# How many rats - or rodents - do you own? How many is too many?



## Fiona (Sep 22, 2010)

I was wondering how many rats - or rodents, if you want to include hamsters, gerbils etc - you own? 

I have already a cage of two gerbils, and two hamsters. I'm considering getting two rats from a breeder next month, but want to ask people - is it too much to have so many at once? How many pets is too many, in your opinion? Or can you ever have enough?

I know somebody with 4 hamsters, 2 gerbils and a dog, and yet others who won't own more than one or two at a time as they can't juggle the time/attention as well. 

What's your opinion on this?

Thanks guys!


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## sonicboom (Sep 3, 2011)

I have just 4 rats, but in the past my family has had, 2 dogs, 6 cats, 1 hamster, and a number of fish.

In the future I'm planning on having a dog, a cat, maybe still rats, maybe a breaded dragon, and fish, all at the same time.

If you have the space for another cage and the time to look after them all, then that's okay. A group of rats are way more lively and take up more of your time (play time, cleaning) than some others like hamsters.


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

I have 2 rats, a cat, and 4 fish tanks. It's a lot of work but they keep me sane when I'm stuck at home alone.


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## alliepenguin (May 6, 2011)

I have 5 rats and 4 dogs. But since I still live with my Mom, she spoils the dogs, they're hers too. My rats are mine and my fiancees responsibility, and I love them to bits.


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## LilysMom (Sep 7, 2011)

I own 3 (soon to be 4 rats) 2 lizards, a cat and a dog. There is no perfect number of pets for everyone. It will vary from person to person and the space, time and money they have to care for each animal. I know people who only have one animal because any more would be too overwhelming and I know others who have 30 or so pets ranging from burmese pythons to rats to sharks. You just have to find a number you feel comfortable with and a number that isn't overwhelming


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

There is no right number that can be applied to everyone. It all depends on your personality, how much time you are able/willing to spend, how much space you have, how large your cage is/how many cages and playtimes you are willing to have, how much money you have, etc.

Personally, I have two cats, and five rats.


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## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

I have 4 rats and 5 mice, along with 16 other pets (25 total). It depends on the person, really.


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## mshill90 (Oct 29, 2011)

I currently have: 

6,000 gallon koi pond and 30 other tanks ranging from 1,500 gallons down to 30, with majority of them being 50+ gallons. They are all tropical fish, and while they don't need much human interaction, they do need a lot of up keep. I'm talking 50% water changes every other day, feedings twice a day, and gravel vac once a week. My 240 gallon stingray tank gets a 75% water change every day. 

I have 2 cats, and 3 pitbulls. 

I also have a colony of dubia roaches, and madagascar hissing cockroaches.. 

1 Sudan Plated lizard, and 35 turtles. 

And 3 Ratties!

I had 4 lizards at one point, and I ended up getting rid of 3 because I could only really enjoy 1. 

It really all comes down what you can handle on a DAILY basis. Yeah, you might be able to go a day without paying attention to a lizard, but lots of other pets need daily interaction.


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## calisphere (Oct 25, 2011)

Mshill, why do you do so many water changes? I've never done that many with all my fish over the years. /i also never fed mine that often. Some fish of mine ate only once or twice a week. That was mostly their choice as I got tired of them not eating their expensive foods. Also what kind of turtles?

I personally have twenty something pets...

1 dog
3 cats
2 guinea pigs
2 rats
1 hedgehog
4 bearded dragons (one with eggs)
2 leopard geckos
6 turtles
7 snakes


I'll also be acquiring a show rabbit, a toad, several frogs, a skink, and a tarantula. In addition, I'll be opening up my own feeder bug business, so I'll have an additional 5+ million bugs. I have about 30,000 now. Most of my animals are in good health. The bearded dragons and leopard geckos were given to me by someone who didn't know what the heck they were doing. One BD was near death from starvation and another has MBD (metabolic bone disease). In addition, one leopard gecko has a severe eye infection. I can't afford vet bills for these guys so I've been holding them and doing the best I can until a local reptile rescue can take them. Hopefully this week. I'm also rehoming five of the snakes because I'm just not feeling it with them. They aren't my favorites. Also, one of my turtles, Fin, was a recent rescue and is on meds for an ear infection and several other health issues due to the previous owner's care. And one of the guinea pigs seems to have diabetes and I struggle to get her to eat her veggies (which I haven't done yet). One of the cats, Spook, is semi-feral, so that's always fun. Cassie, another cat, was born deformed (back leg), but otherwise healthy if not a little bottom heavy. Spook also needs to have a root canal done in the future due to an accident (she escaped outside and fought a few pit bulls who probably tried to lick her to death). It's not bothering her now, but I know it will eventually. Most of my animals are rescues of sorts, so health is in varying stages, but overall they are in great shape.

