# Is it just me or?



## Muzza (Feb 25, 2016)

Is anyone else afraid of wild rats? Lmao. I absolutely adore domesticated rats, obviously, as I have some. But for some reason, when I see a wild rat, I just feel all shivery and my heart beats really fast....

Is it just me?


----------



## Fu-Inle (Jan 22, 2015)

Its like seeing a wolf. I really want to cuddle you but I also like having 10 fingers. You know you're a rat owner when you're at a zoo and a rat running across the path gets you more excited than seeing lion cubs. True story.


----------



## Muzza (Feb 25, 2016)

Haha thank you for sharing that wonderful story with me.


----------



## artgecko (Nov 26, 2013)

Wild rats can be dangerous, so it is a good fear to have. I feel the same way about venomous snakes.. I understand they are there for a purpose (and I keep CB non-venomous snakes) but I don't want to have any contact with them lol. With wild rats, it is a biting hazard, but they can also carry disease, so not good to come in contact with them for that reason as well.


----------



## Jenniferinfl (Mar 25, 2016)

LOL, nah, it's cool, wild rats are scary. Especially ones that are somewhat accustomed to humans. We used to have wild rats up in our barn loft and they were grotesque creatures. If one died in a trap, the others would eat him. If you disturbed a nest and the mom ran away, the others would grab pinkies and eat them. So gross. I don't know if the rats in our barn were just particularly hard-core, like the biker gang of wild rats, but, they weren't something I would want to interact with. 

I used to do some wildlife rehab, and there's nothing worse than an animal who has gone MOSTLY wild but is also not afraid of you. A squirrel I'd bottlefed once managed to bite me like ten times before I could get him off of me. A few months later he had finally acquired enough fear to stay more than ten feet from me. But, I'm not gonna lie, I still watch squirrels closely when I'm outside. I'm not afraid of them, per se, just don't trust the little stinkers at all.


----------



## thyme (May 25, 2009)

Wild rats make me jump a bit when I see them in the subway. It's the sudden movement, I think. My mother, who was absolutely 100% don't-bring-it-within-fifty-feet rat-phobic when I got my first rat 10 years ago, likes them a lot now, but will still jump if one of my boys scampers along a wall suddenly.

They are kinda gross. Capable of all sorts of crazy and very cool stuff, and I give them mad props for them being serious survivors, but yeah, gross.

Your rat biker gang made me laugh, Jenniferinfl.


----------



## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Wild rats don't eat dead rats or baby rats abandoned by their mom because they are gross, or bad, or disgusting...they do it to survive. Period. Rats that didn't do it, didn't pass on their genes. Dead rats or squeaking abandoned baby rats attract predators.


----------



## rottengirl (Mar 16, 2016)

I have never seen a wild rat. Kind of disappointed tbh.


----------



## Mene (Mar 13, 2015)

Why not use humane traps?


----------



## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Mene said:


> Why not use humane traps?


I agree. I wouldn't kill or hurt a wild rat. Same with mice. I actually trap and release spiders and I'm afraid of them.


----------



## Jenniferinfl (Mar 25, 2016)

Mene said:


> Why not use humane traps?


Sorry, I was referencing the barn at my parent's house from childhood. It's been awhile. Humane traps weren't really a thing in the 80's.


----------



## Jenniferinfl (Mar 25, 2016)

Gribouilli said:


> Wild rats don't eat dead rats or baby rats abandoned by their mom because they are gross, or bad, or disgusting...they do it to survive. Period. Rats that didn't do it, didn't pass on their genes. Dead rats or squeaking abandoned baby rats attract predators.


Doesn't really change the way it's perceived. If I shipwrecked on an island and ate the rest of the crew to survive most people would recoil in horror. Though, I mean, logically, someone surviving is better than no one surviving. Easily 90% of people would think I was gross at least or 'bad' for doing it and at the minimum disgusting. Can't argue that it isn't a good survival strategy. It's still part of what creeps me out about wild rats even if I can logic my way around it. Even if I know it makes sense. 

For what it's worth, I was thinking about this study about domestic rats as I had read it shortly before ending up at this thread: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...athy-the-rat/2011/12/08/gIQAAx0jfO_story.html

If anyone doesn't feel like clicking it, it's basically about a study where a rat demonstrated empathy by choosing to rescue another rat that was trapped in a small box and sometimes even shared part of the treat. 

I was thinking about what was different about that rat versus wild rats eating pinkies before the mom has even been away a couple minutes.


----------



## Jenniferinfl (Mar 25, 2016)

Gribouilli said:


> I agree. I wouldn't kill or hurt a wild rat. Same with mice. I actually trap and release spiders and I'm afraid of them.


I don't set any traps. I was remembering something from childhood and my early teens. I had little control of that situation. 

I've never seen a mouse or a rat here. But, that probably has something to do with 1) keeping food in tight containers 2) feeding semi-feral cats (all neutered of course)

My parents had poultry and unfortunately chickens need food available at all times which means that you really can't prevent rats by controlling food supply like I can do here.


----------



## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

I was talking in general. I understand that it might be harder on a farm for many reasons, especially back then.


----------



## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Lots of different animals eat their dead or kill their sick ones, practice infanticide, ...it isn't just rats. Pet rats will also eat their dead cagemates if you leave the corpse in their cage for too long.


----------



## Jenniferinfl (Mar 25, 2016)

Gribouilli said:


> Lots of different animals eat their dead or kill their sick ones, practice infanticide, ...it isn't just rats. Pet rats will also eat their dead cagemates if you leave the corpse in their cage for too long.


Interesting. Will they eat them just if there is a shortage of food? I could understand in a desperate hoarding situation. I'm just curious if they would choose a dead cage mate over rat pellets.


