JELLYBEANS
I love watching the transition from pinkies to open-eyed rats. And the good thing is that with such a short lifespan, it’s a very little time from wriggly little bub to explorating.
I’ve been wanting to look into owning a rat for the first time. My roommate is allergic to cats, and sometimes has a very large dog over (she has uh, split-custody of it, so to speak). Would either of these issues be an impediment to rat ownership? I recall they’re supposed to stay in same-sex pairs (otherwise they get lonely), but other than that I don’t know much.
Have you ever, ever been bitten?
I know, I saw. LOVE 
rachel - Buy from a breeder if you can. The only time I’ve ever been bitten hard enough to draw blood was from a pet store rat, and the poor little bub was terrified, poorly socialised, on his own in a fishtank (don’t even get me started on THAT) and just all around an unhappy little ratter. I’ve been nipped by my boys on a couple of occasions, but it’s never drawn blood and it’s always been because I’ve had food on my fingers and they’ve gotten excited trying to lick it off (rats LOVE peanut butter. Unfortunately they’re not great at telling where peanut butter ends and fingers begin)
If you’ve got a room where you can keep the rat cage out of the reach of the dog, having the dog around will be no problem. Hudson, my malamute, is very interested in my rats but he’s not allowed in the room where I keep my cage and they’re never out when he’s in the house, so I’ve never had any problems.
Two rats is good, and if they’re from a breeder they’ve usually got a good handle on how well the rats get on together, and will try to sell you a “friendly” pair who are already socialised with each other. You can get rats from different sources and put them together - my boys came from three different litters, from three different places - but it can be difficult. There’s a definite social heirarchy in a rat colony (a mischief of rats), and putting rats together without knowing where they sit in that heirarchy can lead to lots off huffing, squeaking, puffing and foofing. If you’re really unlucky they will fight, and if they do fight they can injure each other.
And same-sex pairs/groups of rats WILL still try to mate with each other. Like dogs, they will often try to hump each other for dominance. Again, with two rats you may not find it to be such an issue, but once you start getting more rats together and they’re trying to establish who is alpha and so on, you may see more humping. A 7-rat gangbang is… Disturbing.
Male rats have big balls. HUGE balls. That retract and extend as they get hot, cold, stressed, relaxed. Sometimes it’s mind-boggling. My boys like to drape theirs off the edge of the cage shelves.
And if a rat is very happy and comfortable with you, he will groom you. He might nibble your fingernails, your eyebrows, your hair. Bester used to clean my teeth. He’d climb up on my shoulder, reach around to my mouth and grab my lower lip in his front paws. Then he’d stick his head in my mouth and try to clean my teeth. Fun party trick
Likewise. I used to love having rats as pets; they really are good pets. But after seeing 4 of them go from absolutely awful looking tumors, I just couldn’t do it anymore. The cage I had was a two level thing; the last rat’s tumor grew so big she couldn’t even fit through the passage to get to the second level. It’s hard to watch them suffer that way.
I knew a girl who kept a large pet (ex-lab) rat and usually let him out of the cage when she was home. Not a problem to me, but she said she once had a date with a guy who didn’t know her special interests. As they were sitting on the couch having a drink and snacks, up jumped her pet on the coffee table. She didn’t react, but her date ran screaming out of the apartment.
Ever since then, she warns visitors in advance.
Well there goes that theory. Back to square one.
Okay, I’m asking the rat breeder: what possible reason could a rat have for hating socks?
I dunno about socks, but my rats hate my riding crop. I was using it to kill pantry moths that had gotten into my bedroom one time, and ended up brushing it against the side of the cage. All of my boys will latch on and try to chew through the leather strap on the end if it comes near the cage.
Well, you can get tumors removed if you have a vet who’s comfortable with exotics (which you should - I don’t think anyone should have a pet unless they have an available and experience veterinarian they can call if need be!) It can be pricey depending on your vet and your area, but if you get it taken off while it’s small, it’s usually not a big deal.
Err… are you sure your rat HATES your socks? Maybe he’s trying to attack your toes inside the socks? Or maybe he’s just playing tug? Rats love playing tug.
Thank you for starting this.
Friends of ours have had rats for years and I was initially all EWEEEEEE…but, they have educated me on the wonders of rats. Now my kids are thinking about rats.
And I live in Michigan…so, if I can get past the next hurdle of life…making a decision…I know who I will contact 
Now I’m picturing how Ratatouille would have been if all the rats were anatomically correct. giggles
I’m not a rat breeder, but a couple of my girls REALLY want to chew on socks, especially if there are wiggling toes inside. It isn’t hate (I don’t think), it’s a deep love that expresses itself through chewing. 
Again, I’m pretty sure it’s the smell; there is definitely a connection to how excited they get vs. how much the socks stink.
Is that the problem you’re having?
I’ve got dogs and cats, and used to have rabbits and guinea pigs as well. The rats are not safe to be playing unattended with ANY other animals - and if you have birds who fly loose in the house, you should NOT get rats (my birds lost toes landing briefly on the cage, and I know many people who’ve lost birds, even large ones, because they thought it would be “cute” to let their parrot play with a rat on the bed…) Rats who are well socialized are generally pretty ambivalent about other animals, but will bite through cage bars if the other animal “invades their territory.” So most of my animals will keep their faces well away from a rat on my lap or shoulder!
They should stay in same-sex pairs or trios, yes. And there will always be dominance grooming/playfighting that can look scary (and in the case of females, LOUD! They can be screamers!) but isn’t a big deal and humans shouldn’t interfere with it. Involving yourself in their dominance disputes will only cause more social stress, and they’re not really fighting anyway.
I haven’t been bitten for about 7 years. My rats don’t bite, and well-socialized rats from other breeders I work with don’t bite. I’ve been bitten by not-well-socialized rats from some sub-par breeders, and by petstore/rescue rats. No rat that bites makes it into my breeding program, and aggression can be very genetic, so by only breeding very cuddly animals, I raise my chances for only producing those.
Possibly, but I don’t think so. Athena really hated socks. If you forgot and went near her while wearing socks (or socks with open-toed shoes) she’s literally attack your feet until you took them off, then she’d be okay with them. When she attacked my band-aid too, I thought maybe she’d been handled roughly by store employees wearing disposable gloves.
Feyrat, you say you know good rat breeders in the St. louis area. I was wondering if you could also tell me because I am hoping to get a rat but am having a hard time finding a good rat breeder. If you could get me a list, I’d love it. Thanks!
ratlover - It’s been over 6 months since Feyrat has posted, and only one time in the last 12 months. You might not get a response. But I’m sure there must be a rat fanciers association. You should be able to find a breeder there, I’d guess.
Good luck.
StG
Thank you. I have tried that. Also looked at shelters. In the end, I cannot get any information because the websites no longer avilible. But again thank you.