# Falling Rats!



## madeittothemoon (Nov 1, 2007)

So my planner for school has different facts for each week... and I noticed that one of the facts says "a rat can fall from a five-story building without injury". Has anyone ever heard anything like this?


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## rat_ratscal (Sep 23, 2007)

ive heard rats falling 2 feet and getting hurt


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## madeittothemoon (Nov 1, 2007)

Yeah, I thought they were a little more delicate than that... maybe it's just crazy huge city rats that can survive a fall like that!


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## Darksong17 (Feb 11, 2007)

Definitely incorrect, rats will be injured if they fall from a distance just like any other animal and I've heard of rats falling MUCH lesser distances and being injured (like a high level in a cage or off a tall shelf). That's ridiculous


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## Matt (Jun 14, 2007)

FALSE!


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## crapola (Feb 12, 2007)

well, ash decided today that she is a paratrooper, and jumped (fell) from my shoulder to the floor. i am 5'7", so she fell almost 5', looked around and bolted. it took me a couple of minutes to catch her (lucky she didnt make it to one of the bedrooms or we might never have seen her again, haha!!) and she seems to be ok. i have been keeping an eye on her all day, and she is moving around normally, and eating like a little piggy as usual.


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## BlueSkyy (Sep 27, 2007)

i suppose it would depend on the landing...

my boys won't jump for anything, they peer over ledges like the end of the world is waiting for them at the bottom. little scaredy cats.


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## Katie_Renee (Nov 12, 2007)

mine always LOOK like they are gonna jump! but than they don't.....they kinda shimmy down my boobs with their front feet, get scared, and climb back up into the abyss of my hair.


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## Matt (Jun 14, 2007)

> mine always LOOK like they are gonna jump! but than they don't.....they kinda shimmy down my boobs with their front feet, get scared, and climb back up into the abyss of my hair.[/qoute]
> 
> lol, thats my kind of rat...lol...joking...


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## Meliss (Sep 1, 2007)

My little one Koi just started jumping she will jump from me to my mom and back again or she will jump to the floor. My male never jumps and neither does my other girl. My sisters males jump they are really funny when they do it too.


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## daydreamer4186 (Oct 4, 2007)

I was laying on my bed reading the other day and my roommate forgot to close the rats cage. Next thing I hear this thud and turn around to see Tara in the cage totally confused and Willow missing. I look down to see Willow climbing out of my garbage can with a piece of paper on her head. It's a pretty far drop! I checked her over and kept and eye on her and she was completely fine. It was still really cute to see her climbing out of the garbage can with stuff on her head haha.


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## cjshrader (Feb 15, 2007)

I read they can fall from at least 15 feet and not get hurt. Which I think is true, it just doesn't mean they will *always* not get hurt. My rat has fallen from at least 7 feet and was perfectly fine (Just a little dazed, which was good because I needed that time to grab her and make sure she was all right). I think the point they are trying to make is a rat's critical velocity probably isn't ever enough to kill them from the fall if they land right. They are fairly light critters.


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

yeah, it depends on *how* they fall. and terminal velocity is exactly the thing they are talking about. for smaller animals like mice, they can fall forever and technically they can be fine. porcupines are known for just rolling into a ball and falling out of trees when they don't feel like climbing back down themselves.


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## cjshrader (Feb 15, 2007)

Yeah I said critical velocity like a rube. My mistake!


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## Ratty1100 (Nov 17, 2007)

Rats are usually good fallers, but it also depends how an on what the fall. Have heard of rats falling about 40 metres and survive. 40 metres it is about 45 jards or something like that. 
They usually turn themselves on feet while falling. That is true. I tried once over my bed.
I think that dont hurt a rat if its falling less than a feet on blanket. :lol: 
Also they go little bit flat or something, just like when lying somewhere.

Hope you understand me because iÂ´m not English at all.


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## Berks (May 15, 2007)

When Dandy was a baby, I put her in the FN before I had the wire mesh covering it. She bolted in huge leap through the top of the FN, went up above that, hit the light on the wall and fell all the way back down to the floor behind the FN. She was a bit jittery after that but she was alright. Needless to say I got the wire mesh done before they went in. I cried because I seriously thought there was gonna be soemthing wrong with her but I guess she landed it well.


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## SammyNova (Aug 26, 2007)

False


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## cjshrader (Feb 15, 2007)

I don't think it's false based on what me and onlyono said. I think it's entirely possible that a rat could survive that fall. I just don't think it'd happen every time.


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## Charlet_2007 (Nov 10, 2007)

its actually a mouse i just saw a video on it here yesterday..


http://video.nationalgeographic.com...les-animals/snakes/mouse_escapingfromboa.html


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## ledzepgirl16 (Oct 29, 2007)

cjshrader said:


> I think it's entirely possible that a rat could survive that fall. I just don't think it'd happen every time.


Right, I think you summed it up pretty well...just because it's _possible_ doesn't mean it's what will always happen. Good point. LoL, nobody test this on your rats, please. :wink:


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

yeah, i'll go in for the whole depending on the landing thing. i'm not a rat, but because i landed wrong i got hurt from a at most 2 foot drop. that's not supposed to be damaging but i managed it. now, having said that, its not any less scary for us moms and dads who watch our acrobat rats make that leap of doom. i once had a rat that ENJOYED jumping off of my 4 and half foot bookcase. my heart went straight to my throat everytime too, but she never hurt herself from doing it. though for some reason she always avoided the pillows i put down for my peace of mind too... she was such a brat.


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## Meliss (Sep 1, 2007)

My boy Ira fell out of the cage on last Friday and landed on his feet- he seemed to be fine--- his cage is on the top of the girls-- and he also fell off the top balcony and landed on rabbit -pellets on Saturday or Sunday afternoon fell on his head--- I checked him over well and seemed fine. It is now Thurday night and he is in the playpen haveing a wonderful time.


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