# "rats??!! Ewww!!!"



## TeddyRoo (Jan 23, 2017)

I know we've all had to deal with that response from people when you share with them that you have pet rats. How annoying and frustrating is that close mindednesss to you guys? Sometimes it drives me up the wall. But I feel like we should be brand ambassadors for our amazing little buddies and so I keep a small album of pictures on my phone of the cutest and most disarming pictures of my rats, smile, show them to them and say, "no you've got it wrong" and tell them all the great things about pet rats. They're extremely affectionate and social, very smart and clean, litter trained, and can even learn tricks. Almost every person with the, "eww rats" response cannot deny their adorableness after seeing them. So as frustrating as it can be, keep up the good work my fellow rat ambassadors!


----------



## 487137 (Jan 13, 2017)

Oh, yeah. I've gotten that a lot. My mom didn't want me to have rats so I went behind her back and got them. After living with them for all these weeks, she's more open to the idea and doesn't mind them. She was extremely mad at first but after explaining to her why they are not so bad and giving her facts to debunk the rat stereotypes, she's alright now.


----------



## Rattie_Mama (Jan 26, 2017)

It is so annoying, but I get over it pretty fast when I think about how awesome & cute they are. The close minded people are missing out. I always try to open people up to the amazing world of rattie love, some people are surprised and change their mind some people remain adamant on their opinions.


----------



## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

I like to keep some videos of my rats doing cute tricks on my phone, and then whip it out and show them to "rat skeptics". People don't usually take my word for it when I say that rats are intelligent, but after seeing a video of Shadow retrieving me some money from a purse or Berry doing a handstand, they often change their mind!


----------



## Grotesque (Mar 19, 2014)

My Mom is so stubborn, there is no way to change her mind. As for others, I like to take a rat out with me on a harness for meet and greets. I go to pet stores, the park, and even around the block. Everyone that meets my girls changes their minds about rats. 

Every time I go to the vet with one, I have people swarming me to pet her/them and ask questions.


----------



## Trio of Trouble (Sep 22, 2016)

I love taking my rats to small social gatherings. Once there was this group gathering at a park, and I brought my Cuppy-Cake. I'm sort of a loner, so I was sitting on a bench and these kids came up and when I told them that it was a rat after they asked, I got a lot of "Ew, that's gross!" and stuff like that. But at the perfect moment, Cuppy poked her little nose out of her bonding-bag and everyone melted. I taught the children about pet rats, and they were asking their parents for a rat after I was done.


----------



## Asteria (Jul 6, 2016)

I'm very lucky, my mum calls them her grandchildren and buys them toys ;D I've always owned small animals so I think she's used to it by this point. 

But for people who don't like rats, I guarantee they've never owned one and just know them how they've been portrayed in history. However sometimes I deal with the whole, "my pet would eat your pet" nonsense which is so ridiculous. "My dog/cat/snake/whatever would eat your rats" which honestly reaches a whole new level of pathetic, if you don't like my rats you can just say "I don't like rats very much", you don't have to threaten to have them eaten by your so-called 'superior' pet.


----------



## Heyyouguys (Jun 19, 2016)

A woman at work does this to me all the time, but it's not just rats she says it about. Her words are 'yuck, they're all vermin the lot of them. Rodents are only good for snake food' to which I'm forced to remind her that;
In the everglades, pythons are vermin.
Stray dogs are vermin in some countries.
Rabbits (which I have to remind her are NOT rodents) are vermin in most countries.
She doesn't have much to say after that.


----------



## Sagitarius79 (Jan 30, 2017)

I just ignore the ewws.. I don't need anyone's approval. For some people there is no changing their mind.
I'm the type of mom that got my kids into rats and how awesome they are. I even have and play with my pet snakes and am still working on showing my kids how awesome even they are (I buy my snakes frozen food only, but they need to eat too). 
I'm an animal lover, I don't care what it is, they are all special.
Rats don't have the best reputation though. The people who say eww are usually thinking about the smell since if someone doesn't take care of them and their cages properly, they tend to smell. Or they are thinking about disease; rabies, rat bite fever, black plague or that they are mean or bite.
I try my best to educate people and after actually meeting my rats it works, but there are some stubborn people out there.


----------



## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

I am fine with ewws. I don't care. 

People shouldn't be a jerk no matter what. If anyone was friend/family and was a jerk about it they wouldn't be around any longer.

My mom said they were cute but refused to touch them lol When i first got them she asked if I was afraid of being bit or getting disease lol That was the worst I have gotten. Even still most everyone will like the pics I spam lol


I spread awareness. That they are safe pets no more risk then cats or dogs. That they are so sweet and adorable.


But I totally understand if someone doesn't like them or thinks ewww, and that is ok.
I know lots of people that keep bugs/spiders as pets and never in a million years will i ever change my mind that they are not ewwww. I'm not gonna touch them or think they are cute or understand why they want them lol But I'm glad they are happy lol


----------



## Rattielover965 (Apr 26, 2016)

Heyyouguys said:


> A woman at work does this to me all the time, but it's not just rats she says it about. Her words are 'yuck, they're all vermin the lot of them. Rodents are only good for snake food' to which I'm forced to remind her that;In the everglades, pythons are vermin.Stray dogs are vermin in some countries.Rabbits (which I have to remind her are NOT rodents) are vermin in most countries.She doesn't have much to say after that.


