pet rats

[Guest MsMaldoror]

I was wondering if anyone else has pet ratties besides me. A lot of people get turned off by them, but they do make great little pets. They're smart, friendly, and very clean.

[Black Sunday9]

can you please click on this link when you get a chance....thanks.

http://www.labor.iu.edu/organizeindiana/im...ats/NoRats2.JPG

[Guest MsMaldoror]

Damn you, Black Sunday9. I'll get you to like rats AND books one day...

can you please click on this link when you get a chance....thanks.

http://www.labor.iu.edu/organizeindiana/im...ats/NoRats2.JPG

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[Ginevra]

I had one when I lived in California and a pair when I lived in Minnesota. They're perfect for apartment living because they take up so little space. I can't have anything small as a pet right now because the boyfriend's cat is FAR too predatory to live with "prey".

[honeymustard02]

I've had a few rats in my life. I love them, they are a lot sweeter then people give them credit for.

One of them actually liked to take baths. She would also come into the shower with me and hang out.

[Sybil]

..i have a friend that has a pet rat, a grrl, and her name is "butterknife"..

teeheehee..

[Black Sunday9]

I am afraid that rats will escape from your homes and meet up with his rat friends in the sewers and make good on their plan to rule the world, turning humans into experiments. In would be worse than Bolshevism, In fact similar to the gulag, rats would turn us humans all into slave laborors without medical benefits.

We would only be allowed to read special rat approved literature like 'the great ratsby' and Alex Haley's 'Rats'.

Look, I'm just a little worried about having to watch only rat sanctioned television like 'ratman and robin', 'tom and jerry' and 'CSI: vetrinarians unit'.

Lots of stuff we like will get banned, stuff that is important to mankind. First of all you know Cat Stevens is going right to prison. There will no longer be a garbage pickup day, it will be renamed 'tuesday brunch buffet'. And by the way, if you don't like to cook now, think about how long it will suck to be a slave to a rat and have to slave all day over a hot stove while preparing medium rare garbage with a side of trash.

Anyway I just hope you all heed my warnings before talking so lovingly about a creature that wants to see mankinds extinction.

[Fierce Critter]

I like rats, but I can't have any. And that has nothing to do with the 10+ cats in the house.

I'm just highly, highly allergic to rodent droppings. I had pet mice here and there, and even with Zyrtec keeping my feline allergies at bay, the rodent droppings make me crazy.

Mice infested some stuff we had stored in my dad's garage. I was miserable & in pretty bad condition going through everything.

And then there was the time, working for the Michigan DNR, that working in a mouse-infested barn corn crib made my face explode & swell to the point where I had to go to the hospital so I could see & breathe again. I looked something like this:

[capuchin]

I'm just highly, highly allergic to rodent droppings. I had pet mice here and there, and even with Zyrtec keeping my feline allergies at bay, the rodent droppings make me crazy.

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I've noticed that a lot of people are allergic to rats--I worked in a lab that used rats, and both one of the grad students and our PI were allergic. I kinda felt really bad for the grad student with his rat allergies, I mean it would suck to be committed to working 40+ hours a week for x number of years around a critter that made you deathly ill....

[Homicidalheathen]

No, but I do have a hemaphrodite hampster. He is sooooo cute! Best one ever. Never bites.

[Nightflyerswmn]

never had a rat (as a pet). don't want one either. there were plenty running around my old house. i am scared to death of rats (and worms). the closest pet i have ever had to being a rat was a gerbil. i much prefer dogs and cats. speaking of which, my uncle's dog killed by new kitten. i am sooo furious right now.

[Guest MsMaldoror]

I'm sorry about your kitten. That's terrible. I would feel heartbroken. At least spring/summer is kitten season, and there are always plenty of new babies to adopt. I agree that cats and dogs are the best. But, I'm a sucker for animals and have basically had everything as a pet. Rats are a nice addition, I think. Wild rats are aggressive pests--just like wild dogs and those damn raccoons that get into everything. But, domesticated rats that are bred to be pets are VERY different.

never had a rat (as a pet). don't want one either. there were plenty running around my old house. i am scared to death of rats (and worms). the closest pet i have ever had to being a rat was a gerbil. i much prefer dogs and cats. speaking of which, my uncle's dog killed by new kitten. i am sooo furious right now.

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[Nightflyerswmn]

the thing that makes me so mad about my cat is she was the only one around that was tame. there are plenty of cats around my mom's house, but trying to find one and catch is the hard part. Know of any cute tame calico kittens anywhere? you can fedex it to me.

[kellygrrrrrl]

I had 2 rats, both females, one was Itchy and one was scratchy. They were both very sweet little things.....But they don't last but a few years. I had to shoot Itchy due to an inner ear/eye infection that had her laid out...she couldn't stand up and favored laying on one side, and was nothing but skin and bones, even her hair was falling out....the poor thing. So...I had to put her out of her misery.......I cried for a month.....

[Guest MsMaldoror]

I don't know where you live, but my aunt lives in Hamtramck, and there's always stray cats with litters hanging around her house every spring and summer. She manages to catch a number of them to take to shelters. She's also kept three of them. She and my other aunt feed them and try to get them used to people before attempting to capture them. I will let you know if she spots any little tabies with a good disposition though.

the thing that makes me so mad about my cat is she was the only one around that was tame. there are plenty of cats around my mom's house, but trying to find one and catch is the hard part. Know of any cute tame calico kittens anywhere? you can fedex it to me.

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[Guest MsMaldoror]

By the way, Mo did an interesting photo shoot with her pet rats on the Suicide Girls site on Dec. 12, 2004. If you subscribe to SG, it's worth checking out... :innocent

[Black Sunday9]

I really like pet rats now. I was wrong. There are even 4 rats that think I am their father. Oliver, Ben, Gavin and Ghost. I love those guys.

[Paper Hearts]

I had a rat once. His name was Sweaty because he was always all sweaty. He was very sweet but he smelled like piss. I would feed him whatever and he didn't care. Eventually I forgot to feed him though.

[sinnaminn]

rats are sooo cute!I wouldn't mind getting one for my daughter she's such a little Elmira she needs a sturdy pet!

[Homicidalheathen]

$ Dave is Willard. Heh heh...seriously though, ask him how many rats.

[SomeDanGuy]

Oh man, someone else saw Willard? I'm sorry.

I like rats. I'd have one, except it wouldn't last long with my cats.

Yes, they do often cause allergies. The lab I was in this summer worked with rats, and apparently 2 grad students who had no allergies at all coming in eventually developed allergies to the rats. .....which then lead to allergies to other animals unfortunately.

[Guest Megalicious]

....

[Guest Game of Chance]

I've never had rats...but I've had a house with mice problems. No thank you.

[Homicidalheathen]

Yah I was just thinking: 'what is with these people and their fu**ing rats????' Sorry. Just slipped out. I try not to be species ist.

I've never had rats...but I've had a house with mice problems.  No thank you.

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[Jarodaka]

[some rat conspiracy]

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Have you been reading Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh again?