# My Rats *pic heavy*



## ChiKat (Dec 14, 2010)

Just thought I'd share some pictures of my past pet rats.
I don't currently have any rats- my last girl passed away several years ago. They were great pets though!

Fiona and Aggie (both rescues)






Fiona 





Aggie fishing for peas 





Daisy and Fiona





Daisy





The twins looking old...right after Aggie passed away from a stroke





Robin










One of my favorite pics 





Scarlett sitting on top of Robin to "protect her"  Scarlett was always pretty timid.










My dog Carl with Robin (I promise they would not have been put in this situation if I wasn't comfortable with it!)


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## Becki (Dec 14, 2010)

Aww, those are such cute pictures! Sounds like you miss having them as pets.


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## moswen (Dec 14, 2010)

oh i just love rats. my sister in law has them and i don't think she knows about their ability to fish for peas... i'm going to have to tell her she would love to watch them do that. they're precious! thanks for sharing the pics!

wow i can't believe how well you can tell that scarlet and robin are looking so old! like you can really tell that they are older rats!


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## Cameron (Dec 14, 2010)

to each his own....(gross!)


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## ChiKat (Dec 14, 2010)

moswen said:


> wow i can't believe how well you can tell that scarlet and robin are looking so old! like you can really tell that they are older rats!



I know! And the sad part is they were only a year old when I took that picture  I rescued them and they had terrible genes- chronic respiratory problems. They were on antibiotics for much of their short lives. They only lived to be ~18 months and I heard from the rescue that their siblings all died around the same age too. So sad!



Red Earth Exotics said:


> to each his own....(gross!)



How can you look at these pictures and say "gross" ? 









_
(not my rats)_


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## Jessicap (Dec 14, 2010)

awe, reminds me of my Ben. I loved him. Such a great guy. Yours were very cute too.


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## Laura (Dec 14, 2010)

love the pics.. not for everyone of course.. but they are great little pets.. too bad they dont live very long.. 
Its amazing what they can be taught.. very smart..


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## TKCARDANDCOIN (Dec 14, 2010)

I must say,I am not a rat person but They are pretty cool!


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## N2TORTS (Dec 14, 2010)

Nice looking critters...... although I have to tease ya Chi"kat"...
with that name shoudnt it be pics of little "furball" kittys ...instead of wire hair varments..? 

JD~


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## Candy (Dec 14, 2010)

Now this is how I love to see rats, as peoples loving pets. I just love that one with the blanket.  They are adorable and thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures.


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## pdrobber (Dec 14, 2010)

had one a few years back, for about a week. petsmart bought, think they were bred to be food...where do ppl get theirs? the one I had was not nice, I couldn't even handle it. 

interested to know, even though getting one here in the city might get some negative attention from apartment neighbors, rats not really looked at in a positive light, even though there's a difference between pets and the subway crawling ones, most people (neighbors and building management) don't know that.


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## Cameron (Dec 14, 2010)

ChiKat said:


> How can you look at these pictures and say "gross" ?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



because they are smelly hairy rats!  i used to raise rats (for my snakes) and had to stop. i couldn't do it. they smelled too bad and were a HUGE pain to deal with. not to mention that they are constantly urinating and pooping all over the place....

but i'm glad you like them! somebody has to!


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## ChiKat (Dec 14, 2010)

Oh yes, rats can be _very_ smelly if they are kept in dirty, crowded conditions! (Same with pretty much every animal!)
My rats were all litterbox trained 



N2TORTS said:


> Nice looking critters...... although I have to tease ya Chi"kat"...
> with that name shoudnt it be pics of little "furball" kittys ...instead of wire hair varments..?



