Why rats? - Origins - Varieties - Choosing your rat - Housing - Feeding

Why keep rats?
When the children were young we had all sorts of small caged pets : various hamsters (Syrian, Chinese and Russian) and gerbils in the house and rabbits and Guinea pigs in outdoor hutches. We also had two rats who we acquired when their owner moved house and left them with us, "temporarily" - never to be seen again. Having been bitten many times by all varieties of hamster, the gerbils and even some of the rabbits, I was most relieved to find that the rats didn't bite and in fact relished being handled and played with. So, when the various small pets had departed for the Big Hutch In The Sky and the children grew up and became independent pet-owners in their own rights, I was not surprised when Catherine once more turned to the rat as her choice of small pet. (She also has a dog and a pony of her own, along with the family dog and cat.)

There is still an awful lot of prejudice against rats. Sensible people who are quite happy to buy their child a hamster or gerbil will baulk at the thought of a rat. This is a big mistake - in fact, rats are the ideal small pet. They are friendly and docile, very playful, love human company and they don't smell. They aren't fussy eaters and don't cost a lot, either to buy or feed.

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The origins of the pet rat
The rat exists in the wild in every continent : there are many different species of rat, none of which is really native to the UK. In the 4th century the Black Rat (Rattus rattus), which originated in Asia, reached the British Isles, probably as stowaways on ships. By the 6th century it was a widespread pest of farms and towns alike, and was indirectly responsible for the spread of the Black Death, transmitted by rat-borne fleas and resulting in the deaths of a third of the population of Europe. Subsequent outbreaks of the Plague, notably the Great Plague of 1666, were also caused by the rat flea and mankind's prejudice against the rat intensified. The Brown or Norwegian Rat (Rattus norvegicus) reached these shores in the 18th century and quickly established itself as the dominant rat species, usurping the smaller and less competitive Black Rat from its former haunts until now the Brown rat it is found just about everywhere whereas the Black Rat is much less widespread, and indeed is absent from many areas of the British Isles.

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Varieties of domesticated rat
The rats we now keep as pets are derived from the Brown Rat but over years of selective breeding (and quite a bit of unselective breeding too!) a wide variety of colour variations and patterns have arisen - so many, in fact, that I have put them on a page of their own. Apart from Dewey, the last rat we bought, all the rats we have ever kept have been common-or-garden pet rats, two hooded and the rest self-coloured (one chocolate, one grey and two cream.) Dewey was a Dumbo rat, one of those even-cuter-than-you-thought-possible rats, with bigger ears set low on the sides of her head - almost cartoon-like! Dumbos arose from a mutation of a recessive gene which causes the ears to be misplaced and over-sized, but unlike most recessive mutations, the gene carries no "bad" side effects and so, looking as cute as it does, the Dumbo looks like it's here to stay.

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Choosing your pet rat
If you are looking for a rat for show or breeding purposes you will be using different criteria and should consult one of the specialist websites :
If, however, you are looking for a rat simply as a pet and furry friend, there are several ways you can find your ratty friend. Templeton and Nimh were "temporary" lodgers who came to stay, but most of our rats came from pet shops : Guinness was rescued from a shop which specialised in reptiles, and was destined to end up as snake food until we stepped in, as was Foster; Murphy came from a more reputable shop and was bought to keep Foster company. Roxy also came from a large pet shop and Dewey from our local pet shop where the owner also breeds Dumbos and sells on the ones that aren't of show quality to approved homes (nice to know she approves of us!) If you do know anyone who breeds pet rats, you should buy straight from the breeder, or you could offer a home to a couple of rats desperately in need of a home - you vet will probably be able to put you in touch with your local rat rescue society.
Wherever you find your rat, choose one that looks healthy, is friendly, inquisitive and unaggressive - fortunately, that description will fit the majority of rats you meet. Whether you choose males or females is up to you : theoretically, males are bigger and more easy-going, even lazy, and females tend to be smaller and more playful, but as with everything else, individuals do vary. However you decide, unless you want them to breed, keep them in same-sex pairs or groups!

