the males were. I am torn. Oh rats. Hehe. I cannot decide... I'll probably end up with a male though, I think the couch potato attitude outweighs the difference in cleanliness. 
If anyone else wants to contribute, it will definitely help me!!


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

you know, if you get them from a rescue you can get a neutered male and/or spayed female pairing (or a trio) so you don't have to choice


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## ThreeMagicBeans (Dec 16, 2012)

That's what I was thinking... There is a rescue near me that does that. I have a second question. I just didn't want to start another thread, I hope this is okay.

Is it okay to have a trio? I would think one would get left out. 
Has anyone had a trio before? And how did it work out?


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

I LOVE trios. Rats Love to live in larger groups, Trios I think are perfect. No one gets left out. If one wants to play and the other doesn't, he still has someone to play with. if some one dies, your not stuck with a 1 rat situation. If your having Solo time with a rat the others aren't left out.

Also it Can help keep fighting down as there is always a guy who isn't involved and typically distracts them during a fight. Also they aren't too much to be a pain to care for like with larger groups and still, no one is left out.

Trios really are in my mind the perfect number (Right now I have 4 and I think it might be a handful for me at this time)


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## ThreeMagicBeans (Dec 16, 2012)

Thanks! Because I know with other animals, they can get left out. But rats are so sweet.Yes, we had a pair. When our dumbo, O'Malley, passed away (from a tumor) it was too much for Fred and he passed within days of O'Malley. It was depressing.


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## Blaze (Jul 16, 2012)

I have males and females, I've experienced the good, bad, and ugly of both.

Males are generally much more laid-back, cuddly, and affectionate to humans, but can be more difficult with other rats. They're not much fun to watch because a lot of them will literally spend all of their free time just lying around. They're bigger, and they do pee a lot more to mark territory. I don't think there's a way to completely train them against doing that. Some people insist that males smell more, but my six females smell way worse than my two males do. Some males will develop hormonal disorders that will make them extremely aggressive to other rats, meaning that you either have to have them neutered or force them to live alone. My boys get along great - they are father and son - but they break out into fights sometimes when one of the girls goes into heat, because their cage is below the boys and I guess they can smell them.

Females are generally very active and do not like to be handled, but will usually get along with other rats better than they will with humans. They can be difficult to introduce sometimes; my most recent female still fights with my alpha female sometimes, and they've been together for months. Girls really don't like to be held, petted, or carried around (they usually tolerate shoulder rides), so if you want a cuddly female, you'll have to work with holding her every day from a young age. Females from feeder tanks at the pet store can be impossible to tame. I've had one girl for over a year and I still haven't tamed her at all, she won't let me. But, girls are very fun to watch. They're just go go go all the time and love exploring and playing, and they're great if you want a pet to teach tricks to. If you don't have at least thirty minutes to let them out for free-range time every day, you might not want girls. They really need that time to explore. Females are prone to cancer as they age, too. You can spay them to reduce the risk, but it's such a traumatic surgery, that I honestly wouldn't suggest it. 

If I were asked to choose one gender or the other, I don't think I could. I love owning both and I plan to continue owning both.


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

Males all the way here.


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## Awaiting_Abyss (Jul 24, 2012)

I have three females and one male. 

I love both genders, but females seem to be random with what kind of personality you get. My girl, Raimei who is the sister of my only boy is very calm, cuddly and loving. While my other two girls are hyper and destructive. My boy is just like his sister except he is piggy and she isn't.

Even though I only have one boy, I'd probably say that I prefer boys since you're pretty much garenteed a rat that will be a "laprat."


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## Ruka (Dec 20, 2012)

Males for me. I've had does but the bucks are squishy and cuddly. I love squishy and cuddly pets!!Bucks want to cuddle, does want to explore. For me personally I prefer a cuddly pet.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I have a daughter that just turned seven years old. We started out with females because the girl at the pet shop suggested that I would have less to explain with females than I might with males to my then five-year-old daughter. It seemed reasonable to me. I also might add that when my big fat tail dragging shoulder rat was much younger she would actually run around the playground with kids and literally play tag. She could run up to and over a half mile in a single stretch. She made for a great surrogate puppy for my daughter. And after she got really tired out she would cuddle and nap on us. We couldn't have wound up with a better rat if we designed her ourselves. Now that she is old and slow she winds up sitting on the bench with daddy while the kids run around and play. Honestly, I don't mind.

I would add one footnote though, Fuzzy Rat was raised by us from a pup. She slept on us and she learned all about hugs and snuggles and cuddling before she became and agile and competent adult. And that level of affection has stayed with her all of her life. We recently adopted a seven-month-old girl rat from a neglectful household and she never learned to cuddle and even though she is sweet and friendly and will endure hugs, it's definitely not something she looks forward to. So if you do decide to go with girls, try to get them very young and raise them right. With girls, how their raised seems to make a big difference in how affectionate they will be when they grow up.

As to adopting adult rats from shelters or rescues, I honestly believe for the most part, that's best done by people with more rat handling and training experience. One of the major causes for rats to wind up in shelters or rescues is that they had behavioral problems in their previous homes. An experienced rat owner can often deal with these issues successfully. But I believe, that most people are better off starting out with young and friendly rats of either sex.

