So I went to the petstore

[Jay_Bunny]

...and I was looking around the small mammal section and saw some Fancy Rats. I had wanted a rat as a child but couldn't due to my family's dislike of them. I asked to hold one since I had never held a rat before and the women gladly took one out for me. He was so adorable! He was affectionate, cute, and I wanted him.

Unfortunatly, I live with my grandmother and she HATES small critters. I live in the basement which is turned into an apartment of sorts (minus shower and kitchen.) She's allowing me to keep my two cats, a snake, one betta, and a 10g tank here in the room. I don't plan on getting a rat until I move out because I know she won't let me get one now. I won't even bother asking. She even said no to a second snake.

But, I'm the kind of person that plans ahead. I don't know when I'll be able to move out and get a rat, but I want a shopping list ahead of time. Can someone list the best supplies for two rats, including cage, food, toys, and any other little things I'll need. If you could, post pictures or links to cages and other supplies.

[SatanicIntention]

www.rattiusmaximus.com and http://www.ratzrealm.com/ would be the best sites to go to for rat info.

It's best to get 2 rats, and even better to get 3, as they require a buddy for their psycological well-being. If you kept a rat alone, you'd have to spend around 80% of your day being with that rat. They get incredibly lonely and depressed if they don't have another to "talk" to I currently have 15 girls and 10 boys. I have one boy who came from Ratz Realm.

You'd need:
-A good-sized wire cage(Super Pet makes good powder-coated wire cages with plastic bottoms and levels that work well for rats).
-Aspen bedding, carefresh, cell-sorb bedding. NO pine or cedar, the phenols will slowly kill them via lung disease/liver and kidney failure.
-Good-sized water bottle(16oz or more), they drink alot.
-ceramic food bowl
-hammocks
-Food mix(Look on the Feeder forum, and find a Sticky called Becky's Rat Food Mix). This is what I feed my rats(it's varied a bit everytime I make it), and what my other rat-owning friends feed theirs. It's cheaper and is a balanced diet, unlike the store bought crapola that has tons of seeds, alfalfa pellets(that they can't digest anyway) and dried corn. Make sure you get a GOOD dog food such as Wellness Senior, Nutro Ultra Senior, Eukanuba Senior,etc. Any good dog food with no by-products, preservatives. I personally use the Wellness as the rats actually eat it. It has awesome levels of Omega 3 fatty acids and fish oil, so it helps their skin immensely. Find a dog food with less than 18% protein and you should be good to go.
-Toys, toys, toys. They can't get enough of them. Kleenex boxes stuffed with paper towels, or shredded paper, paper towel rolls, parrot toys with bells and rawhide, in-shell nuts(walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, etc). Just have fun with it, but be safe. None of those dried corn on the cob deals, but popcorn is ok.

That should be about it! Hope that helps

[Jay_Bunny]

I'll be getting two. I'm wondering if there is any way I can convince my grandmother that rats make good pets and that they don't smell if you take care of them right. I think in a few weeks, I'll take her to the petstore and hold a rat in front of her and hint that I want one (well two). Maybe if I convince her that they are better than snakes (not true, I like them both equally) she might consider it. Of course, she's going to pull the "You already have two cats and a snake. That's enough." Of course, I'm used to having a lot of animals around. At one time when i was a kid, we had two cats, two hermit crabs, a fish tank, two bearded dragons, one ball, one red-tailed boa, three dogs. Now reduced to two cats and one snake (and three dogs that I hardly see) it seems wierd. I miss having so many animals to take care of.

I wouldn't mind spending 80% of my day with a rat. I would if I could, but alas, life is kicking my behind. I'm going to be working 30 hours a week plus going to school. I need to get my grades up to transfer to a better college and go into pre-vet. I want to become a vet that specializes in reptiles, birds, and small mammals. I'm starting on my biology classes next semester.

I'm going to get a book on rats and read some. I was wondering. The rats in the petstore are cute but, is it better to get one from a breeder?

[frankykeno]

Like any creature a responsible breeder is always the best option for purchase in my opinion. However, a same gender pair of young healthy pet store rats can be fine if it's a decent pet store and doesn't keep ill rats, overcrowded in dirty cages.

Basically when you look at any young rat judge them much like a puppy or kitten. Clean, bright eyes, clean ears with no discharge, clean butt end with no signs of loose stool (check enclosure for this as well), fur shiney and laying nice to the body (no patchiness, no big fluffed guard hairs up, no scabs on the skin or obvious areas of their coat they've been chewing or picking at). Make sure the pet store has kept them strictly seperated by gender if you are buying a pair of females and don't want an "oopsie" litter of rats. They might be skittish but should never be mean natured or aggressively trying to bite you. Temperment is very genetic in rats so you want only nice tempered rats whether you are buying a pet or breeding them. Check the feet and tails. You want nice dry feet and tails....no damage and no sore on the rat's feet (bumblefoot).

No sneezing or excess red discharge from nose or ears. Eyeball the cagemates of the rats you want. Do they appear healthy as well? Are any of them sneezing/scabby looking, or obviously ill?

There are a number of quite nice big rat cages at PetCo. Remember your young rats will grow so you want a cage big enough for two adults (males get considerably bigger than females). You want a cage they can't chew out of or squeeze through the wire (when young).

Rats make great pets! They have almost no natural odor (as compared to mice, gerbils and hamsters). They do not bite as much as most pet rodents. They can basically eat most things humans can so will happily eat your kitchen scraps plus Becky's mix (pet store rat mixes are a waste of your money in my opinion). They are quiet and can be leash controlled while out of their enclosure (you can find appropriate leashes at most larger pet stores). As long as they have a rat buddy they are quite content with each other but will also love to interact with their owner. They live generally about 2 years or slightly more.

[Jay_Bunny]

I hinted to my grandmother I wanted a rat and she looked at me as if I'd sprouted whiskers. She thinks that rats are filthy, loud, and stinky creatures. I tried to tell her that's not true, but she wouldn't listen. Guess I gotta wait until I move out in a year or two.