# How did you get into rats?



## Rattielover965 (Apr 26, 2016)

What made you want to have rats(before reasearch)?


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## B'sMom (Nov 24, 2016)

I had just lost my dwarf hamster and I went to my local pet store and fell in love with a little black hooded baby. This was about 6 months ago.


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## giraffevacuum (Dec 6, 2016)

when i was a kid i grew up in apartment buildings so i could never have a cat or a dog. my mom and i went to petco one day and she told me i could pick whatever caged pet i wanted, and i saw this tiny little hooded rat baby all by himself. i have never made a better decision in my life than to take him home with us. i will never be buying a pet-store rat again, but moose was an amazing first pet, and i am so glad that he inspired me to get many more in years to come.


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## Rattielover965 (Apr 26, 2016)

A few years ago,I was at a pet store (before I knew how horrible they are)getting treats for my cat,(I was the only customer)and then when I was at checkout I noticed the employee's hair was moving and out came a animal.I had to ask what it was because it was so small(it looked like a rat but was the size of a mouse)and she said it was a rat.She offered to let me hold it and I did. I left thinking "Maybe I'll have a rat someday.No,why would I want a rat?Yes they are wonderful but why would I want one just because I held this one?"A few years later I am OBSESSED with rats,and some of my friends are afraid to say"rodent" because I can't stop talking about rats!


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## Fu-Inle (Jan 22, 2015)

I wanted a small pet I could keep in my room so I did research on different small pets. Rabbits were too messy, Guinea Pigs weren't interactive enough, Mice were too smelly, Ferrets were too high maintenance, Birds pooped everywhere. Then I came across rats. My first impression of rats was that they were basically big mice. You put them in a small cage with some woodshavings and a wheel and you watch them. I never knew how interactive they were until I watched some youtube videos and I was immediately hooked. So I watched a whole bunch of youtube videos on rat care and appropriate enclosures and waited for my mum to come home so I could ask her if I could get rats. Her first reaction was "Rats? Eww why rats? No! But after some convincing and some cute dumbo rat pics by the end of the night I had her enthusiastically browsing gumtree and awwing at the baby rat adds. 3 weeks later, I got rats. Lol


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

After my last rabbit died, I was too heartbroken to get another one but still wanted another small pet. After researching it, rats were the best candidates. I'm so happy I went for rats and now I'm totally obsessed with them.


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## Asteria (Jul 6, 2016)

When I was 11 I went to a birthday party with a little mobile petting zoo. Most of the animals were fearful, but there was a little hooded rat that was extremely friendly and absolutely fearless. The fact that such tiny creatures can be so brave and friendly towards humans who are so much bigger than them shows how loyal they are. Of course I went to my mum and begged her endlessly. Little me decided to print out lots of cute rat pictures and post them around the house where she would find them (inside her cereal box, in the fridge, under her pillow, in the shower). We did research and she decided that rats required too much space, so she let me have a male mouse instead and she even built him his own bin cage and paid for vet care when he got older and sick. 
As soon as I moved out I got my first pair of rats, and I'm rodent-obsessed to this day.
(Picture of my first mouse because he was the sweetest thing).


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## Ladylazerstar702 (Sep 15, 2016)

My boyfriend and I had just had one of our dogs pass and I was really upset about it. He had gone to a pet store before picking me up from work one day and he told me he played with some rats and he wanted one. My initial reaction was "ew no" because I had grown up with friends who had rats and they were all very skittish and had large tumors. I stumbled upon a video of a rat playing later that day and I fell in love. I found a breeder on Craigslist and she didn't have anything but males available so I decided to wait for her next litter to get a pair of females. A month and a half or so passed, and I continued to research them and fall more and more in love with the little guys. The breeder sent me a picture of the babies once they had fur and I immediately picked out my tusk and flower. The day they were ready to be picked up I told my boyfriend I was going to Walmart. Almost 2 hours later and one very long drive later, I brought my girls home. I set up their cage and out the bedding and what not in while my roommates at the time held them. They were fearless and loving right from the very beginning. I woke my boyfriend up with a delicious breakfast and after I was done buttering him up I told him to go to the kitchen and see his surprise. At first he was extremely mad at me lol. I showed him tusk and told him she was his new baby. She gave him a couple kisses and immediately went and curled up in his then long hair and went to sleep. He was hooked, and I was in the clear. We had discussed owning rats previously and he was on board with it but he didn't get a say in any of our previous pets, mostly because they were mine before we were together, and he wanted to be apart of the process so he was mad I had done it with out him but he loved them instantly and just as much as I do.