Many may wonder how people like Mshill and I handle all these animals, but as said before it all depends on what needs to be done daily. Reptiles, in general, can be automated. Keep heaters and lights on timers. That cuts out a few minutes every day turn on and off everything. Feeding, if you prepare a few days ahead (salad) is easy to take from the fridge and toss in. That gives you, at most, half an hour of prep and feeding a week. Spot cleaning is easy with reptiles as you can sometimes go several months without having to change the substrate. I know my turtles have been on their substrate for about six months. I rotate it, but there's over 100 pounds of substrate for four of the turtles (two are aquatic). For the snakes, some get fed weekly and some bi-weekly, so throwing a few mice into warm water for an hour or so and then moving the snakes to their feeding tubs to feed is easy. It also gives a chance to clean water bowls (freshened water every two days or so). For me, feeding the seven snakes and doing the bowls takes about an hour a week. I generally don't hold many of my snakes because they either get fed too often or aren't very handable (two are cage aggressive and leaving come spring). I try to catch my snakes on the nights they shed so I can help them along. Colorado is a pretty dry state and sometimes they have a hard time.

As for the mammals, that takes more effort. The dog is basically ignored. I get tired of looking at her because she goes everywhere with me. She's happy enough with it. We go to the park because Mama needs to lose weight. We sit out with the reptiles (minus snakes) during the summer and get sunburned. She lays at my feet when I work on model kits... She doesn't suffer much. The cats are a bit ignored. I'm trying to teach Mew to behave. She was a stray and still needs to learn to stay off tables and stop scratching the furniture. When she does wrong, I tell her no and then ignore her because she automatically comes to me when I tell her no. This happens about once an hour. When she finally decides to lay down and behave, I pet her. Spook, the semi-feral, only likes to be pet when I'm trying to do my business in the bathroom, so I pet her then. Otherwise, we ignore each other until she decides to be pet. Cassie is happy to plop in front of wherever I'm trying to walk, or lay next to me. She's more dog than cat.

The pigs, hedgehog, and rats all get attention daily. I'm trying to bond with the hedgie, so I watch him with the lights off until he comes out and I try to pet him. Slow going there but it's been less than a month. The guinea pigs are a bit difficult. Hippo, my hairless, is great and tame as can be. I pet her whenever she happens to be near enough (big cage). Cupcake, the one who is diabetic, isn't too thrilled with me because of the shots. Because she was recently diagnosed, she hasn't come to grips with it. I started out with holding her just to give the shots because she was new and I wanted her to settle anyway. Now I am trying to get it so that I can pet her in the cage without giving her a shot so that she learns I don't always want to poke her with a needle when I pick her up. By Christmas, maybe the two can have free time again.

The rats hang out with me for several hours a day. I just plop them on my should when I have to clean the litter box, or if I'm filling water bowls/bottles, or any other animal-related thing. Of course, they are put away when I deal with the snakes. They're still small enough to become corn snake food. They sometimes even get to play in the bathroom while I take a bath. I also let them climb on one of the cat trees to hunt for yummies. They're terrible at it, but it's a new game.

Overall, it does take a few hours every week for animal care, but not a full time job yet. The key is to realize if the animals are suffering too much or not. As I said, the cats are a bit lacking in attention, but it's mostly a control issue that has to be worked through. The reptiles suffer very little, despite Fish and Fin (the aquatic turtles) thinking they will die if I don't feed them every time I pass the tank. All reptiles want is food, water, and light. Plus, most are burmating at the moment, so that's even less work. I still feed the Beardeds, geckos, and sometimes the turtles, but it is a lot less often for the turtles. They only come out for worms nowadays. Only the aquatics get to eat every day because I haven't turned down their heat yet.