I've seen domestic rabbits eat day old pinkies. It's pretty darn rare if you're a halfway decent breeder. I thought it was revolting, but, I always figured that she must know something I don't. I've never seen one kill and eat one more than a couple days old. Even though my pet rabbits would occasionally steal chicken from the cats, nobody every started snacking on a dead cagemate. Though, I guess it's not like they were ever in there for long. Maybe they would have too, they just never got an opportunity.


----------



## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

They would eat dead cagemates as it is instinctive. In the wild a dead body would attract predators. Pet rats still have that instinct. Not sure if they would all do it, I'm not going to try to figure it out. When my rat died I let her body in the cage for about 5-10 mins, just enough time for them to realize that their sister was dead and not coming back. It has nothing to do with having pellets or not, although I would guess that starving rats would eat the corpse faster than well fed pet rats.


----------



## Muzza (Feb 25, 2016)

Yesterday evening, before I made this post, I was laying on my bed and it had just started to get dark. I live in the countryside and sleep in a sleep out. Anyway, I heard a noise and just saw a rat climbing up the window. It is some weird spider rat movement, I tell you. For a split second, I thought, "WHY IS ONE OF MY RATS OUTSIDE?!" And then I realised, it wasn't mine and I flipped my sh*t and made this weird, "Huuwaaaah" noise. It scampered away straight after my outburst. I then made a perimeter check around my room to make sure there wasn't any ways it could get in. I don't think it can and I hope to God it doesn't. Mostly for the safety or my boys and my heart.


----------



## Muzza (Feb 25, 2016)

Also, thank you guys for sharing your interesting comments. Quite a laugh, some of them and the others quite interesting!


----------



## Ratlettes (Mar 29, 2016)

Eating your shipwrecked crew to stay alive is pretty gnarly. in a good way


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

When my daughter was 5 I took her to the zoo... I actually called ahead to see if it was OK to bring our shoulder rat along... they said no... something about animal cross contamination bla bla bla... but OK, we left our rat home... It was their late day and we left the zoo around sunset when I spotted a smallish wild rat in the bushes in front of the zoo and pointed it out to my little girl... "Daddy can I keep it" she asked... and being literally the second worst father of the year... behind those that eat their own young..... I said "sure." 

OK, I'm kidding about worst father of the year, I knew there was no way a 5 year old was going to catch a wild rat outdoors... no way in the world... My own dad used to say stuff like that to me to watch me chase small wild animals through the woods for his amusement... and I for sure never came close to catching any... And it was my turn to have some fun.... But I never chased rats when I was a kid, and likely I never smelled like one either. Instead of just running away, the rat dashed from bush to bush... kind of taunting my daughter to chase it, then a second joined the fun and then a third until my little girl was surrounded by little wild rats running across her feet every which way... taking turns being chased and snatched at. It was fascinating at least for a few minutes, and then reality set in... there were so many rats around her that she might accidentally snatch one by accident and I cut the encounter short.

Just so no one thinks I lost my mind... I knew nothing good could come of my daughter actually catching a wild rat, it would have torn her to pieces and resulted in an immediate emergency room visit. Wild rats don't bite once, they bite fast and hard and tear flesh... Something we learned from our own part wild rat later that year. But the pack of wild rats was anything but aggressive, they were actually quite playful and it was really fun to watch. There's no way anyone was going to survive picking one up, but on their own terms, I wouldn't say they were gross or even unpleasant. They lived at a zoo and were around people all of the time and I can't imagine anyone was ever bitten or someone would have done something about them. 

Another quick wild rat story. Back in 1981, my first real job was doing factory security and I worked in a huge commercial bakery, we are talking about a building that took about 20 minutes to walk end to end and it had multiple floors... and there were rat traps along all of the walls.... And yet when no one was anywhere in the building, except security there was one HUGE rat that would sit under he unsalted cracker line and loudly munch fresh crackers around midnight. He didn't mind security, but if anyone else was anywhere in the plant he was nowhere to be found. When I'd get to work, I'd always go out onto the packing floor and look for him. If he was there munching, I was alone... If he wasn't for sure there was someone else somewhere in the plant, and I would look for them... He was never wrong. Half the alarms on the doors didn't work, but it was impressive how this rat could know whether someone was in a building that huge. When I trained other guards, I would introduce him and tell them... "No rat, no nap." I also don't know how he could tell security from the rest of the employees, but I could walk almost right up to him without spooking him, and I often did... Think huge, dark, empty factory with no one else to talk to. Normally wild rats are pretty small, but growing up in a cookie factory, he had to be about the biggest rat I've ever seen... I suppose he looked a bit scary, judging from the reaction new guards had when they met him... but once they realized he was there for their protection they kept our little secret. I wouldn't call him friendly and I sure wouldn't have tried to get too close or pick him up... but after a while and in retrospect... he was OK by me. 

Oh yeah... for those who might get fearful about the cookies they buy, I only ever saw him eating off the floor, anything that hit the floor went for chicken food. The bakery was really very clean. And oddly, having pet rats... I never saw him eating a sweet or salty cookie or cracker. His thing was always the unsalted soup crackers, at least that's where he was at midnight... 

And by the way, wild rats are actually pretty smart... I watched a rat come out of the dye plant down the road from my house.... it stopped and stood up on the curb. It looked both ways before crossing the road, and when it was sure no car was coming it sauntered across. I've known dogs that weren't smart enough to do that. Has anyone ever seen a wild rat hit by a car?

Wild rats are definitely dangerous if you disturb them or grab them, but they aren't disgusting or aggressive. In fact, some have made really good pets... pet wolves to be sure... but still best furry friends for the right people. Our whole fancy started out with wild rats... Think about it.


----------

