# Rats From Petsmart?



## Snake Lover (Sep 11, 2012)

Hi, it is a pleasure to meet you all firstly. Now about my question, I have wanted a pet rat (Just something different from snakes) for a while (It will NOT be used as feeder food. I feed my snakes ONLY F/T food (Frozen/Thawed)) and I have ran into a problem: I dont have a place to adopt them from.

I live over towards the country side in a small town and the nearest breeder is 5 hours away. We dont have a shelter nearby either. I CAN afford to adopt and care for it (Including the vet), but I find it a waste of money to spend over $100 to ship it to me (Plus I like to see my pets in person before adopting). The only option I am really presented with is Petsmart... I know they come from mills and I know there are not the healthiest rats out there, but I have always wanted one since I was a child. Can any one who had adopted a rat(s) from Petsmart have any overall summary of their health and age? Also, I want to get two males (My friend whom had rats as a child had two females and both died from tumors), would they be compatible in the same cage if left intact? I dont mind neutering them, but I dont like surgery that is not needed (The thought that something could go horribly wrong because I wanted to change something terrifies me) and if I dont absoloutly need it, I wont do it. If I cant, can I get two cages side by side and let them interact through the bars? Thx


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## RatMama13 (Aug 20, 2011)

Health and care varies from store to store. Go in and check it out numerous times at different times a day. Our Petsmart is pretty good but our PETCO is even better. But it truly does vary from store to store. Two males should live together just fine if bought from the same place at the same time. And you will need to get two because rats really suffer mentally if they are alone in a cage no matter how much time you spend with them. They will tussle a bit but that is normal.


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## unlikelyfather (Sep 11, 2012)

Nice to meet you, too.

You're not going to find a lot of folks singing praises about PetSmart, but it should be doable with two conditions:

*Condition #1 -* You need to spend a lot of time reviewing the health of the animals in the store. Notice every sneeze, every sniffle, every twitch or head-tilt. Watch for aggressive behavior that seems more than normal (such as all rats bullying one another and blood involved) or tolerable, and visit the store more than twice before you make up your mind. You want to see if they're consistently healthy animals rather than just making a decision on the first visit, because sometimes disease can hide itself.

If you can accept this condition to get yourself the best possible animal from a store environment, Condition #2 presents itself:

*Condition #2* - You will need to accept that, as these animals are likely stocked from rat breeding mills and are possibly going to be housed with pine bedding and the like, any animal you purchase from a pet store is likely to be more susceptible to infections and disease than one from a breeder. Rescued animals are often, in my experience, from pet stores as well - so they'll have questionable health anyhow. If you can accept that any rat you buy is exceptionally likely to end up dying of cancer or needing to be put to sleep, then you may go ahead with the PetSmart option.

Realistically, all rats are notoriously prone to cancer but by going with a mill-produced rat you're likely going to be breaking your own heart down the line. That's not to say that it isn't alright to rescue breeder rats from horrid living conditions every now and then, despite the money it may take the more compassionate of us, but you do need to accept that these animals may have a hefty vet bill and weight on your heart in the future.

My only rat previous to my current baby was a store-bought feeder rat who was far too scared of any other rat to ever be housed with them. She developed tumors after about a year and a half in, and they ballooned until they were weights keeping her down when she moved. At the time I was 16 and could not convince my family to treat her or at the very least put her to sleep humanely. It was a depressing downward spiral to watch, but she stayed loving and fighting through til the end of everything.

They make some of the best pets in the world, no matter where you get them from, but there is nothing good about the devastation you may be putting yourself through. I can understand why you'd want to avoid shipping in a pet such a long distance. Make sure you make a good and informed decision and know what you're up against if you decide to select rats from the store.

As everyone will recommend, you'd do best to get a pair. They easily become lonely otherwise.

EDIT: Allowing them to visit through the bars is also acceptable. If you select two rats from the same tank/cage at the PetSmart, they should be compatible. Try to pay attention to how the rats you like the look of interact with one another in their group setting. Observe them a few times in order to make sure they're healthy (check the nose for a reddish tint or stain that could indicate stress or health issues) and they ought to be compatible with one another since they've already been living together.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Are there any reputable rescues near you? They often will work out rat trains (transports) to try to get rats into a good home.

The other option is Craigslist, there is often people with oops litters, or rehoming perfectly sweet rats. If you are in Canada you also have kijiji.


