We have a new pet shop in town, Petco. So kid and I being animal lovers and needing food for our zoo decided to check it out. just gonna look and buy bird food
65 bucks 2 mice and a rat later we are home. :smack:
I had a boy rat but he died a while back and I WAS NOT going to get another one, I was just looking…but She was sooo cute!! She is white w/a blonde hood, and dark red eyes. Well ok so I did a dumb thing and ask to hold her…again :smack: She nestled right in my hand and hid her face then peaked out then hid her face again, there went my heart :rolleyes:
Her name is going to be Ruby (because of her eyes)
You may now continue with your regular post reading, just had to share!
Pssst.
You do know rats are social animals and do much, much better (ie, to me and many other people it is a requirement) in pairs or more and are planning on getting her a friend, right?
Here is a great care sheet that I suggest you read.
With that out of the way, rats are one of the best creatures on earth. They have such a bad reputation; people “ewww” the sweet, playful rats with great personalities, and end up with hamsters that look so cute but are really demon spawn from hell.
Yay! Rats! Watch out, they’re like potato chips–you can’t have just one. I started out with two and somehow made my way up to five (all boys, this was not an accidental addition) You just can’t say no when they’re so cute like that!
We had a rat for ages and she was just fine by herself. You become her playmate. They are fantastic, so cute.
I’m now allergic to them, though, can’t get another one
Awww…I’m so jealous! I have been dying for a rat, but my two cats would eat it (or vice-versa). I’ll live vicariously through your Ruby stories. Post pics!
Alright…you rescued a rattie from the depths of PETCO hell…I’ll forgive the fact that you even stepped foot inside a PETCO.
Yes…rats are some of the greatest pets one can ever have. I had two rats…Nicodemus and Justin (named after chars from the book/movie Secret of NIMH) for three years. They were fun, playful, interesting and CLEAN! They never smelled (except for the few times we had to go on vacation and leave them in the care of an sitter who didn’t clean their cage as frequently as we did).
Congratulations on owning a rattie.
Congrats on the new addition to your family, Lwaxana. Rats are great pets - smart and sweet. Cuddle her lots, and she’ll be super friendly around people!
Ratties think Cheerios are the best treats in the whole wide world. If you want to see the cutest thing EVER, give Ruby a Cheerio. They hold them in their little hands and [sub]nibblenibblenibble[/sub]. So precious.
Also - good advice from **Bre’r[b/] re: companionship. I always had pairs of rats, and they liked to curl up together, groom each other, and playfight.
Oh yeah? Well, my grandfather’s been smoking for 65 years and his lungs are just fine with the smoke!
Seriously - they are social just like humans are. Imagine spending your entire life with only a bunch of dogs that played with you for a few minutes a day. It would get pretty lonely, no?
Well I went last night and got her a friend, another little girl but this one is white w/ a brown hood and dark brown/black eyes. For the life of me I cant figure on a name…any ideas.
Ruby and new rat seemed very happy together, it was cute watching them play and cuddle together to sleep.
Yeah…that probably included a cage and supplies, Hairy. When we purchased Nico and Justin, we ended up paying about 90 bucks total for them, food, supplies, etc and then about a year later another 75 bucks for a larger, more deluxe cage for them.
Have you thought of a name for the other one yet?
How bout Tonya (Fieval’s older sister in An American Tail)?
IDBB
Ow. I almost hurt my neck doing a double-take when I saw the handle Lwaxana, as one of my friends uses that as a screen name. I don’t know if she’s the rat-buying type. Anyway, I’m just letting you know you’ll be named in my personal injury lawsuit, as will Cecil, the moderators, and anyone who posts to this thread.
We have three cats and one lovely rat. I would say that the cats are fans of our rat and often watch him for long periods of times. I am sure that they might hurt him. What we do is after timethe cats got use to the rat and are not as interested in him as much.
We either wiat until they are a sleep adn he comes out with us. We have squirt gun to . We sometimes lock the cats up. We all have rat ball for him to run around on. Our rat is on computer table. We often have two cats and the rat and a person all hanging out around our mac
My rat Samantha would run to hide from the cats under our maltese pup… the dog was like "WTF??"
Pooh, my giant Siamese thought she was a push toy. Bop her butt she run a few inches and stop. Bop her butt again… on and on across the floor.
My advice: Keep a close eye on the bars of the cage. sam got used to sneakin out between two bars so after I bent them back into place she accidentally hung herself trying to get out.
Be also aware that rats are prone to tumors. Stripe died of one. Other than that rats are excellent company. Sam would sit on my shoulder and chatter into my ear… and if I didnt pay enough attention she’d bite my ear!
