# Animals that might be candidates for full domestication and why **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 22, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508 "2024-01-22T18:53:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 13
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2024, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/13 "2024-01-22T19:41:32Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > I have some friends who had a couple of pet rats. I’ve had them, too. If they’re raised well - like dogs! - they make excellent pets. Unfortunately short-lived, as you mentioned. They are completely domesticated, descended from an existing wild species: > **[Fancy rat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fancy_rat)** > > The fancy rat (Rattus norvegicus domestica) is the domesticated form of Rattus norvegicus, the brown rat, and the most common species of rat kept as a pet. The name fancy rat derives from the use of the adjective fancy for a hobby, also seen in "animal fancy", a hobby involving the appreciation, promotion, or breeding of pet or domestic animals. The offspring of wild-caught specimens, having become docile after having been bred for many generations, fall under the fancy type. > Fancy rats were ... * * * ETA: to answer the O.P. more directly … snow leopards, or maybe clouded or marbled leopards, would be gorgeous pets … but, damn, they do need an enormous amount of climbing-type exercise. Perhaps a domesticated pet could accompany its owner to one of those urban indoor rock-scaling gyms? --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508)._