baby-sitting!

[CJ#HaRrIs HAwKs RuLe#]

Yey I get to look after two pet baby rats!!!!!:heart:

there called nickit and fetchit:heart:

has anyone else here kept pet rats before we used to have two called pinkie and pepsi.

I suppose smart **** comment about people keeping them...........in the freezer are inevitable:roll: :lol:

but I think they make great pets and are good fun

[Hells99]

I have a rat called Ham and he's brown and white - a real softie. Previously I had 2 black Giant Himalayan Rats called Jacen and Anakin, they each weighed over a kilo! They are great pets and so clean.

[CJ#HaRrIs HAwKs RuLe#]

they are!!

our rats were very sweet together!

they woud wash eachother and cudle up together we allways think of them when we have Ice cream as they allways used to lick the ice cream tubs clean.

so many people think rats are unclean and dirty but they spend a lot of time washing!

[Paddy1]

i used to have two called pink and floyd :supz:

[Kevin Massey]

i have rat in the freezer:supz:

[CJ#HaRrIs HAwKs RuLe#]

typical:roll:

this forum never dissapoints me:lol: :)


smart **** Mass:roll:

[Claire]

my daughter has 2 rats called vicky and shannon, but when she lets them run around on the sofa they chew holes in it :evil: they get away with it because they are cute though

[CJ#HaRrIs HAwKs RuLe#]

I can remember pepsi disapearing up the chimmney! and down the sofa!

we were lucky to get her back she came back to us for a biscuit:P

[Talon]

ive got a couple ..there names are breakfast and dinner.
well that what the hh calls them.:rolleyes:

[CJ#HaRrIs HAwKs RuLe#]

ive got a couple ..there names are breakfast and dinner.
well that what the hh calls them.:rolleyes:


what more smart arses?:lol: well done talon :roll:

I'm sure your harris loves them very much:yawinkle:

[Jackson]

yup i had two rats not so long ago!

fagot and magot!!!

best rodent pets ive had! better than a hamster!!!

so inteligent!!! when id come home theyd be up at the cage wantin to come out for a play! used to run round my room whilst i did my homework or watched t.v! great characterss!!! probably the first responsiblility i was given by my parents!!

i wanted them afetr id seen the rats on celebrity get me out of here lol!!!

kool pets!!!

[ParaButeo78]

I used to breed pet rats as pets and for shows, so had lots of fancy colours like blue (russian, english and american), fawn, siamese, badger/blazed (white face), champagne, hooded (coloured head, coloured stripe over the back, rest of body white), agouti ( also called wild colour, just like a brown rat), mink, variegated ( with spots in fawn, black and agouti) and black. Also rats with curly fur, smooth fur, normal ears, dumbo ears.
My favorite colour is Russian Blue, I used to have this stunning little male called Pippin Took from one of my last litters. Don't have him anymore, I stopped breeding and passed all the breeding rats over to two good friends. I still have nine older females, no longer fit for breeding that can spend the rest of their lives here.
They are very good pets, espescially for kids. They are more fun than hamsters and a lot less moody! Very clean, very smart, they love to be taken somewhere with you.
Some of my friends had a real problem with people feeding rats to other animals like snakes or birds of prey. And however I don't agree with live feeding them, it's a reality that rats and other small animals are foods for other animals. And I never had a problem with that. Wouldn't feed one of mine to a bird though...
Here's a pic of little Pip (Russian Blue), Hadhafang (Black badger dumbo), Nicodemus (Fawn variegated) and Rushey (Mink rex).

[CJ#HaRrIs HAwKs RuLe#]

awww :heart: very nice pictures!


how old are your rats?
they seem to not live as long as they used to.
my mum had rats when she was a child and the lived for a long time but now they only seem to last for 2 or 3 years:(

I have no problem with people feeding rats to there bird of prey.
Iv'e heard they are quite a good sorce of food for bop's.

but thats not the purpose of this particular thread;)

[ParaButeo78]