"Chi" is for Chicago or Chihuahuas. "Kat" is for my full name, Katherine 
I'm more of a dog person anyways 



pdrobber said:


> had one a few years back, for about a week. petsmart bought, think they were bred to be food...where do ppl get theirs? the one I had was not nice, I couldn't even handle it.
> 
> interested to know, even though getting one here in the city might get some negative attention from apartment neighbors, rats not really looked at in a positive light, even though there's a difference between pets and the subway crawling ones, most people (neighbors and building management) don't know that.



I got three of mine through a rescue, and two I got from the pet store (against my own beliefs) because I couldn't bear to see them go as snake food  
If you're interested I'm sure I could find a rescue in your area, or maybe even a breeder- then you would definitely get a well-socialized, friendly rat!
My pet store rats were definitely more skittish because they weren't used to being handled.
eta: And they should be kept in pairs- they're very social


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## terryo (Dec 14, 2010)

I never had a rat, but my son's girlfriend did. They never smelled, because her Mom is a clean freak, and would never have them if they did. I guess she kept them very clean. I also live in NY, and sad to say most rats here are sold for food. 
I came across this picture on stumbleupon.com..love that site...I thought it was the cutest picture, and made it my desk top background.


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## Torty Mom (Dec 14, 2010)

Katie, they are super cute! Great pictures!!! It does sound like you miss them alot!!! We use to have 2 many years ago, Karen and Slick. Thanks for sharing!!


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## Floof (Dec 14, 2010)

Your rats were absolutely gorgeous, Katie. I'm sorry they passed away, especially the twins so young. Thank you for sharing.

Call me crazy, but I'm a snake person who loves rats... and not just as food.  (And you'd be surprised how many of us there are. There's a good number of people on my favorite snake forum that won't keep any snakes large enough to need rats, and very many more that who keep pet rats of their own despite having snakes large enough to eat them...)

I adopted a friend's 3 rat girls around a year ago. They were great fun, and I really enjoyed them. In the end, though, I couldn't handle the upkeep, or the smell, and I found I didn't have enough time to spend with them, so I ended up having to find them a new home.

Papaya was the oldest girl, a b&w hooded. She was a total sweetie, and loved to hang out on my shoulders.





The only good picture I have of the REW girls, Mango and Kiwi. They were younger, and much more skittish than Papaya, but even they were friendly and social.





In the end, it was a good experience, and I'm glad to have had the chance to take care of them. I hope to give rats a try again in the future, when I have more time to spend cleaning and playing... But next time, I'm starting with healthy, young ratties from a good breeder. As great as my three were, they were all pet store rats and not especially healthy.

One thing I was never able to do when it came to rats was join a rat forum. I found a great one, lurked for awhile, considered joining... But, in the end, had to decide against it and avoid the forum from then on out. Take your guys' negative feelings for snakes, and the fact that they eat rodents, then multiply it by a few thousand rat-loving forum members, who have concluded to hate snakes just because of their natural diet. On that forum, I saw, I think, a total of 3 threads with pictures of snakes, and while two posts might say "pretty" or "neat," the other dozen or more would criticize the fact that this person owned an animal that ate rodents. As a snake lover first, it's painful and hurtful enough to read your guys' criticisms and comments on the rare occasion snakes and/or snake food comes up on a forum based for tortoises. I couldn't stand the thought of joining a forum where I may get criticized at every turn for keeping an animal I love.

Curiously, it would seem snake people are the most accepting of us all. It can be hard to judge another person's pet choice when you keep one of the most socially "taboo" pet variety. Seems like even crocodilians and monkeys are more accepted than snakes, and I'm sure anyone here can guess either of those makes a worse pet than a snake.


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## terryo (Dec 14, 2010)

Seems like even crocodilians and monkeys are more accepted than snakes, *and I'm sure anyone here can guess either of those makes a worse pet than a snake*
Not really! 





My son dressed as Aladdin, and then he wanted to take a picture for Christmas, so I made it my christmas card.