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## mshill90 (Oct 29, 2011)

Calisphere, 

Optimal water, means optimal growth, health, and ultimately breeding. I would say that 99% of my fish are wild caught, or for my koi, straight Japan Import. There fore clean water is a must. Your fish is pretty much swimming in it's waste, and no amount of filtration will keep that out of the water. Many people think that they are fine never doing water changes, and just topping off the tank, or doing water changes once a month.. Depending on your fish, you may be able to get away with it.. but I choose my water change schedule because I have spent decent money on my fish, and therefore I keep them the best way possible. 

For turtles.. Majority are Diamond Back Terrapins... making up 28 of them. Then I have some RES, Painted, River Cooter, False maps, and yellow bellied.


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## jaimmorr (Nov 17, 2011)

IMHO, you have "too many" pets when you can't care for all of them properly. This includes the amount of attention given to each animal each day as well. When I lived at my mom's, we had 3 dogs, 4 cats, 2 Bearded Dragons, 2 Guinea Pigs, and 2 rats. Before my rat passed a few days ago, here at my own place I have 3 dogs, a Beardie, and had Alice, my hairless baby. Since I could care for all of them properly and give individual attention to each, I don't think it's ever been too many. I can tell you that adding one more dog to my crew would be "too many" for me personally. I think I could devote enough time to having at least 3 or 4 ratties at the time, but I'm not ready to get another just yet.


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## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

We have a total of three rats, they are our only rodents, but not our only smaller animals. I also have rescued cavies, but they aren't technically rodents. I agree that too many is when you can't properly care for them. One person's limit may be only a pair, while other people run larger scale rat rescues or reputable ratteries.


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## calisphere (Oct 25, 2011)

Back at Mshill: I do agree with the optimal water part, however I based my water changes on the chemicals levels... ammonia, nitrite, nitrate weekly and pH/pH high monthly. I found that in some tanks doing water changes threw a new cycle and caused cloudy water. This was especially true for my larger tanks that had small fish in them and weren't even half stocked. They still received weekly water changes but only 25%. My Oscar, on the other hand, was in a 55 gallon (though I kept meaning to get a bigger tank. Bad fish mama) and had to have 50% water changes twice a week plus an extra 75% water change if I decided to give the silly thing earthworms. I also checked its water twice a week for several months before I settled on a schedule that told me everything was good. I haven't kept fish in a while, so for the life of me, I can't remember the levels of the Na and Ni. I do remember anything above 0 was bad ammonia-wise.

I guess it really depends on your setups, size of tanks, number and species of fish. I know in a 55 gallon, ten guppies are a lot less work than one goldfish.


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Holy cow. Are fish really that hard to care for? I have never had fish so I am not in the know.


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

Yes they are kind of difficult, most are not taken care of properly (much like rats lol) but in order to keep them healthy you do have to ensure optimal levels of chemicals, proper temperature, etc.


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## mshill90 (Oct 29, 2011)

calisphere said:


> Back at Mshill: I do agree with the optimal water part, however I based my water changes on the chemicals levels... ammonia, nitrite, nitrate weekly and pH/pH high monthly. I found that in some tanks doing water changes threw a new cycle and caused cloudy water. This was especially true for my larger tanks that had small fish in them and weren't even half stocked. They still received weekly water changes but only 25%. My Oscar, on the other hand, was in a 55 gallon (though I kept meaning to get a bigger tank. Bad fish mama) and had to have 50% water changes twice a week plus an extra 75% water change if I decided to give the silly thing earthworms. I also checked its water twice a week for several months before I settled on a schedule that told me everything was good. I haven't kept fish in a while, so for the life of me, I can't remember the levels of the Na and Ni. I do remember anything above 0 was bad ammonia-wise.
> 
> I guess it really depends on your setups, size of tanks, number and species of fish. I know in a 55 gallon, ten guppies are a lot less work than one goldfish.


I never use chemicals with my fish, unless it's something that can't be treated without... like internal parasites, and Hole in the Head, which can be found in many large cichlids, even when taken care of. 

I have tanks from 20 gallons to 1500 gallons.. My stingray passed yesterday (unknown reasons) and that left 3 small fish in the 240 gallon, so I was able to combine 5 tanks into one. Each had a solitary cichlid which can be aggressive when confined. So the 240 is perfect for them all. 

I love my fish, but it does get tiring.. Goldfish, Koi, Ocars, and Turtles are 4 animals you don't want if you don't want to upkeep your fish more than weekly.

I do so many water changes that I don't have to check my paramaters.. plus, I have never had to cycle a tank. I always have biomedia and such from my koi tank.