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## VeeVeeLa (Dec 24, 2014)

I was told this story today by my mom that I don't even remember, but apparently when I was really little we had a neighbor that had a rat. He showed them to me and I came back home holding one and saying "I want one!" Probably freaked my mom out lol.

I don't even remember that and that feeling carried on with me I guess. A thing I do remember is seeing a video on YouTube YEARS AGO of a man and like...10ish or so rats. He had them all in a room and was just sitting on the floor playing with them, throwing them up in the air and catching like you would do with a baby. They seemed to love it though. He would let them go run around the room, wrestle with them, toss them a little, and let them run of again. It looked like fun.

Then several years ago, I stumbled upon cute rat photos and started looking at rat forums, this forum specifically. I started doing research. And for months, that was all I talked about, trying to convince everyone that rats weren't disease ridden rodents. That they were amazing animals and I would like to raise a couple. I got the money to pay for them myself, got them all set, and then got my rats and now they're my favorite small animal  So...this has been a long time coming lol.


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## Kelsbels (Aug 12, 2015)

When I was really little we lived out in the countryside. There was a wild rat that took up residence in our oven. My older siblings and parents were frightful of it (rightfully so). I didn't even know what a rat was, but my sister described this one as a monster! I wanted to see it hahaha. When we caught it and let it go all I remembered seeing was a black-brownish blur zipping into the field. 

We moved out to Idaho years later. My family and I were at the local mall and I went into the pet store. They had a lone little white male rat on display. I played with him and he was so sweet and friendly. Every time we went to the mall he was there and I played with him. Finally I told my parents that I wanted to have a rat (him specifically) but my parents weren't sold. They said that I needed to read up on their care and save up my money doing chores. I saved up bought a book on rat care and read through it. We went to another pet shop and got two sisters which my brother and I named Pinky and Dragon. They quickly became beloved family pets. I still wish I could have gotten the lone one from the other pet shop, he and I bonded, I hope he found a good home.

When both of my rats passed away, Pinky being the last I couldn't bring myself to get more. I was grieving pretty heavily.

Then many years later I'm living in Germany with my boyfriend. It took some convincing, but we have rats and they are the sweetest most amazing girls I could have ever hoped for. Now we spread the love of rats to our friends and acquaintances. I'm invested in giving my girls the best life they can have, and hopefully share it with future rats as well.  

Oh and I found the video we took of releasing the wild rat into the fields and I paused it right when you could see him! Hehehe maybe I'll take a picture of it. XD


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## Ratologist (Nov 24, 2016)

I was on a quest for the "perfect pet." I am allergic to dogs, and everyone else I know is allergic to cats. Guinea Pigs, hamsters, and gerbils don't seem to do much. Chinchillas tend toward shyness. Rabbits need timothy hay (allergy issue) and much larger houses. Ferrets smell too much (sorry ferret lovers!). Degus have not been domesticated long enough. Sugar Gliders seem to have a lot of complicated needs (dietary and space requirements). Birds can be an issue for my particular brand of compromised immune system. I'm not into reptiles. Rats, though...rats are smart, clean, and cuddly. They have some specific needs, but they are not difficult to accommodate. The only real downside is their short life span...and, possibly, the difficulty of finding a good breeder.


