Snake and rats as pets

Ive always loved animals. All kinds. And the only reason i feed my snakes rats is because there is no way around it but i like rats. I recently got myself two rats as pets. How many of you have BPs and mice/rats as pets (not breeder mice/rats).

I have a few pet rats. And my first generation of breeder girls became pets once they retired. I was pretty attached to them.

Mine were meant as food but all my snakes ate and some ate two and all 4 of my snakes refused to eat the last two. My brother suggested i keep them after both rat pups survived the night snuggled up with my BPs.

Have three of them. Only one was a rejected feeder. The other two were my birthday present. There's no way I would keep mice as pets though, they're way too smelly.

My girlfriend has a pet rat, thats she just had to get when she saw the feeder rats and thought they were so cute.

I kept rats as pets only because they wouldn't breed for me

I'd love to have rats as pets, but with a BP and three mouser cats, a rat would have to fight for its right to party, as it were. Someday, though, when I have enough space for separate animal rooms.

My breeder males are kinda pets. Puppy dog tame and lovely. I also have started selectively breeding dumbos....so those are kinda pets too.

My breeder rats are my buddies. Rats don't live that long anyway so I won't feel bad doing what I must to move forward with breeding and ensure they don't die to unpleasant causes. I've seen how the feeders I bought before were raised and would rather do the deed myself than support those practices any more.

We had a pet rat. Everything was fine, just thoroughly wash your hands before handling the snakes!

I've had pet rats almost all my life, but it started because of a snake. I literally grew up with a "red-tail" boa, and when I was in 5th or 6th grade, I found out my dad had had a pet rat as a boy, so naturally, I wanted one too. The one I picked out happened to be pregnant already, and I somehow convinced my parents that I should just raise Huggy's food for him. I usually had 3 or 4 pet rats and about the same number of feeders at a time, and when I was running out of feeders, I'd just breed some of the pet ones. I'd usually end up with extras, which I'd sell to the pet store.

Even after my dad sold Huggy (which I will never forgive him for, :() I kept pet rats, but purposely didn't replace any that passed, as I knew I'd be leaving for college. I lasted 1 semester before I snuck 2 rats and 2 hamsters into my room, they lived until right before I graduated. I didn't have any rodents for about 5 years, as my boyfriend had bad allergies and I learned about the joys of F/T, so didn't need live feeders. I started up again with them this past November, as said BF and I broke up, and now I'm breeding on a larger scale, not only for my own snakes, but to make some extra cash selling to some friends.

Even now though, I have favourites that I consider pets, and ones that I just use as breeders. They are all treated the same, the only difference being that the pet ones get taken out for cuddles. :)

Yep, we have two pet rats who we want to breed eventually but they won't be fed off even when retired (two females). Along with them we have our other breeder/feeder rats.

Here's Star, one of the pet ratties:

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I have 2 pet rats that were never meant to be bred. At first, the breeder mice were kinda like my pets, but I have grown to hate pretty much all mice except fuzzies. Lol..

I often end up with temporary 'pet' rats, especially since we're doing the breeding thing and my live feeders are randomly refusing to eat. It's actually not the snakes that have stopped me from keeping one of them, it's my Scotties dancing on their hind legs and whining with frustration when they smell one that's done it. I shudder to think what those two would do to a rat (although they completely ignore the snakes which is good).

Daybreaker - Star is freaking cute! I love her tiny paws.

I have pet rats! They're great pets.
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I don't mind feeding live. I just want my snake to be happy


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I have a couple feeders that outgrew my snakes before they ate them. So now they are "pets". They live right next to my snake racks and there's never a problem. I can walk past the rats with a snake on my shoulders and they couldn't care less.

Not rats, but I have two guinea pigs which I love.

My friend had a pet rat which was awesome. tamed and adventurous but he passed away.

Ive never been a fan of feeding off rats, but I understand its a part of life.

I have pet rats but they live in the freezer :)

I used to have pet rats, I even kept them as pets before I got into snakes. The only reason I don't have pet rats rather than just breeders is because I have Chinchillas to take up the space in my living room now.

My breeders are my pets. I selected the breeders based on how much I like them as pets.

I used to think of some of my longer-term breeder rats as more pets than feeders. Rats make awesome pets when you invest the time into the right one. Some are fearful or super defensive from the get-go; others will happily sit on your shoulder and be handled. I had one big blue male who was a complete kitten when handled. It can be done! I would just be sure not to have the rats within view of your snakes' cage, and to wash hands thoroughly between handling animals.