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I have had lots of rats over the past ten years and many of them have had tumours. They are particularly common in girl rats, which is why I have resorted to keeping male ones now. They can be removed by the vet and have done this for a couple of my rats, however, they can sometimes grow back. You will find, however that before the tumour kills them they will die of another cause e.g.old age! So I would say that it is worthwhile having it removed. If you need any more info let me now!
Rats make great pets. I bought a male rate from a homeless person and found it a good home. Actually, I meant to buy her rabbit -- she was carrying it around in a cat carrier on top of a shopping cart -- but by the time, a month later, I convinced her to give me the rabbit, she's also gotten a rat and the two were inseparable. I loved that rat. He had the best temperment of any living creature. I was so happy to find them both a really great home.
I love my rats. I have had many rats as pets. I now have 3 girl Russian blue hooded, and boy, are they smart, and they give me all the love I want!
Green, I know what you mean about temperment...they are so sweet. They want us to love them.
They would rather be with us, than even their own kind. I would say they are as smart as any dog or cat.
They go in the corner, or as with the grated wheel we have, the wheel is the bathroom. They won't mess up their whole cage.
They are so misunderstood. They certainly are not vermin in my eyes. They have a special place in my heart. Guinea pigs, hamsters, and gerbils are not as smart and sociable as rats.
My husband and I think we found someone's pet rat today! We went to a new park for a walk. We barely get started, and my husband stops. He says, "I see an animal!" We creep closer to the little critter playing in the leaves by a tree. A squirrel? No, it's got some white on it along with grey/brown fur. A chipmunk? No, it's too big. The creature sees us. Does it run away? No...it walks towards us! And has a long, long pink tail... "Good Lord, it's a rat!" I said, "and it's coming for us!" I slowly start to back up. "No way," my husband says. Sure enough, it walks almost completely up to me! I kept backing up and eventually it stopped and went towards my husband! "Do you think it's rabid or something?" I asked. But it didn't seem aggressive, wasn't foaming at the mouth or anything. I notice it was very clean. Then I see something under its belly. I take a closer look - it's got a huge lump under its fur, under its right front leg, almost the size of a ping pong ball. So the darn thing kept hanging out near us. If we walked away, it would follow a bit, then stop. If we called to it, it came! We felt terrible. We were pretty sure it was a rat, and suspected it was someone's pet, and maybe since it got a tumor, the person just dumped it off at the park rather than deal with it. I had a butterscotch candy in my pocket; I bit off a small piece and put it in front of the rat. He loved it! While it ate, I pet its back a little bit! Then when he was done eating, he jumped on my sneaker and played with my shoelace! It started to freak me out, so I made my husband call to it, and it jumped off. Can you believe this? So we felt bad, didn't want to leave it, but we certainly couldn't stick it in our pockets and bring it home. Fortunately a father and daughter walked by, on their way home from fishing. We explained the situation to them. The girl was 12 or so. She immediately fell in love with the rat! lol The father picked it up by the tail! Dangling it, he said, "Yup, that's a rat," and put it down. The friendly guy didn't mind at all. "DADDY PLEASE LET'S TAKE IT HOME AND TAKE IT TO THE VET!!!" the girl wailed. So plop into their big bucket went the rat, and off they went. Can you imagine!?! This is what it looked like (the one on the bottom of the first picture): Keeping Pet Rats   My own rats
I had no idea rats could be so friendly. The little guy was really cute (except for the tail). I was really tempted to pick it up and play with it, but I've never dealt with rats before, it might have been wild, and I was terrified of getting bitten. We were really glad that it seems to have gone to a good home.
My husband and I think we found someone's pet rat today! We went to a new park for a walk. We barely get started, and my husband stops. He says, "I see an animal!" We creep closer to the little critter playing in the leaves by a tree. A squirrel? No, it's got some white on it along with grey/brown fur. A chipmunk? No, it's too big. The creature sees us. Does it run away? No...it walks towards us! And has a long, long pink tail... "Good Lord, it's a rat!" I said, "and it's coming for us!" I slowly start to back up. "No way," my husband says. Sure enough, it walks almost completely up to me! I kept backing up and eventually it stopped and went towards my husband! "Do you think it's rabid or something?" I asked. But it didn't seem aggressive, wasn't foaming at the mouth or anything. I notice it was very clean. Then I see something under its belly. I take a closer look - it's got a huge lump under its fur, under its right front leg, almost the size of a ping pong ball. So the darn thing kept hanging out near us. If we walked away, it would follow a bit, then stop. If we called to it, it came! We felt terrible. We were pretty sure it was a rat, and suspected it was someone's pet, and maybe since it got a tumor, the person just dumped it off at the park rather than deal with it. I had a butterscotch candy in my pocket; I bit off a small piece and put it in front of the rat. He loved it! While it ate, I pet its back a little bit! Then when he was done eating, he jumped on my sneaker and played with my shoelace! It started to freak me out, so I made my husband call to it, and it jumped off. Can you believe this? So we felt bad, didn't want to leave it, but we certainly couldn't stick it in our pockets and bring it home. Fortunately a father and daughter walked by, on their way home from fishing. We explained the situation to them. The girl was 12 or so. She immediately fell in love with the rat! lol The father picked it up by the tail! Dangling it, he said, "Yup, that's a rat," and put it down. The friendly guy didn't mind at all. "DADDY PLEASE LET'S TAKE IT HOME AND TAKE IT TO THE VET!!!" the girl wailed. So plop into their big bucket went the rat, and off they went. Can you imagine!?! This is what it looked like (the one on the bottom of the first picture): Keeping Pet Rats   My own rats
I had no idea rats could be so friendly. The little guy was really cute (except for the tail). I was really tempted to pick it up and play with it, but I've never dealt with rats before, it might have been wild, and I was terrified of getting bitten. We were really glad that it seems to have gone to a good home.
Thanks for sharing that! Rats are very social, affectionate creatures. My nephew had a rat named Mandy ... she would come to me every time I visited. Would hang out on my shoulder close to the side of my face. I'd feed her and give her something to drink ... she didn't want to leave me and I enjoyed her every time I visited.
In the beginning the tail took some getting used to, but then I'd look down at that trusting face that only wanted my affection and it was nothing! We have macaws so any other animal in the house is verboten!
I had a pet rat years ago. Her name was Penelope. I loved her very, very much. She was a lab rat that was smuggled out of the lab that my friend worked in (yes, they were being tested on.) I had her for four years, and she was a wonderful pet. You do have to be very careful with them, as they are not very hardy and do not have long life expectancies.
Penelope used to ride around on my shoulder when we would go for walks together in town. I also used to let her out of her cage all of the time, and she would run around and play (although you have to keep an eye on them as they love to gnaw on things. Penelope especially loved cotton swabs and paper towel tubes) or snuggle with me. Sometimes, she would run under the refrigerator and I would have to sing to her to get her to come out.
I miss her very much. Rats are great pets.
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Rats are very social, affectionate creatures. My nephew had a rat named Mandy ... she would come to me every time I visited. Would hang out on my shoulder close to the side of my face. I'd feed her and give her something to drink ... she didn't want to leave me and I enjoyed her every time I visited.