The oldest rat I have had was well over 3 years old and he was really old, I mean in the way he looked.
He was an American Import, named Peregrin, very well built, great temperament and very healthy. I had his great-grandson, till recently, Pippin, the Russian Blue.
You're right they don't live as long as they did, I have heard stories of six or seven years old. But I was very pleased Peregrin lived that long.
Rushey, on the last picture, is still alive, I still have her. She was born on march 23rd 2005, making her a year and almost three months.
The oldest one I have at the moment is Istari, an American blue dumbo female, she's almost two years old and doing very good. Peregrin was her father. The youngest one I have is almost a year old, Jewel, a champagne berkshire rex dumbo, also a Peregrin decendant (grand daughter).
Besides these two I have seven other females, including Istari's daughter Kobayashi, between a year and year and a half old. They all live in one big cage with lot's of toys and platforms, which stands in my future weighing/equipment room. That's nice and airy and they get a lot more sun, then in my house. I have a lot less respiratory problems since moving the rats there two years ago! It's also insulated and has a heating system so cold or heat is a lot less of a problem then in the house. They like a more or less constant temperature of around 17, 18 degrees Celsius. I spend about an hour or two with them every day and the radio is on the rest of the time.
Hadhafang, the badger, died last year, she had a tumour and didn't survive the operation to remove it. Sadly tumours are the number one cause of death in pet rats, followed closely by repiratory problems.
Pippin and Nicodemus, the other two pics, are also still alive but live somewhere else.
I realise it's not the point of the thread to talk about feeding rats to other animals, I just wanted to head off some of the smart reactions you're bound to get on here:P
Rats are great pets and I still recommend them to anyone looking for a small animal as a pet. It is important to always keep at least two rats, preferably of the same sex (unless you want a colony in a few months!). They are real group animals and are much happier and healthier with other rats as company. Good diet is also very important, feed a special rat food or supplement cat or dogfood or meat/ fish, not just rabbit or hamster food. Rats are omnivores and need animal protein.
Dust-free bedding is also a must, otherwise they get respiratory problems.
Ok, enough lecturing for today :lol:

[Hells99]

My first two rats, Jacen and Anakin the himalayan giants, lived to 4 years. Ham is just over 3 and has pasturella for which he has constant antibiotics. For ages he was on a common generic antibiotic that really did no good whatsoever but I did my own research on the net and he has 1/30 rounded teaspoon, twice a day of Aureomycin. :rolleyes: Took a bit of a fight to get my vet to agree to prescribe it for him but I'm glad I pushed him - Ham is much better now and is a very loving, affectionate and happy little rat. He even attacked my cat the other day, jumping on her while she was asleep! :lol:

[Claire]

My first two rats, Jacen and Anakin the himalayan giants, lived to 4 years. Ham is just over 3 and has pasturella for which he has constant antibiotics. For ages he was on a common generic antibiotic that really did no good whatsoever but I did my own research on the net and he has 1/30 rounded teaspoon, twice a day of Aureomycin. :rolleyes: Took a bit of a fight to get my vet to agree to prescribe it for him but I'm glad I pushed him - Ham is much better now and is a very loving, affectionate and happy little rat. He even attacked my cat the other day, jumping on her while she was asleep! :lol:
I wouldnt trust my cat anywhere near the rats, my cat has allready smashed hamster cages apart and killed 2 hamsters, the first time he got a hamster I got it off him and nursed it back to health only for the cat to kill it a month later, the cat is terrified of my rabbit though but I think thats because the rabbit tries to erm mate with the cat every chance he gets :lol:

[CJ#HaRrIs HAwKs RuLe#]

I wouldnt trust my cat anywhere near the rats, my cat has allready smashed hamster cages apart and killed 2 hamsters, the first time he got a hamster I got it off him and nursed it back to health only for the cat to kill it a month later, the cat is terrified of my rabbit though but I think thats because the rabbit tries to erm mate with the cat every chance he gets :lol:


ha ha ha ha !!!!!!!:lol:

at the minute our cat ignores birds and mice she is however a murderer of leaves!!

[CJ#HaRrIs HAwKs RuLe#]

I have allways wondered about the ideal diet for rats.

so do they like meat and need it in there diet?

one book I read recomened chicken bones with a little bit of meat.
the bones containing calcium and helping keep there teeth healthy.
and the meat containing protein.

what about fruit or veg?

our rats would eat anything. they would carry long strings of spaggetti to the bottom level of the cage together.

and yes. we lost both of our rats to tumours.

[Claire]

I always cut the feet off doc's for my kes, the rats get those, I feed mainly rat pellets which contain everything they need but they get lots of titbits crusts of bread little bits of meat marrowbone from lamb! its always the meat they go nuts over though

[Hells99]

Mine goes mental for peanut butter on toast and custard cream biscuits :lol: He's also very partial to grapes but as he's getting old the vet has recommended baby food as well as his normal pellets so he has organic baby food twice a day when he has his drugs.

[CJ#HaRrIs HAwKs RuLe#]

Mine goes mental for peanut butter on toast and custard cream biscuits :lol: He's also very partial to grapes but as he's getting old the vet has recommended baby food as well as his normal pellets so he has organic baby food twice a day when he has his drugs.

bisciuts were our rats favorites!:)

[Loopy]

I had a hooded rat called Jake when I was a kid. Fantastic animal, I wanted a dog but couldn't have one due to my Father's allergies so trained Jake to come when called, walk on a lead and to freely follow me on my adventures in the woods and fields. My Mother thought he was fantastic and was amazed at his cleanliness, agility, ability to learn and the fact that he could jump huge distances if bribed with a treat. :D :heart:
Jake was fed on a complete commercial rat food, meaty scraps and anything he managed to steal whilst roaming about. I was devastated when he died aged about 3 :cry:

[Hardcore Hawker]

This is great i have been looking for a rat forum for ages now

[Claire]

just took some pics of our rats