# Potential of Other Species as Pets



## Perocore (Jan 6, 2014)

Hello!

Now please avoid just shooting me down on this, as it's kind of a dream/life goal of mine, which I am very passionate about <3

We all love our domestic brown rats, but what about other species? I know a few people keep black rats as pets, and they may have even been domesticated on a small-scale (I'm not sure about this, some more info would be awesome), but what about a more unusual variety of rat?

I am referring to _Cricetomys gambianus_, the gambian pouched rat! I for one think that with enough work, they could easily be domesticated, and have great potential as both pets and as extremely useful work animals. Already they've been trained to detect bombs and certain diseases, so more ought to be possible, right?

Some short-hand info about gambian pouched rats. They used to be allowed in the USA until a monkey pox outbreak, but I'm hoping that with modern technology this issue can be fixed (if it hasn't already). They get up to 3 feet long, and weight 3-4 pounds on average. Now here is the part I am really interested in- they have an average lifespan of 8 years. According to those that have owned them, they can be just as cuddly and affectionate as our fancy rats. Due to the lifespan and intelligence, I am hoping to work towards domestication. 

So I guess I'm just wondering what your guys' thoughts are, on this? 

((also I am not sure if this is the right board for this topic, sorry if it isn't!))


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Technically, they're not rats so it's an "other animal" topic. We have a few uk/eu members with them. They're really not all that rat like from my understanding, but make great pets.


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

Thread moved as these are not really rats.

Also, banned in the United States.


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## Pandorascaisse (Mar 12, 2014)

Pouchies are actually not banned anymore!  The "ban" was lifted in 2008 to own them... it is, however, still illegal to import them.


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

For all intents and purposes, they're still unobtainable in the pet trade. Breeders need to import stock (or prove otherwise that they haven't), etc.


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## Zabora (Jun 8, 2014)

Stow away? LOL "I didnt know I had him officer I swear!"


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

i looked into pouched rears over here a while ago, the lure of a longer lived pet rat is strong. From what i could gather they make interesting but challenging pets. They aren't like big versions of our fairly well domesticated, they can be very destructive and energetic and need a lot more work to get sociable. so much so hand reared seemed more popular as pets. i do know some people with pouchies they love very much but I'm happy sticking with my norways for a while yet. There human focus is part of why i love them so much and gprs aren't consistently there yet


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