My Rattie Story and Why Rats Make Good Pets

I have always been a fan of exotic pets and small animals. My first pet growing up was a praying mantis named Sam. Then followed my hoard of Jackson Chameleons and troop of guinea pigs. Keeping rats as pets never crossed my mind until I was doing research on them. 

Research, as in laboratory research. Yes, I was trained to inject rats with drugs and collect blood for quantification. No, I was not a cold blooded rat killer. I remember the first rat I euthanized during training. She was a small brown agouti and I wrapped her in a blanket and instantly bonded with her. My goggles became cloudy when it was time to euthanize her and I cried on the way home from work. After a year in research, I realized that this career path was not for me.  I appreciate and agree with the hard work done by researchers and the sacrifices rats do for human health, but it just was not for me. I love animals too much to be that person. I remember the lab coordinator talked up how great rats are as pets and how smart they are. He said that once he had one of his rats ride on his shoulders while doing lab tasks. The next day I adopted 2 baby rat boys and I fell in love with Rattus norvegicus. Here are some of the many reasons why I am in love with rats.





Rats are very interactive and smart. I often compare them to a mini dog and they can actually learn tricks like a dog! (Mine are too lazy, but it's possible!)  I have never had a pocket pet who would play with me like rats do. I had 5 guinea pigs growing up and all they did was eat, sleep, poop, and eat more. Guinea pigs are such monotonous furry creatures. It was a pleasant surprise that my rats actually played with me. I had one rat, Teddy, who I would flip on his back for tummy tickles. He would flip himself back, hop away, hop back, and wrestle with my hand until I tickled his tummy again. One of my rats, Dewey, is such a tricky trickster. I catch him all the time with stolen food. One time I observed him ninja-walked up to my plate, grabbed a piece of food, and ninja-walked away. So sly.  

It is always heart warming to know that they missed me when I get home. As soon as I open

the cage they are climbing all over me and giving me kisses. When they get really close to you they will groom your hair and attempt to clean your teeth. It's quite amusing. The difference between a rat and my past guinea pigs is that my rats want to be around me. They enjoy having belly rubs and sleep on my lap when watching TV. My guinepigs only showed me attention when I opened the fridge. 

A common misconception about domesticated rats is that they are dirty. Fancy rats are very clean! They spend a lot time grooming themselves and each other (make sure to have at least 2 rats together). As soon as I put them down they want to clean themselves. Maybe they are thinking, "Must get human germs off me." Rats had such a bad rap from carrying the plague many years ago.Actually recent research shows otherwise. Stated in  NPR writer Scott Simon's  article, "Rats Blamed For Bubonic Plague, But Gerbils May Be The Real Villains" Ha! Gerbils. Fancy rats are domesticated and are usually kept inside, away from diseases like Leptospirosis. They are largely different from wild rats. 

 If you are looking for a pocket pet who enjoys your company, I highly recommend looking into adopting a rattie friend. They have only shown me love over the years. I love my rats and I plan to be the "crazy rat girl" in my circle for a long time.