from Craigslist:
I thought that this might be satire, but doesn’t look like that. Turns out this rat shelter has a pretty good website http://www.mainelyratrescue.org/rattieblog2/
Since apparently I am not the first guy to doubt the utility of saving the rats, the website provides some helpful explanations here http://mainelyratrescue.org/rattieblog2/?p=7 . I look forward to them branching out into saving frogs, cockroaches and trypanosoma brucei.
Pet rats aren’t my thing, but there’s a distinction that needs to be made. I haven’t checked out the background of every rat they have listed, but it appears the rats they rescue are “fancy rats” which have been specifically bred for the pet trade. Fancy rats are a domesticated version of the brown rat and not merely “tamed” wild rats. Also, they’re not lab rats.
I don’t know about cockroach rescue, but as for frog rescue…
Hope you found this info useful. Regards,
Pet rats are smart, sweet, and cute (if you’re the type that can get past bare tails, which I can). I would seriously want some cute pet rats of my own, but a lifespan of only 2-3 years would be heartbreaking to deal with.
I couldn’t give a rats arse…
don’t smell a rat here, ehh? Maybe you are right, just a bunch of “volunteers” with nothing better to do with their time.
It’s their time to do with as they please. Go to hell.
This is a very strange thread.
I haven’t owned pet rats, but have known some. They make excellent pets - quite clean and intelligent. I’d rather own a fancy rat than a hamster.
My daughter keeps rats, and they are very nice pets. The short lifespan is a problem, however.
I have the perfect solution. Just start a joint “Cat & Snake Rescue” in the same facility. Problem solved! 
Wow, you’re a jerk.
I’m always amazed at how many people think that’s an ok sort of thing to say when they find out people have pet rats.
We have had pet rats for a few years now. (Nominally my son’s pets but guess who does the bulk of the care?) If you hand raise them they are very good clean, relatively low maintenance pets. If you get them when they are older and haven’t been socialized well they can be a bit tough to deal with. If I was nearby I would consider rescuing a pair or so of girlie rats.
Here are a few pictures of our first girls Norma(n)* and Desiree.
*My son named Norman after the character in Short Circuit.
No kidding. Everyone thinks it’s funny, but if dog or cat owners got “jokes” every time about making Chinese food or the number of ways to skin a cat or something, they’d get sick of hearing it too.
It’s scary how often when people learn I have pet rabbits, they have to joke about making my rabbits into dinner/fur items, or tell me terrible stories about the rabbit they/their dog killed, how they managed to kill a pet rabbit as a kid, etc., without even thinking twice.
I hear all kinds of cat jokes and make them myself. I make most of them about my own cats. (“I don’t own cats, I own a pair of future slippers”, etc) Humour doesn’t always have to be taken personally.
I’ve got cats and dogs as well - people DO make a lot of running-over-cats, I-hate-cats type of statements when you say you have cats. Some people are apparently raised by wolves and have no sense of normal politeness.
Still, I have never gotten anything like the graphic, detailed descriptions that people feel it’s ok to drop on me when they hear I have rats - descriptions of rats their snake eats, rats they’ve seen killed, rats they caught on glue or snap traps, how much they HATE rats and want to poison them. It only ratchets up when they find out I actually breed and show them, when you’d think a normal person would be embarrassed about showing their ass that way.
I sometimes refer to my dog as my “emergency food supply.” Lighten up.
That’s YOUR dog. You can say anything you want about your own pet.
I think they could solve a lot of their trouble by just feeding the rats, rats.