One rat or two?
Well, ultimately it's up to you, but you need to take a couple of points into consideration before you decide : firstly, rats like company. In fact, rats need company. In the wild they live in large family groups or colonies and a single rat is a lonely rat. If you have just one rat (and that can happen quite unintentionally, if one of your rats dies suddenly and won't accept a new playmate) you will have to keep it entertained and happy. Some rat owners reckon that single rats are tamer and more attached to their owners, but from my experience I've not found that to be necessarily true. All rats are individuals and if you have more than one rat you will know how widely their personalities differ. Certainly, unless you can give a rat human companionship throughout the day, I would recommend keeping two together so that they have a friend to play with - as I've already said, same sex, unless of course you want to start breeding rats!
Ideally you should get two babies from the same litter or at least the same age, but if you have a single rat because of the death of its companion, it may still be possible to introduce a new friend. We managed it with Roxy : she was about ten months old when we introduced her to Dewey, who was three or four months old. Before bringing them together on neutral territory (an old, well-cleaned cage) we rubbed the newcomer all over with old bedding from Roxy's cage and then watched them carefully for any signs of aggression, especially as Roxy was twice Dewey's size. Roxy sniffed her new companion all over, flipped her onto her back and pinned her down, and then much to our relief, started to wash her all over from head to foot! We kept a careful eye on them over the next few days but there was never any serious aggression and they soon settled down together.

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Housing your new friend
Having chosen you new pet or pets, he now needs somewhere to live! Just as you would choose the biggest and best home you could afford, so your new friend deserves the biggest and best too.
We have always kept our rats in cages bought for the purpose; hamster cages aren't really suitable as they aren't big enough, although there are some bigger cages coming on the market now. Take particular care with the spacing of bars in cages - rats can get through surprisingly small gaps, and also, you don't want them trying to get through a gap that's almost big enough and getting trapped. Door catches also need looking at - we have had to padlock one cage against a particularly enterprising escape artist! The present cage (see this picture) has catches held in place by springs which are too strong for the rats to pull off. We have in the past used cages sold as suitable for rats, ferrets etc., and the present one was sold as a rat cage: it has three storeys with ramps and ladders leading to them and is furnished with an assortment of climbing and gnawing toys and playthings : although a "house" came with the cage, the rats never showed any interest in it, preferring to build their own nest, so it has been removed, but the recent addition of a "rat hammock" has been a huge success and they now sleep in there, having customised it to their own taste by gnawing in an additional door!
The question of bedding : there has been a great deal written on the subject of whether or not rats should be housed in cages with softwood sawdust as litter to absorb the inevitable urine and faeces. I can only speak from experience : Templeton and Nimh lived to almost 4 and 5 years old respectively, so their deaths were not untimely and could be attributed to extreme old age. Guinness was prone to respiratory ailments for most of her short life and came through several bouts of pneumonia with antibiotic treatment, but succumbed in the end aged only 18 months. Foster and Murphy died at around two years of age, which is at the low end of the average life span of a rat, and both suffered from frequent bouts of wheezing. In Murphy's case one of these turned into a bout of pneumonia from which, in spite of antibiotics and lots of TLC, she did not recover. THEN I read an article about respiratory ailments being linked to sawdust...... although we have no proof that it was the cause of our rats' illnesses, we decided the evidence was compelling and when Roxy joined us, we made the important decision NOT to use sawdust in her cage : instead we used (and still use) Hutch Hemp, a natural product which does not cause allergies, is absorbent and biodegradable, the rats have shown no inclination to eat, and is cheap and easily available. Neither Roxy nor Dewey, who were the first rats we have kept on an entirely sawdust-free bedding, ever shuffered from any respiratory problems. So circumstantial as the evidence may be, we have decided to stick with Hutch Hemp!

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Feeding your rat Rats in the wild are omnivores - that is, they will eat just about anything they can find. Pet rats also need a varied diet and this can be provided by using a proprietary Rat Food - commercial foods produced specifically for rats differ from rabbit, hamster, Guinea pig mixes etc. in the proportions of the different grains and seeds, and the inclusion of all-important proteins.

I find the best way to feed the rats is to use the dry rat foods as a basis, adding fresh greens, fruit and vegetables - Roxy was particularly fond of cucumber - and dried fruit( but don't overdo it), dry cat-biscuit-type food (to add protein) scraps of fresh meat (chicken and fish are good, ham is not - too salty!) and rat "treats." Don't overdo the treats, although they obviously prefer peanuts, milk drops, fruit bars etc, too many are not good for them (just like you can't live on chocolate alone!) and they will also make your rats fat (just like you and chocolate.....) Rats also need a constant supply of clean water, although if they eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables they will drink less than rats fed more dry food. A demand-feed drinking bottle will keep the water clean and, provided it is kept full, supply water whenever the rats want a drink. When you install it, make sure the nozzle doesn't touch the rats' bedding, litter, toys etc., as this will cause the water to leak out and saturate the cage when you're not looking.

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