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Cute Rats - Rat Information

 June 4, 2012 Copyrighted All rights reserved, None of the following maybe reproduced.
I suggest you read "Rats for Pets, Really?" If you want a basic introduction to the speices, continue scrolling and read the titles that interest you. There will be topics such as
Breeding rats, getting a rat, male or female, rats eyesight, rats in the wild, rats diet, rats with other animals, rats health issues, rat breeds, rat colors, rats personality traits, and more.


 Rats For Pets, Really? (an article for beginners)

By Destiny Sweet

  Pet rats are completly diffrent from the wild rats. Pet rats are clean and love attention. Some people say pet rats are gross, which is not true. Pet rats make awesome pets. People do not realize how friendly and intelligent these magnificant creatures really are.

  If you are considering adding a pet rat to your household, you should first learn how to properly care for one. Rats do best in pairs of the same gender, however, a rat that was alone its whole life should remain solo. When choosing a cage for your new rats, make sure your rats cannot squeeze threw the bars of the cage.

  You should never us cedar shavings for bedding, as it can promote respirtoy problems for your rat. Newspaper or another natral bedding would be best. Rats live 2-3 years on average, however, females tend to live longer than males. Rats are very easy to tame, male rats seem friendliest and more laid back thank females. Females tend to be curious and sometimes mischievous. Gender in rats matter. The males and females each have their own personalities.

 Feeding a rat is very easy and inexpensive. Rats will eat just about anything. Some examples of a rat's diet are cheese, fruits, vegetables, raw pasta, and even hotdogs. You can also purchase mice and rat food at your local pet store.

 Rats can have 6 to almost 30 babies in each litter. Gender of baby rats can be distinguished at a very early age. The father rat must be kept away from the babies, as he would kill them. It usually only takes a few weeks for the female to give birth. Females can get pregnant at a very young age. The rat population is growing vastly, they reproduce very quickly.

 Owning a rat is a very rewarding experience. It will take time, patience, love and care. If you are ready to open your home to a pet rat, they will be ready to love you and will bring happiness to your life.

  Pet Rats Health Issues

 Pet Rats do have some Health issues. Over weight rats can get tumors and even cancer. It is very common that rats develope respitory problems. Some signs of respitory problems can include, wheezing, coughing, sneezing, ect.. Rats usually get runny noses but this can be normal. Rats can get cancer, and it seems to be somewhat common. Males, because they are bigger, may have a higher risk of a tumor, females live longer than males.

  If you are thinking about bringing a rat to the vet, it may or may not be a good idea. Most health problems with rats cannot be cured. Most treatment can be costly, and your rat will die of old age not long later. It may be a good idea to take your rat to the vet if he or she is young, but an old rat has very little chances of get better. If you think you can spare money to take your beloved rat to the vet, then you should!

  Rats live up for 2-4 years, as females have a longer life. There seems to be quite a few health problems in rats, and you should give your rat a self-check up every so often.

 Heres how you can do this:
-Check his teeth, are they long? are they yellow?
-Check his weight, and his breathing rat, his ears and eyes
-Ask yourself Is he eating right? Alert? Active? Does he have a thick coat? Any sores?

 Here are some ways to identify a healthy rat. Check your rats every so often and look for alertness, and a fit, thick coat. Remember, Male coats are kind of oily, and thats normal, but they shouldn't be thin, they should have fluffy, thick hair. Thinning hair is a sign of old age.

  Rats in Science

 Rats are used in research on new drugs, and other experiments in the lab. A PEW rat (Pink eyed White) is the common "Lab Rat". These experiments that they do on these rats are very cruel, and the animal usually ends up dying from it. These rats are commonly used as snake food. The image to the left, is a banner that supports PEW rats, PEW rats are a very mistreated rat color. They are veiwed as being so ordainary. My rats Winston & Clyde are both PEWS. I found this website (called "Random Rats") to be very informative.

 Rat Breed And Color Directory

Black Hoodie

Tan Hoodie

Tan Hooded Rat: There are many diffrent types of rats, I'd like to first go over some of the colors and their personalitie traits. There are tan hooded rats, these rats seem to be somewhat laid back and make good pets. Although tan hoodies are blind, and have terrible vision.

 Black Hooded Rats are another great color of rat, as they tend to be a popular choice for pets. I've had black hoodie females, and they were great pets. A very good choice. The girls can be curious though.

 Black And White Rats are diffrent from black hoodies, these are black rats with white marks on their chest and or feet.

Cream Rat

 Solid Cream Rats are rats that are completly tan in color. These rats make wonderful pets and most of these rats have a friendly personality type. I've had some cream ones before.

 Albino Rats are also known as Pink Eyed Whites, and the Lab rat. These white rats can be good pets when time is put into bonding with them. My PEWS Winston & Clyde are smart and they can become curious. They love eating rat treats too.

Fancy Rats are just your adverage rat.

Dumbo Rats are rats that have their ears to the side.

Dumbo Rat

Manx Rats are rare rats that do not have a tail.

Siamese Rats are white rats that have brownish markings on their nose. I used to have a few of them. They make wonderuful pets and bond very closely to their owners. They are very intelligent, and love attention. They are also hard to find and rare.

 Grey Rats kind of resemble wild rats, they are harder to find. I don't know much about them, they are so hard time find that I never had one of my own. I seen a grey rat in a pet shop once, and he was pretty big too. The pet shop owner was reserving the rat for someone else so I couldn't adopt him.

 Hairless Rats, are rats that do not have hair. They are also moderatley hard to find.

 The rat colors and breeds listed above are from my knowledge of rats and what their traits are.

 Breeding Rats

Pet rats breed very fast and they can have 6 to even 30 or more babies. Rats can breed at a very young age.
Simply put a male with a female and prepare for rat babies, it is not so common that rats have small litters, they usually have lots of babies.. Take the male out of the cage once the female is pregnant. Do not allow the male around the offspring. It is possible that the male can kill one of the babies if allowed around them, it is better to be safe than sorry. It only takes, on the top of my head I think about a week and a half to two weeks for the female to give birth. The rats grow pretty quick and need to be sexed and put into different cages as soon as they don't need their mother.

 I have selected the above video to place on the blog from Youtube for an example of baby rats. They can be called "Kits" or "Pups" which ever you prefer. 

 Can Baby rat's be touched?

My mother and I used to breed rats, and it is fine to touch them at a very young age. Even before they have fur! A women taught me that by touching our kits years ok, I seen it was ok, then my mom decided it is ok to pick the kits up. The mother did not reject them, and they were fine!