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

She wasn't (and I wasn't) talking about adding chemicals to the tank, rather checking the levels of the chemicals to determine when to do water changes.


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## binkyhoo (Sep 28, 2008)

I am at one cat and 2 rats right now. And that is good enough for me. Between them all the cat takes the least time for care. As far as vet bills. The rats are comparable to the cat With the exception of having kittys teeth cleaned and keeping her rabies vacinations up to date. (Its law here)


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## calisphere (Oct 25, 2011)

What's it like to have one cat? I know from experience with Cassie, my calico, that she can't be a single cat. When I lost Skeeter (had to be put down at 14), she drove me nuts. I knew some of it was mourning, but she was constantly attached to me. I had to start calling her my parrot because as soon as I moved, she would be on my shoulder crying in my ear. That's quite a feat when you're standing and the cat is a lardbutt. When a situation arose and I adopted Spookie (found in a dumpster/trashcan at about two weeks of age), and the parrot cat turned back into a tripping-up-mommy-all-day-long cat. I was at the point that I was about to murder Cassie because I couldn't even scratch my nose without her becoming parrot cat. Now I have the three cats and they all drive me nuts. Actually, I think I've driven past crazy and went straight to criminally insane. ;D

At Kiko, fish can be a pain in upkeep. I've never done a saltwater because I won't do anything less than a 1000 gallon for one. Plus, all the fish I want are incompatible with each other. I'm planning on getting a plywood tank for African cichlids in the next few years after I move to a house. It will be at least 500 gallons. I'm also going to be rebuilding a tank for my two western painted turtles. That tank will either be a stock tank like you get for livestock or another plywood tank. I haven't decided if I'll be adding goldfish/koi or feeder guppies and minnows yet, so the tank will be anywhere from 500 gallons to 2000 gallons depending on which fish I plan on getting. It will have to be big because I'm going to plant it as well. I miss having fish. And mshill is right, after you get things regulated, you don't really have much upkeep. A good siphon makes tank cleaning easy with freshwater tanks. I can't speak for Salt or Brackish tanks. Even when you have the delicate species like Fire Eels or Rams, you can go with light maintenance. I personally always checked the chemical levels because I'm OCD in that way. All you have to do is take a tube of water, I think it's 5 or 10 mL, add a few drops of the chemical to test for ammonia, Na, Ni, pH, etc and shake it up. Then you have to wait a few minutes for the ammonia. The rest are instant results if I remember correctly. Then you compare the colors to little cards that give you the results.

Cichlids are harder sometimes than your typical community fish because with Africans, the pH matters a lot more. American cichlids like Oscars are a pain only because they get so big and they are messier than the messiest toddler in the world.


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## LilysMom (Sep 7, 2011)

Keeping one cat has been the only way I can keep mine. When she was a kitten, my dads cat would beat her up and never let her eat so she's always been scared of other cats. There is only 1 or 2 cats she tolerates but she would much rather be a loner. Her and the other animals in my house of bonded oddly enough. I feel like mother nature sometimes. All of my animals get along with each other (except my 2 lizards but that's normal so they are kept apart. I never trust any of them alone together but when supervised, everyone just lays together.


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## mshill90 (Oct 29, 2011)

calisphere said:


> At Kiko, fish can be a pain in upkeep. I've never done a saltwater because I won't do anything less than a 1000 gallon for one. Plus, all the fish I want are incompatible with each other. I'm planning on getting a plywood tank for African cichlids in the next few years after I move to a house. It will be at least 500 gallons. I'm also going to be rebuilding a tank for my two western painted turtles. That tank will either be a stock tank like you get for livestock or another plywood tank. I haven't decided if I'll be adding goldfish/koi or feeder guppies and minnows yet, so the tank will be anywhere from 500 gallons to 2000 gallons depending on which fish I plan on getting. It will have to be big because I'm going to plant it as well. I miss having fish. And mshill is right, after you get things regulated, you don't really have much upkeep. A good siphon makes tank cleaning easy with freshwater tanks. I can't speak for Salt or Brackish tanks. Even when you have the delicate species like Fire Eels or Rams, you can go with light maintenance. I personally always checked the chemical levels because I'm OCD in that way. All you have to do is take a tube of water, I think it's 5 or 10 mL, add a few drops of the chemical to test for ammonia, Na, Ni, pH, etc and shake it up. Then you have to wait a few minutes for the ammonia. The rest are instant results if I remember correctly. Then you compare the colors to little cards that give you the results.
> 
> Cichlids are harder sometimes than your typical community fish because with Africans, the pH matters a lot more. American cichlids like Oscars are a pain only because they get so big and they are messier than the messiest toddler in the world.