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## RatzRUs (Feb 5, 2012)

They do better in pairs. They are highly social animals that will need a companion and no matter how much you spend time with him he will become depressed,but all in all. I work at a ma and pop shop our animals are on pine I hate saying it and I have been trying too change their beddin,but because it's a small owned business the expenses can get high. Check wheezing,porpherine,wet sneezes,head tilts and aggression just like unlikely said. I would also take into consideration that rats that have illnesses are more prone too vet visits...and it maybe ALOT of vet visits,but if you are okay with that. I would also do what LilSpaz said look on Craigslist Kiji,and or rescues like SPCA sometimes they have rats they don't post up unless someone asks. If you do Craigslist please know sometimes they do come too you with health problems 4 out 5 of mine came with health problems and it was in and out of the vet for nearly two months. :/ breeding is also too be taken I to consideration there are so many nasty diseases and issues with bad breeding....I would look into that as well. They also require a lot of cage room along with toys....


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## achackysac (Sep 11, 2012)

Hi there.

I got both of my Fuzzies from Petsmart (and yes, I realize just like you do that this isn't the best option, but like you, no rescues offer rats often and there are no breeders near me).

The first two rats I got were Peach and Daisy. Daisy was a biter. When I say biter, I don't mean territorial. I mean human-aimed biter. They told me that when I got her, and I assumed they meant the typical "Get out of my cage," bite. Not the case. I had to wear the gloves I own to feed gars and turtles at our local nature museum to keep her from biting my finger off. I tried the fist tactic (where you make a fist to deter biting) but she would just keep circling my hand until she found a weak point. One time I was fixing their water bottle on one side of the cage, and had my hand on the outside of the cage to keep it from moving. I had no fingers sticking through the bars or anything, but she walked over and took a chunk out of my pinky. I could only afford one cage, and she bullied Peach for food and wouldn't let her approach me even when she wanted to. I worked for weeks with her. I had to take her back, and to this day I regret it. But like I said, our rescues don't support rats, and I tried to get the people at Petsmart to work with her (the girl who took her was an avid rat lover, so I really hope she did what she could. I don't know Daisy's fate, though).

Now, on to happy time! When I took Daisy back, I got Zelda, who had previously been in the tank at Petsmart with both Peach and Daisy. Zelda and Peach really hit it off. There were very few scuffles, if any, and no blood was ever drawn. I think they were about 6 months when I got them. Peach just passed away on the 8th of September. I had them for almost two full years, so, calculating it out, Peach was almost two and a half years old, which is pretty dang good. I still have Zelda, and she is doing fine. Both of them never had any serious ailments at all. Aside from a few sneezes once I brought them home, they never had respiratory issues (except for one time when the fan in their room was turned off for a day without me knowing it, but they only had a little mucous for a day after), no eating problems, no behavior issues. They were less socialized than I would have liked, and never got very used to me simply "holding," them, but they weren't afraid of me and would run around and around on me. Petsmart rats were surprisingly better than I ever would have expected, and I know that I at least gave them a good life, and probably better than some parent getting their 6 yr old kid a rat and expecting them to take care of it...

Do what you have to. Rats are amazing pets, and I know how it is to not be able to get them from the source you want, but my fuzzies are the best things that have ever happened to me, and they WERE Petsmart rats.


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## Snake Lover (Sep 11, 2012)

Thanks everyone, and I had said there are no local shelters that carry rats (Or anything except cats, dogs, and one had horses and farm animals) so I guess Petsmart is my only real option. If they are in terrible condition, I will look at the ones at Petco but our Petco's conditions are awful. Every pet I adopted from them died within 3 weeks of buying them (One two months but that poor lizard had an awful life. She had back leg paralysis and had gave up on life. Wouldnt eat even when I held her insects down so they wouldnt run away. So after that I had to force feed her a specialized diet until I decided enough was enough and made the hard decision of putting her to sleep). I am willing to pay any vet bills if I do decide to buy from them, and I already have a few grand saved up for emergency vet visits. I have looked up on Craig's List (And this one site... Oodle? Something along those lines...) and no one locally has rats for sale (One did but when I contacted him he said he had sold them already). I will check in once a week for a month to see if conditions are good and make my decision off of that.


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

That is very sad, I'm actually wanting to get a Crestie (Crested Gecko) next year, hopefully that won't happen if I get one.

Anyways, as everyone has already said, health and care depends on store to store. You said your a snake person? have you been to Ball pythons? I'm sure you can find a local breeder in your area? A lot of people on there while they do breed them for food I would say in terms of the feeder industry take really good care of their rats, and often have very nice ones. Plus most will be able to tell you what age they are and When they were born (sometimes even the parents and grandparents, and all that stuff, but that tends to be rarer since most don't keep extensive records).

All of my boys have come from The Same exact Petsmart (they took really good care of their animals, and the rat lady there (well rodent lady) is super nice and calls them Ratties instead of like rats). My first 2 were Charles and Einstein. Einstein unfortuantly had serious respitory problems (at this time I didn't know what to do about it other then a piece of dark chocolate). He died at around 10 months old from Peunomia, which sadly killed him in around 14 hours so even if we had taken to a vet nothing could be done. Einstein though was a very good rat, he was a black hooded. He actually would steal my homework, and he liked being on people.