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## MaryArch (Dec 5, 2016)

I was offered three 2 month old girls from a professor I had in college. I had been talking to her about the fact that I couldn't do the animal project we were doing because I was morally against it. We would have had to have gotten the rats to like us and play with us to "enrich" them, then put them down and observe their brains. I refused to do it so she offered to let me take them home instead of putting them down. I threw myself into researching them and investing in everything I would need, and took them home about a week and a half ago


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## thepumpkinrat (Oct 30, 2016)

MaryArch said:


> I was offered three 2 month old girls from a professor I had in college. I had been talking to her about the fact that I couldn't do the animal project we were doing because I was morally against it. We would have had to have gotten the rats to like us and play with us to "enrich" them, then put them down and observe their brains. I refused to do it so she offered to let me take them home instead of putting them down. I threw myself into researching them and investing in everything I would need, and took them home about a week and a half ago


What a horrifying project..I would never be able to do that. It's really awesome you brought them home, though. You saved them


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## MaryArch (Dec 5, 2016)

I'm just glad I got them out of being euthanized. They're the sweetest girls and they're learning that I'm not so bad, either. I was flat out sobbing in my lab to my professor because I was so torn up over what we had to do. No grade is worth that. She had such a big heart letting me take them!


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## Kamira (Jul 15, 2015)

I got into rats because, awful as it seems, I needed a pet that would pass on before I went off to college. There's no way I would leave my parents to take care of a pet I begged for, plus my brother was asking for a dog (Labrador...) so it was like me asking for McDonalds after him asking for steak. Went and got my first girls from a petstore and though I have lost one to PT, the other is going very strong with no tumors for her 2 year 2-4 month birthday on New Years.Irrelevantly, after Navi had lived by herself for a few weeks, I contacted a breeder asking about boys because while I love the rats, watching my ZhuLi waste away from PT broke my heart... she had three boys and asked if I wanted them and after talking to her for a while and she found out about how I'd nursed my baby, she waived all adoption fees and we paid for a transport to go get them (she was conveniently 5 hours away...)Low and behold, we get there and there's two boxes... her generous nature had given again and she had sent two dumbo girls in addition to the boys, one around 18 months and another 6, both given back to her from previous adoptions. I also found out that the boys were Rex... My mother told me I could only have theee and initially I bought if choosing the girls for my Navi to have company with... but I thought it was better to ask forgiveness than permission.Basically I went from 1 to 6 rats in a day... boy my parents were mad, but I knew they wouldn't care. My mom loves cuddling with the boys and my dad loves playing with my girls.I'm always a happy camper, with the biggest mischief I've had yet : )Girls-Navi- black hood top ear 26 monthSuki- black hood dumbo 6 monthAsami- blue hood dumbo 18 monthBoys-Momo- blue Berkshire Rex top earHei Bai- blue variegated Berkshire Rex top earZuko- black Berkshire Rex top earAll 4 monthsSomeone send me fleece, I'm running out.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

MaryArch said:


> I'm just glad I got them out of being euthanized. They're the sweetest girls and they're learning that I'm not so bad, either. I was flat out sobbing in my lab to my professor because I was so torn up over what we had to do. No grade is worth that. She had such a big heart letting me take them!


I'm happy you got to take them home. However, I feel very sad knowing that many got killed and for what? A stupid assignment that didn't teach anything more than a textbook would have. Such a low respect for life


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## Heyyouguys (Jun 19, 2016)

I've always loved animals and I did an animal management course at college where we had loads of on site animals that we had to look after. We had a a few huge old male rats who had such personalities but didn't like to be touched, and then we rescued two mothers with tiny litters that were unwanted pets. As the babies grew, the second year students were allowed to train them and play with the babies. I was always amazed that they COULD be trained as small animals weren't my focus and I'd never done research into rats emotional and intellectual capacity.
There was one girl on my course who was a total weirdo and she was rat obsessed and was always talking about them and ringing the vets when she had one there in the day, and it was a mystery to me that she was so obsessed by a rodent because in my eyes they kind of did nothing. 