I have several species of African, and I used to keep a lot, and I kept them in the same PH as all my other fish. PH is not a factor much a days with fish- but mostly because they come from petstores and direct from the wholesaler they are kept in typical 7.0-8.0 PH. This however can not be said for wildcaught specimens that have not been in captivity. I keep all my fish at 7.2 PH. I also never acclimate my fish unless there is going to be a temp difference, and the it's just bag n float. But with wild caught specimens, I will gradually lower the PH over time so that they line up with everyone else. 

For saltwater, bigger is always better. 75 gallons and more is ideal. But that's a constant upkeep, and with the metal halide lights.. higher electric bill than I would want. 

500-2000 gallons for 2 turtles? That's a ton of space. You could easily get away with a 300 gallon stock tank, and still include your plants. Not sure why you would add feeder goldfish or koi. They are not good for your turtles. You could get away will adding some bait shop minnows every now and then. That's what I did. Gives my turtles something to do, but they don't even bother with them anymore. They live in harmony and no one gets eaten. 

When I had my stingrays, I checked my water paramaters 2 times a day.. but now that I don't have any more.. things are a lot easier for me. And as for the testing.. you should wait a few minutes for all the readings so everything can stabilize. I found that to be the best thing to do or else you could read something while it's still in change. 

And as far as Oscars and SA/CA cichlids.. you either get super messy ones, like mentioned (which is often caused by feeding the wrong size pellet), or you can ones that are just bat crazy. I have a 12" Midas that grew up with fish all his life.. everything was fine, and literally one day he just snapped, and now has an entire 180 all to himself. Do I want to give him this large tank by himself? No. But it's what I have to do. He's a murderer. Many people will say that SA/CA cichlids can't be kept together because they are all aggressive, but that's not true at all. It all has to do with territory claims. Don't give them territory to claim, and there won't be any aggression. I have 2 Amphilo Sagittae (kinda like midas), a breeding pair of cubans (supposed ruthless fish), 2 Datnoids, a pike cichlid, and I believe 12 bichirs in my 240. Most peaceful tank I own. Even better than my 125 community. 

Fish are not hard to take care of, they just need dedication.


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## raabzbaby89 (Oct 7, 2011)

I have three rats. I had four at one point but that was getting to be too many for me. I think three is a good number for me right now. As a full-time college student, rats (relatively low-maintenance, yet highly interactive) keep me sane while I take a classes full-time in college. I live in a one-bedroom apartment, and they make perfect small apartment pets.


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## calisphere (Oct 25, 2011)

Mshill, my turtles also don't seem to be much interested in fish as a food source. My detailed plan is if I get the edible fish, then it's okay if a few go missing, plus guppies are free breeders so I wouldn't mind too terribly if a few go missing. I miss having goldfish, so I thought that if I chose goldfish, I would grow out either a few comets or get koi until they are at least eight inches long, then move them over to the turtle tank. Both varieties are generally fast enough to evade nipping turtles. Of course, if I get goldfish or koi, then lots and lots of space is needed. Having a huge turtle tank is basically a concealed reason to have more fish. My box turtles will be getting at least 48 sq ft when I build their new cage. I believe in having as much room as possible for the animals for happiness. Even the rats, though I lost one this morning, will have a 6x2x3 foot cage, once I get the plans approved on here. I'll eventually get another rat so that my surviving one isn't lonely. The hedgie and guinea pigs will also have 6x2x2 cages, with the guineas possibly having a pvc pipe to connect to another cage of the same size. It's just the type of person I am. Bigger is better!


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## DivineSheep (Sep 24, 2011)

I own five rats atm, but I'm thinking of keeping a baby or two from my accidental litter. I have ten to choose from, two of which are hairless. I think I'll keep those two.