I'm sure you'll be thrilled with your new rats regardless of which sex you choose.


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## Muttlycrew (Dec 21, 2012)

I have makes and females and it's definitely safe to say, of all the rats I have had, not just current ones, that the males seem to be more laid back and seem to enjoy hanging out more whereas females are more random, meaning you don't know for sure what you're gonna get. My females, however, all seem(ed) to be more high energy and playful. So "better" gender would be different for everyone, depending on what you like in a rat! 


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App


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## kelii (Dec 18, 2012)

I have girls now because my daughter wanted them, but personally I prefer boys. They are cuddlier and sweeter, I think. The girls are very playful, but less interactive.


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## AlanF (Aug 11, 2011)

We had two males that we'd gotten from the rescue - one was anti-social toward us in the beginning, but turned out to have a charming and quirky personality as he got used to us, and I think he'll always be my favorite. The other one was friendly from the beginning, but not very interesting. When one died, we brought the surviving one to the rescue to see who he would get along with. We ended up with a bonded threesome of spayed females, 1 older and 2 younger sisters. So instead of the planned two, we now had four! Other than cleaning the cage more often, we found the larger group to be fine. They would pair off at times, and then all sleep in a pile at other times. So don't hesitate to have more than 2!

Our boys and girls are in some ways typical - the boys would pee and poop wherever they were, while the females actually go back in the cage to use the litter box and then come back out to play. The females have all had hoarding tendencies, in that they take their food and stack it in a corner (or in the case of one, in the litterbox). The males never did that. The males were very content on a shoulder, and the girls readily climb up there, but being so active they run from shoulder to shoulder and climb up and down quite a bit. They never really sit still. Outside of the cage, I really didn't see a difference in activity levels - the boys were as curious as the girls.

I'd be interested in hearing from others on the litterbox use by gender. While the boys are more mellow, I really like not having to worry about changing my shirt after having the girls climb on me. In the year and a half that we've had them, I can't recall ever having to clean up after them. Has anyone had any luck with litterboxes and males?


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## aimleigh (Feb 7, 2014)

aw everyones males seem to be loving, wish one of mine were :-( lol.. I can't really say cos I've only got 2 males and they seem amazing


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

Girls all the way for me. Originally I wanted males and purchased my first and only boy, Jasper. I went to get him a cagemate but ended up with Lilly. She was the best decision I ever made. I had Jasper fixed but two hours after the surgery his heart stopped and we were left with Lilly and his three pups, the only male lives with a very good friend and is well loved. Then Matilda joined the trio and made it a quad. Now I'm trying to rescue another girl in need. In every other situation I prefer males over females but this is the exception. My girls just have so much personality and spunk and I can't see myself owning boys, at least for a long while.


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## ratswithfoxandbear (Feb 12, 2014)

I had this same choice to make. I went with females because of their high energy and rambunctiousness. I also preferred a less smelly animal.

Of course it depends per-the-companion, but there were generalizations I saw repeated online and in texts. I love my girls a bunch, too.


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## Michaela (Mar 15, 2014)

Hi!I have found with running a rat rescue & having my own rats that boys tend to be more laid back were as girls are hyper & love to run around like little nutters! That being said I have an older girl that is pretty laid back but she is an escape artist. Males that are neutered make wonderful cuddle bunnies! Hope this helped a bit


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## Juliah456 (Mar 12, 2014)

There's a reason I have both, I could never choose between them! I like best of both worlds. But if I had to decide on one, it would be males, probably. Yes, the marking can get annoying, but nothing compares to big cuddly boys for me. Although i really love how females climb all over, which boys don't seem to do. Hard choice! Lol


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## Mattsrats (Feb 24, 2014)

Having experienced both I have to go with females as a preference.

Females tend to be more energetic and easier to train in my opinion. My girls will do anything for treats while my boys will ignore treats at times.

I have heard that males tend to be more cuddly but I have yet to see it. When I hold my girls they love to explore and root around in my clothes. My boys on the other hand make every effort to get under my shirt and then.... that's it... they just sit there .../yawn.

Another point, girls don't have big droopy testicles to drag all over you as boys do! The more relaxed the rat, the droopier their testicles become. I will admit that I can't help but laugh when they run in the bathtub, their balls swing side to side in perfect synchronization and it makes me laugh! 

My boys also constantly piss all over me... and it's not always a dribble... one of mine leaves a puddle. Some have rats that don't scent mark and others like me are a piss magnet.

Males are a bit less destructive though in my experience... girls love to drag anything they can through the cage bars and shred it for a nest. Boys won't even bother with a nest half the time

IMO if you want the coup de grace get one of each sex and have one or both fixed. You get a bit of each that way 

Males: Less energetic and make better lap rats.
Females: High Energy and easier to train as most will do anything for a treat.


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## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

I am partial to boys but have girls right now. They are both good. I am in best of both right now because one of my gals is elderly and only wants to snuggle with me and the other is a baby who wants to play.

Boys do tend to be more pungent. Girls tend to be very mischievous and kind of rowdy. I want to get a boy and neuter him for my girls.


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