Getting a pet rat! (hopefully)

lindtee

I have agreed to get my son a pet rat, or rather 2 as I hear they are better kept in pairs. We are complete novices so would appreciate any advice! I ordered this cage-



It measures 68 x 71 x 43 cm. Would this be big enough for 2 rats? Besides food bowl, water bottle etc what other items would I need for the set up? What are the best things to feed them?

And finally, and most importantly, where would one get a rat in the Cork area? I could order them in the local pet shop, but would be unsure of their origins before that.

Thanks in advance:)

Our man in Havana

The cage is big enough.

Yes 2 or more rats is better - I love boys as they are often more placid & less active than the girls.

The cage has wire shelves - you will need to cover these as rats can develop bumblefoot if left to stand on wire.

This is a FAB Care Sheet

No idea where in Cork you will find a breeder.

Bob Z

Why a rat though?

Wolfsberg

Bob Z wrote: »

Why a rat though?

Domesticated rats have many good points! They are highly intelligent and can be taught to do many tricks. They are very affectionate and friendly towards people if they are interacted with enough. They are easy to care for and are actually very clean and can be easily trained to urinate in a tray like a cat does. They are also very very interesting to observe, especially when kept in a group; I recently observed a female have a litter of 6 or 7 babies. The mother's sister (who had never had a litter before) began to lactate within a couple of days of the babies being born. The two sisters went on to share the responsibility of raising the young rats, which strikes me as a highly admirable trait in an animal!

People give them a hard time as they associate them with the Norweigen or Brown rats that live in sewers and ditches etc. If people could get past that and the whole "tail thing" I think they would be just as, if not more, popular than rabbits or hamsters.

steel_spine

There's an Irish Rat forum http://irishrat.proboards.com/index.cgi

That's a good place, though not the most active in the world. Yer one who runs it (Zoundz i think) is also based in West Cork and can help with transport/acquiring rats too I think. You can also look there to see what you can get in the way of adopting - there are often adult rats and litters of rat kittens up for adoption.
If there's any specifics you want to know, feel free to PM me - I have 5 girls at the mo and have been keeping rats for over 3 years or so now
Love the little beasties

Also if you want specially bred rats, I beleive Zounds is starting up her own fancy rat breeding to. Personally I like to adopt them, but it all depends what you're after

Regarding diet - this is a good standard one http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk/information/guides.php?subject=shunamite
You'll have little luck finding much else than Reggie Rat food in Ireland, but mine seem to do ok on a mix of that, supplemented with lots of veg, as well as fruit and other things.
Also a really good UK site (that delivers to Ireland) http://www.ratwarehouse.com/

tman

Bob Z wrote: »

Why a rat though?

I would have said the same thing 6 months ago, but my flatmate brought one home and I soon fell in love with the little fellah.
They make fantastic pets, far more interesting than gerbils or hamsters imo, and a lot less commitment than cats or dogs.

lindtee

Thanks so much for all the replies, re-the why a rat question, we did a bit of research on what the best rodent pet would be and rats seemed to be the best! I am not put off by their appearance nor wild rats.

Will read up the links ye so kindly posted, thanks again for all your help. Will keep ye posted when we get them!:):)

Bob Z

steel_spine wrote: »

There's an Irish Rat forum http://irishrat.proboards.com/index.cgi

Theres an Irish rat forum? SMart little buggers