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## mshill90 (Oct 29, 2011)

calisphere said:


> Mshill, my turtles also don't seem to be much interested in fish as a food source. My detailed plan is if I get the edible fish, then it's okay if a few go missing, plus guppies are free breeders so I wouldn't mind too terribly if a few go missing. I miss having goldfish, so I thought that if I chose goldfish, I would grow out either a few comets or get koi until they are at least eight inches long, then move them over to the turtle tank. Both varieties are generally fast enough to evade nipping turtles. Of course, if I get goldfish or koi, then lots and lots of space is needed. Having a huge turtle tank is basically a concealed reason to have more fish. My box turtles will be getting at least 48 sq ft when I build their new cage. I believe in having as much room as possible for the animals for happiness. Even the rats, though I lost one this morning, will have a 6x2x3 foot cage, once I get the plans approved on here. I'll eventually get another rat so that my surviving one isn't lonely. The hedgie and guinea pigs will also have 6x2x2 cages, with the guineas possibly having a pvc pipe to connect to another cage of the same size. It's just the type of person I am. Bigger is better!


I would recommend the guppies or minnows or even some sort of cichlid fry... reason being, is that turtles may not be interested in eating them, but that doesn't mean it won't mind snapping a chunk out of one, which in a koi or goldfish would end up in suffering.. where as a guppy, minnow, or fry would most likely die. 

I saved a 10" goldfish from someone's turtle tank, and the poor thing never came around, and ended up dying very shortly after being treated. 

I also believe bigger is better, with in moderation. I have quite a few adult turtles and this summer they will be getting a 2,000 gallon pond, and my hatchlings will have the adults current 300 gallon tank. I mean, if you want to go that big, that's your choice, but I highly advise against Koi/Goldfish.. and make sure you've got yourself some good filtration. I've got a 55 gallon sand/gravel filter on my turtles.


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## Alexys339 (Nov 23, 2011)

I have 2 rats who are very tame, came to me 2 days ago due to previous owner encountering financial issues.
1 cat, he's a mardy who i took on off the previous owners whose daughter had allergies, (he's scared of the rats, used to come biting my toes in the morning but now avoids my bedroom because my ratties are in there), he was morbidly obese, after a ten month diet he's now on the less risky level of obese.
1 cornsnake which i bought for my 18th birthday, he was a mere hatchling, he's now 4ft long and very chilled. 
20 gallon tropical tank which i've had for about 5 months. 
I could handle 1 more rat. That's finance wise, interaction and cleaning regimes i could handle alot more, if i had the money, i'd probably have a small zoo going on. The rats and cat by far demand more of my attention than my corn snake does, but he still gets handled alot because he feels so silky soft and is just adorable . The fish require weekly water changes, i have strangely stable water levels, since i cycled my tank the levels haven't ever spiked regardless of the food and so on, i must have some mega efficient biomedia in that filter lol. So my Electric Blue Ram Cichlid is thriving is the warmer water with slightly acidic ph. I did have 2 electric blues but the other started gasping at the surface then died within a day, sad times, she was beautiful and cost a fair bit too so was fairly gutted over that on, got two fun weeks out of her though.


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## blenderpie (Sep 10, 2009)

I currently have 2 cats and 2 rats. A few weeks ago I had four rats. I like that as a full time students, more than 4-5 rats would be too much. It is mostly the two groups that are annoying cause two out times are really time consuming. With only two rats in my huge cage makes it seem really lonely.


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## calisphere (Oct 25, 2011)

Moved the turtle talk to a new thread if that's okay. I was starting to feel bad about hijacking this thread: http://www.ratforum.com/showthread.php?46373-Fish-and-Turtle-Tanks&p=394653#post394653


How do you guys manage pets and college? I never had the chance to go to college so it seems like it would be a ton of work. Maybe I watch too much House where all the interns do is work.


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## betuana (Apr 3, 2011)

I have 14 rats at the moment - which is quite a bit of work, with several hours just to clean cages properly, plus time socializing them, etc, and of course vet bills as needed, etc. But I have the time and resources, and enjoy my little friends. My husband and I also have 4 cats, 2 lovebirds, 2 axolotls, 4 freshwater aquariums, a veiled chameleon, a leopard gecko, 2 boas, 5 cornsnakes, and 10 tarantulas. Most of my freetime is spent cleaning, feeding, monitoring, interacting with, etc all the animals. Even when I'm on the computer, its usually with cats hanging around me for attention, talking to the birds in the same room, rats on my shoulder or in a ratoob, etc. We do have our limits, and know what we can and cannot do (for instance, we are mostly at our top limit for cats, we don't intend to get any more than what we have now), but what we have is not necessarily the same limit as other people.

