I love my pet rats.

They're so cute and loving and gentle. They know their teeth are sharp and are careful not to hurt me. They trust me even though I am a giant compared to them. Imagine how scared you would be to be handle by something 100x your size.

They are potty trained and responsible and roam around my room without a cage. If they get out of my room they come back when I call them.

My little rats love me and I love them. Everyone should have pet rats just be mindful that it takes time for them to trust you.

And they are super smart. The only animals smarter than rats are like apes, and elephants

>>5004559 (OP)
i wanna get some rats, do you have any tips for me? my aunt used to have ones and she said the female ones are more active and small, and the male ones are fat and lazy

>>5004584
Yes but there's more variation in rats personality. Which effects their temperament more. But size difference between the sexes tends to be general.

You can find active and energetic males and lazy females. Rats have a lot of individual personality. Some will be skittish and others confident.

An issue with males is as they're becoming adults they can develop aggression if they're not neutered. It's not every male rat but maybe like one out of ten. Most rats that were bred as pets will never be aggressive. But it's like aggressive dogs. Sometimes it happen.

More than sex, both sexes of rats are energetic young then calm down as they age. Two years old is old for a rat.

>>5004590
sounds really cool
do i get them from some sort of shelter or...

>>5004591
The best way to get rats is from reputable rat breeders. They should be completely tamed and socialised. You can find breeders googling or more likely Facebook

You can find rats in rescues or some shelters.

Then there are pet stores and feeder rats. Feeder rats watched all their friends get dragged off and fed to snakes. So they tend to be scared of hands and it could take them awhile to trust you. They're also not as carefully bred as pet rats so temperament problems can be more common. Most feeder rats can be just as loving as most pet rats

>>5004559 (OP)
I can't deal with the devastation and cancer every other year.

>>5004600
ok
ngl one time my parents cat brought a baby rat into the house (fully alive since rats dont taste good to cats), and it was really tame and climbed on my dad and stuff. i also find it fascinating how well rats can climb and jump. its like a cat only higher relative to body size since they are smaller

>>5004604
Rats are like little dogs in personality but more skittish until they fully trust you in the environment. Rats are usually really scared the first day you adopted them. Because they were brought to a completely different world they don't know. And they don't know you.

how do you handle cabling? do they not nibble on it?

I like the idea of pet rats but I couldn't deal with having a pet that dies in 4 years even if you take literally perfect care of it