Fast foward 4 years and I'm living alone in a flat where I can't have a cat or dog and my dwarf hamster had just died, so that's when I started to look into rats. And even after research and buying them from a breeder and getting them home, I had no idea that they would sear themselves onto my soul forever! 
I get it now, I get that weird girls obsession because they're the best pets ever (right after dogs) in my opinion


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## buzzwizz619 (May 31, 2015)

Ive always had hamsters, mice, gerbils etc and my friend did have rats previously but id only seen them twice but id never really wanted them I had just moved into my own house and had my little gerbils.

One day i randomly typed "Rat" into gumtree, to the day i have no idea why, and saw 2 little boys who needed a home I wanted them instantly, but confused by the fact that suddenly i now wanted rats i waited a few days and by the time i messaged them they had gone. 

I then started to look into them and realised what amazing pets they actually are and i knew i definitely wanted them! I was going on holiday in about 4 months at this point so I had to wait until i got back to have them because no one likes pet sitting rats! so i spent the next few months continuing to read up, brought a cage, set the cage up, brought a bigger cage (I like cages lol) and about a month before holiday i started looking for rescues with litters ( I wanted babys for my first ever rats because i was experienced enough to deal with aggression etc) and i found a lady with a pet shop Oppps litter that would be ready the week i was going on holiday. I initially wanted 2 but she had 3 boys left so I had all 3 so on the way back off holiday we took a slight (well not so slight it ended up being about 5 hours!) detour and picked my beautiful baby boys up <3.

a month later I took in 2 rescue boys
2 months after that i took in another 2 rescue boys
5 months later another 4
2 months later another 2
2 days later another 3

Its now been 16 months since by first boys came into my life and they are the best little family i could of asked for, sadly 5 have passed away and 2 others have life limiting illnesses but they are worth every bit of tears and heartbreak <3

For now no more little ratties will be joining my family - vets bills are unfortunatly costing me a arm and a leg but i have a soft spot for the oldies and i look forward to when i can afford to give a retirement home to more ratties in need <3


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## MaryArch (Dec 5, 2016)

Gribouilli said:


> I'm happy you got to take them home. However, I feel very sad knowing that many got killed and for what? A stupid assignment that didn't teach anything more than a textbook would have. Such a low respect for life


I totally agree. I made sure to contact the department to tell them that the assignment was unnecessary and could have easily been taught through a case study with no real animals.


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## Nieve5552 (May 20, 2014)

About 3 years ago I had a summer job as a assistant park ranger, we found a litter of mice while clearing out some potato sacks of newspaper in a swampy area. Mice are a huge pest here (New Zealand) so workmates killed them (I couldnt bring myself to do it). After everyone else had left for lunch I randomly decided to brush the dry straw and grass aside while walking towards the lunch spot just in case there were any other baby mice left that we had missed, and by some miracle I found one. She was about a week old or a little less I think, almost still a pinky and only just starting to grow fuzz. I hid her in my bag inside a little plastic pot with some straw, it was a warm day so she was still OK by the time I finished work. I fed her with pet milk every 2-3 hours (which was pretty **** difficult seeing I had a full time job, but I've always had insomnia anyways haha) and while I was at work my best friend who was also my roommate looked after her. About a week later she had become a full fuzzy with agouti fur, and Im pretty sure she was about a day or two away from opening her eyes, when she died by accident. I cried so hard for a tiny little baby mouse I'd only had for a week. 

After that I decided I wanted to get a mouse, did a lot of research but in the process found out rats were much more interactive and actually liked to be handled. Weird how I'd never ever considered having rats as a pet before then. A few months later I got my first two rats, approx 10 week old males Chamois and Wolf from a rat rescue group


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