Back when I was first in college, I only had a single 10g fresh water aquarium. It was all I really had time or money to maintain. Later on I was able to add a couple rats to the mix, but that maxed me out again, and I didn't seek to have any more animals than that at the time, knowing I didn't have the resources or time for more than that amount. With more resources now, we have more animals.

I think how many is 'too many' will vary from person to person. For some people, more than a single very low maintenance pet is going to be too much for them - they may only have 15 minutes once a week to check on them, and otherwise the animal is left to its own devices. For them, a group of 6 rats might be WAY too much...they wouldn't have the time to give them the care they need. Even 1 dog would be too much for such a person. Same goes for someone who is barely able to afford rent, car payments, etc. They probably can't afford to take care of a large number of animals, etc. For some of these people, even 2 rats may be 'too many.'
On the other side are people like the vet I worked for several years ago. She had 12 cats, a large group of rats, several dogs, a parrot, etc etc. But she made decent money, she could clearly provide the vet care they needed, and she had set hours which gave her plenty of time to be home with her pets each day, interacting with and taking care of them. There are other people who have had even upwards from 50 rats, but had the time each day to check on and interact with every single one, keep their cages clean, their food and water fresh, toys and hammocks supplied and rotated, and get them vet care as needed. For those people, 10 rats may not even be remotely a 'too many' situation. It is very much a person to person situation.

I think it is too many if the person does not have the resources to give them enough housing space, adequate food, time to give them adequate attention, finances for veterinary care, etc. Its important for everyone to look at their own situation and figure out how many animals they can reasonably afford to care for - time, space and money. That limit is their maximum, and more than that is too many for them.


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## lexiloo (Nov 26, 2011)

raabzbaby89 said:


> I have three rats. I had four at one point but that was getting to be too many for me. I think three is a good number for me right now. As a full-time college student, rats (relatively low-maintenance, yet highly interactive) keep me sane while I take a classes full-time in college. I live in a one-bedroom apartment, and they make perfect small apartment pets.


I feel like we have the same exact life, lol. I'm going to school part-time and working part-time. I'll be getting my three rats in two days and I think that will be the perfect amount for me (I say this now, but in a month or so I'm sure I'll be looking up a new pet to get lol). I live alone and I'm starting to go crazy so I'm excited to be getting some company


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## mink (Jun 24, 2007)

Oh boy, I have:

1 Betta fish
2 RC Dwarf Hamsters
2 Rats (was 4 a few weeks ago)
2 Cats
1 Kitten 
1 Bichon Frise Dog (My GSD of 12 years passed away in July)
My mother has a 2 year old German Shepherd that lives with us. 


I grew up with hamsters, but haven't had one since 1999 - until 4 months ago, and I've never had Dwarf hamsters - But I am loving my 2 girls I adopted from a bad situation. 
I've had 2 cats for years now, but a neighbor took in kittens that were born in her shed, and dropped one in my lap on my birthday! Lol, the kitten is too charming. 

How many is too much? I have had 3 rats at a time before in the past with no problem. I recently had 4 rats which was wonderful - I adopted 4 sisters 2.5 years ago, and already had 1 elderly female - so I had 5 rats at one point which is the most I've had. 
I love / loved all my girls, for over 2 years, I have had the 4 sisters - 2 just passed away in the last few weeks. I loved having all 4 girls and all their personalities, but I think I won't have more than 2 to 3 rats at a time in the near future. (I am already breaking my own rule though, I agreed to adopt 2 babies from my friend's Ooops litter). Its more in fairness with my time and 2 or 3 rats living in a cage big enough for 5, makes me feel happier than 4 living in a space for 5.

I will be getting a German Shepherd puppy sometime when the warmer months come again.

Other than that, my life pretty much runs into all my pets. My Bichon was a client's dog that I adored and they planned to drop him at a shelter. My 1st cat was 3 weeks old someone took from outside and then wanted to get rid of him once they found out he needed bottle-feedings. My 2nd cat just kinda decided to live on my porch as a 4 month old kitten, and eventually won his way indoors. My kitten was 10 weeks old and taken in from outdoors by my 90yr. old neighbor who couldn't take care of her and gave to me as a bday gift. My Dwarf hamsters, a girl had bought 4 and crammed them in a tiny cage where they were constantly fighting so she decided to get rid of them (I took 2). My Betta, a friend got and was living in a vase - when she lost interest, she asked if I knew anyone who'd want him. >_<


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