Oh rats!

[Jenna]

I started out by petsitting, and my sister actually gave me her pet rat because my daughter likes him so much. lol So, now what do I do? *laughs* So, we spend time playing on the floor every so often to give him some exercise since he is so fat by now.

Anybody else have rats? What do you do for fun? How do you house your pet?

Oh, and not only that, but we decided that he needs a real name. My sister just called him Rat-Rat, but that just seems so impersonal to me. So, we've been watching him to see his personality. How did you pick your pet's name?

 

[Dagna]

Well, I don't have rats but I do have hamsters. We keep ours in aquariums, but rats tend to be larger than hamsters so maybe a larger aquarium would be ok, like a 30 gal or something. They can have wheels in there but make sure it's not slotted and has a solid running wheel since the tails could get caught. Also, you can get balls that you can put your rat in and he can run around the house without too much worry. Just make sure that there are no stairs he can roll down and no other animals that could whack the ball around for fun.

My pets just kind of got there names...have no idea how really. We had Button, who got her name because she was cute as a button. Rush got his name because he was the fastest out of all the hamsters and was ALWAYS running around. Nibbles got her name because she's a nibbler. Buster just became Buster. And Mama Ham get her name because 3 days after she came to our house, she had 8 babies.

Have fun with your rat! I've heard they're super smart and pretty sweet, though I could never own one.

 

[Abigail's folly]

I had pet rats when I was a kid, and they were much more personable and enjoyable than the mice, squirrels or hamsters.
I kept mine in a wire rodent cage. I find that most of the wheel exercisers are too small for rats, they get the most fun and exercise out of the biggest wheels.

 

[Ataradrac]

My rats were named Frisby (for Mrs.Frisby & the Rats of NIHM), Araby (a pun on Aerobie, since everyone though Frisby was Frisbee), and Aurora and Nod (after the Roman goddesses of the dawn and dusk).

Frisby LOVED being tossed in the air. I would toss her (gently!) into the air over my bed onto a pillow. She would squeak and run back, where I would pick her up and toss her again. Aurora liked riding on my shoulder, and hid out in the hood of my balaclava.

Regrets? Rats are so short lived. :/

 

[Jenna]

Well, for exercise right now, I'm just letting our guy run around on my bedroom floor and climb around on stuff. My sister had him in a little aquarium, so I'm going to save up and get him a decent sized wire cage so he can have more breathing room. She got him an exercise ball, but he's scared to death of the thing. Right now it is kind of hit and miss, learning him. I've had gerbils before, but never anything so large...