Do Rats Make Good Pocket Pets?

Sociable Pet Rats Considerations, Feeding, Care and Habits

Mar 20, 2009

While many people hate the idea of wild rats, pet rats are known to be intelligent, sociable and clean animals for keeping as pets in small apartments.

Rats have been enjoyed as small pets since scientists realized how easy they were to tame and handle in early laboratory experiments. Of all the so-called "pocket pets", rats are the most intelligent. They are also the largest of the pocket pet rodents at about twice the size of gerbils and several times the size of mice.

Rats make very sociable pets, and prefer to be kept in groups of two or three unless their owners will give them daily interaction. Rats tend to be more nocturnal than gerbils, but their social nature will also allow them to adapt more readily to their owners schedule then mice or hamsters.

Cleaning and Caring for Pet Rats

Pet rats are very clean animals and do not develop overly strong smells when kept clean. With two rats kept together, their mutual grooming keeps both of them cleaner than a single rat kept individually. While some rats do enjoy swimming, most prefer a shallow bit of water they can easily stand in to "wash" themselves in, although bathing is not usually necessary for rats kept in sanitary conditions.

Rats should be fed daily, and given fresh water every other day even if there is still water in the water bottle. The bedding in a rats cage should be changed on a weekly basis. Several styles of commercial, wire rat cages are available and suitable for housing rats. Using an all-plastic, maze type of enclosure for pet rats is just asking for trouble since rats can chew through most plastics with relative ease.

Maintaining Your Pet Rat's Health

Rats have teeth that are always growing. It is imperative that pet rat owners provide wood chews for the rats to gnaw on to keep their teeth at a proper length. Rats have a lifespan of about three to four years making them a relatively long-lived pocket pet, as well as being hardy and easy-to-maintain.

Taming and Enjoying Your Pet Rat

Rats are easy to tame and accept handling by humans very well. Since they are larger than other pocket pets, they tend to be preferred as pets for younger children since they are easier to hold and handle. Rats seem to enjoy interacting and playing with their human owners and will often beg to come out of the their cage. Owners can build mazes for their rats, let them run loose in a plastic "hamster ball" or carry them around the house on a shoulder or tucked into a shirt pocket.

The copyright of the article Do Rats Make Good Pocket Pets? in Pet Care is owned by Angela England. Permission to republish Do Rats Make Good Pocket Pets? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Apr 17, 2009 4:31 AM

Guest :

I have got a pet rat he is beautiful intelgiant and loves sholder rides around the house i would say if anyone is thinking of getting a rat go for it as long as they have time to play with them if you havnt i think you should get two they need a cage buddy to interact with they still need a bit of human contact to.