Rabbits are rodents


----------



## Grotesque (Mar 19, 2014)

I noticed that the tail is what creeps people out the most.


----------



## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

Rattielover965 said:


> Rabbits are rodents


Nope they actually are not. They are lagomorphs.


----------



## Sagitarius79 (Jan 30, 2017)

Rattielover965 said:


> Rabbits are rodents


They stopped classifying rabbits as rodents in 1912. Rabbits and Rodents are related, but rabbits are members of the family Leporidae. 
Rodentia (rodents), which includes rats, mice, squirrels, and marmots.


----------



## Rattielover965 (Apr 26, 2016)

Sagitarius79 said:


> They stopped classifying rabbits as rodents in 1912. Rabbits and Rodents are related, but rabbits are members of the family Leporidae. Rodentia (rodents), which includes rats, mice, squirrels, and marmots.


Oh.I had a rabbit book,but apparently it was pretty old.


----------



## LilysPets (Jul 1, 2016)

Someone please explain to me how rabbits are not rodents? The only difference I know is that rabbits have back molars/4 scissor teeth while most "rodents" have two. When I took biology, any animal with those signature "rodent teeth" are classified as rodents.


----------



## NFCRattie (Jan 25, 2016)

Grotesque said:


> I noticed that the tail is what creeps people out the most.


That is what my mom cant get over either lol 

I have taken many science study classes that show examples or case studies that used rats or mice.When talking to people they tend to listen, not get grossed out and seem to be open minded about how intelligent and nice these animals actually are. 

When I was younger, I could sit for hours in the library and just research about pets and animals.All I would read was non-fiction. That being said I grew up with a love for all animals and for someone to hate or completely dislike an animal is normal. Taking care of sick animals and stray cats, really made my childhood awesome. My brother and I would sneak in baby mice that would get stuck in our pool and release them.

I think it all has to do with how each individual grew up with animals or learned about false research about a particular species.Basically, just accepting a false stigma..


----------



## Nieve5552 (May 20, 2014)

LilysPets said:


> Someone please explain to me how rabbits are not rodents? The only difference I know is that rabbits have back molars/4 scissor teeth while most "rodents" have two. When I took biology, any animal with those signature "rodent teeth" are classified as rodents.


Wikipedia says '*Lagomorphs differ from rodents in that the former have four incisors in the upper jaw (not two, as in the Rodentia) and have enamel on the front and back of the incisors, whereas rodents have enamel only on the front.'
*
On topic, I dont really mind people disliking rats. Most of them are people who have had 'rats are dirty and horrible, steal food from people and spread disease' drilled into their heads for their whole lives, so I dont really blame them. Most of them probably would never have met a pet rat in their lives either, which I feel sorry for them for haha They definitely are missing out!
I find rats to be cleaner than cats or dogs, my rats dont go outside so no chance of them bringing fleas/ticks back home  In my 3 years of being a rat carer I've dealt with mites only once too. I do try to educate the rat haters when I can, but so far most people, especially my friends have been very open and accepting about it. I send cute snapchats of my rats very frequently to all my friends so that probably helps too! 

My greatest accomplishment is sending pics of my rats to my grandma, and her saying that they look cute and funny  Coming from a lady who's school homework was to kill rats and bring the tails for rewards when she was a kid tens of years ago, this is quite good


----------



## giraffevacuum (Dec 6, 2016)

getting pet rats has been such a good experience for all of the former rat-haters in my life! 
yes, i got them for me, because i love the little squishy blobs with claws, but honestly have been so grateful that i've been able to expose so many people to the wonderful world of rats. i live in college housing with two boys that were both totally okay with me adopting my babies, however they have both grown to love them so much with exposure that sometimes i have to remind them that my room is my room, and is off-limits even if you were just coming in to give the ratties kisses. i have brought them to professor's office hours before so that they can meet them, and that's been awesome too! so many people have been so open to meeting these animals they thought of as gross just because i am so into how amazing they are. if we have people over at the house, i'm always bringing out a boy or two to show them just how lovable these little (or not so little in the case of my boys) rodents are.
i also really like using the rats as an indicator of how well i'm going to get along with a person. most people are pretty okay with the idea of me grabbing a pet when we're hanging out for the first time, and when i come back out with a rat, i watch the way they interact with it. most people do just fine, asking questions about what certain things mean and what they should do. however, if a person is grabby and clearly not paying attention to rat body language/doing what the rat wants to do then i'll usually kick them out, saying "my rat didn't like you very much." i'm totally becoming the crazy rat lady and i am so pumped how many of my friends i was able to pull on board with me!


----------



## Fu-Inle (Jan 22, 2015)

LilysPets said:


> Someone please explain to me how rabbits are not rodents? The only difference I know is that rabbits have back molars/4 scissor teeth while most "rodents" have two. When I took biology, any animal with those signature "rodent teeth" are classified as rodents.


 That is untrue. Wombats and Koalas both have rodent-like teeth but they are not rodents.


----------



## Lexi_Bexi (Jan 15, 2017)

I love take my boys out when we take trips to the vet and have changed so many minds about them. My bigger boy Dec is so friendly with everyone and I've had people feed him yoghurt drops and get licks for it. I love seeing people's minds change when they actually get to know a rat. 

Though there are some people who will never change their mind, and for those I kinda live by a quote I read once; 

"When I hear people say "eww gross! I hate rats!" I don't get offended, instead I feel sorry for them. They have chosen a life of hate and discrimination over companionship and love"


----------