Charles (who died on August 14th, so less then a month ago) was actually in very good health. he almost never suffered from any issues, minus like 2 small flare ups of Myco. He loves people, he would let children play with him. He was just a very squishy rat who loved everyone and everything, especially Crackers, those were his favorite food. He sadly died at around 20 months old of a Pituatory tumor. Unfortuantly PTs are hard to diagnose unless you are familiar with it, and even then the only thing you can do is either put them to sleep or make sure they happy. He died within 4 days of showing the major symptoms. poor little guys really wanted to live though, but I guess his body didn't let him. Charles was a Topaz (Fawn, I like the UK terms better in most cases) hooded. Which I think is a fantastic color and a fantastic pattern.

After Einstein died we got Soda and Storm.

Soda is a little Punk, and a jelly belly. The second I put my hand into his tank he jumped, no wait, Pounced up my arm and started boggling in my ear. Little guy really loves people. He's constantly pouncing on people, always spazing out, and almost always boggling. He just's a happy rat. He was named after Soda from the Outsiders which in the book said (well not in these exact words) "He got drunk without even drinking, he just got drunk off life". that's basically how my Soda acts as well. He is some what prone to Myco, but not as badly as Einstein. He is a Russian Beige, maybe Russian dove, hooded.

Storm. Where do I begin. He is a jerk. He gets into a lot of Alpha fights. He also isn't the worlds most people friendly rat. He doesn't like to ride on shoulders or be picked up. Its always on his terms. Though he does love people, if he likes you instead of giving you a kiss he'll give you a light nip on your nose and will run away boggling. Its really funny. He also likes to hoard money (my fault, i did a "music video" with him and gave him dollar bills for one of the scenes. yeah, don't do that. I found over 50 dollars in one of his stores). However he has Never had myco, he has never had mucus, and he sneezes maybe at most once a month. Also he is kind of cool type. He's a Black Variberk Satin Dumbo with a head spot.

They All came from the same exact Petsmart. Personally if you can though, if you can find a local exotic pet store (or Mom and Pop shop) that breeds their own rats, or a friend, or snake person who also breeds their own rats, go with them for your first option.


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## Snake Lover (Sep 11, 2012)

Yeah, Roxy was a very sweet, but timid, African Fat Tailed Gecko. I remember how whenever I would finish forcefeeding her, I would cradle her in my arms and she would just cuddle up to me and fall asleep. But she was extremely timid and would start thrashing around when something spooks her (Like loud noises, the dog, bright lights, etc) and it worried me that she might hurt herself doing that one day. She died the day after Christmas when her condition was too much to bare and we had no choice but to euthenize her. 

Huh, never thought of that... I could always go to a local, private petshop whom specializes in reptiles. I bet they would know some rat breeders. If not, there is always that reptile show in November, and Im POSITIVE someone there would know. And I have seen hairless rats at reptile shows some times so that really opens up a broad spectrum of possibilities.


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

That's even sadder. At lease she had a good ending.

Just make sure that if you get a hairless to get him a haired friend since they are sensitive to cold, and also sensitive to getting scratched (well, its more noticeable). To be honest I never thought about Expos. I Knew that they sold feeders there, don't know why That never came across my mind. Maybe I could finally get an Albino (Sorry Albinos are my favorite type of rat, but I have only seen one in real life, its kind of sad, even in the Feeder bins I never see Albinos) All the "ratteries" here in Texas are a joke. One of them was willing to let me breed one of their does at 8 weeks (almost everyone, even in reptiles, knows to wait till 4 months) and the other ones I am also wary of. So I kind of know how you feel about this. (Also the North Texas Rat rescue closed down  ). In till we get a house and can actually be eligible to buy from a breeder up in Illinois, we have to go to pet shops. If your ever willing to travel out of state Sweet Genes is highly recommended. I talked with her a few times through Emails and she is extremely nice.


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## Snake Lover (Sep 11, 2012)

I had no intentions of buying her but when the store clerk took her out to put her in the back (And Im guessing so they can replace her with a healthy one) I had offered to buy her off impulse. Sweetest lizard in the world and I dont regret a second of it.

The hairless rats were sold as pets, not feeders (Even though they could... But they also had hedgehogs and Nutrea (Dont know if I spelt it right) and sugar gliders and all sorts of nifty little critters that I think wouldnt be sold as feeders). Hopefully they would still be there (Ill check who rented a stand) cause the hairless breeds are a favorite of mine. And its funny cause all the rats I ever see are albinos, nothing else.


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