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## Isa (Dec 15, 2010)

Awww they are adorable Katie  I love rats pics! Do not hesitate to keep them comming


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## Bowser-the-Redfoot (Dec 15, 2010)

I love rats  I just wish my parents would let me have one  lol


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## Candy (Dec 15, 2010)

Red Earth Exotics said:


> ChiKat said:
> 
> 
> > How can you look at these pictures and say "gross" ?
> ...




I am so glad that you stopped breeding them for food, disgusting practice anyway. I disagree with the smelly part if they are kept like they're suppose to be kept they make great pets and clean ones at that.




terryo said:


> I never had a rat, but my son's girlfriend did. They never smelled, because her Mom is a clean freak, and would never have them if they did. I guess she kept them very clean. I also live in NY, and sad to say most rats here are sold for food.
> I came across this picture on stumbleupon.com..love that site...I thought it was the cutest picture, and made it my desk top background.




Terry this lighten my day and made me laugh so hard this morning when I saw it. That is a absolutely priceless picture. I loved it! Thanks for posting it for us to see. Innocent little creatures they are.


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## ChiKat (Dec 15, 2010)

Floof said:


> Your rats were absolutely gorgeous, Katie. I'm sorry they passed away, especially the twins so young. Thank you for sharing.
> 
> Call me crazy, but I'm a snake person who loves rats... and not just as food.  (And you'd be surprised how many of us there are. There's a good number of people on my favorite snake forum that won't keep any snakes large enough to need rats, and very many more that who keep pet rats of their own despite having snakes large enough to eat them...)
> ...
> One thing I was never able to do when it came to rats was join a rat forum. I found a great one, lurked for awhile, considered joining... But, in the end, had to decide against it and avoid the forum from then on out. Take your guys' negative feelings for snakes, and the fact that they eat rodents, then multiply it by a few thousand rat-loving forum members, who have concluded to hate snakes just because of their natural diet. On that forum, I saw, I think, a total of 3 threads with pictures of snakes, and while two posts might say "pretty" or "neat," the other dozen or more would criticize the fact that this person owned an animal that ate rodents. As a snake lover first, it's painful and hurtful enough to read your guys' criticisms and comments on the rare occasion snakes and/or snake food comes up on a forum based for tortoises. I couldn't stand the thought of joining a forum where I may get criticized at every turn for keeping an animal I love.



I know a lot of people who have pet rats AND snakes 
I belong to a rat forum and several members keep snakes. There are only ever positive comments when they post pictures of their snakes in the off-topic section. We don't allow discussion about _feeding_ snakes (f/t debates, etc.) because obviously it's upsetting. A picture of a snake eating a rat would be a little inappropriate on a rat forum 
I think snakes are pretty cool, and I would consider owning one- I've actually looked into the rough green snake because it eats insects


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## Floof (Dec 16, 2010)

ChiKat said:


> Floof said:
> 
> 
> > Your rats were absolutely gorgeous, Katie. I'm sorry they passed away, especially the twins so young. Thank you for sharing.
> ...



Interesting. Your forum sounds quite a bit more civilized than the one I lurked on.

Snakes are great animals. Unfortunately it's rare that you find a species that does well in captivity _and_ doesn't need to eat rodents. Rough and Smooth green snakes, though they naturally eat insects, are extremely difficult to get to survive in captivity, let alone thrive, are not a snake you can handle/hold, and really just aren't a good one for an inexperienced snake keeper to try. You might look into garter snakes, though. Although it is good for them to supply small (newborn) mice every now and again, they can live solely on properly supplemented earthworms, slugs, and fish if that's how you want to go about it. Thamnophis.com is a great resource for garter and ribbon snakes if you want to look more into it.

Sorry, don't mean to hi-jack your thread; just wanted to make you aware of the issues with green snakes...


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## ChiKat (Dec 16, 2010)

Thank you for the info Taylor!!
I haven't done much research on smooth/rough green snakes; just enough to know they don't eat rodents. Your information was very helpful- thanks! 
I think I'll stick to dogs and torts (and maybe rats again some day )


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