| Tips on Choosing a Rat |
| How to find a good, healthy rat: First, find a good place to buy a rat. You can try stores, breeders, or even animal shelters. Let me tell you, I really discourage from buying from stores. The vast majority of them don't know very much about rats, and carry feeders (rats used for feeding large reptiles and snakes), which are not ideal pets. A lot of them are sick, and you could find yourself swamped in vet bills. So, unless there is no good breeders in your area, try to stay away from stores. It'll do you good in the long run. Breeders are, I think, the absolute best choice. They know tons about rats, and can help you out with any questions you might have while owning one. Reputable breeders do not sell an animal they know to be sick, and unlike stores, they know enough about rats to tell if they're sick or not! Different breeders specialize on different types of rats ranging from dumbos to hairless, blues to berkshires, so on and so forth. If you go with a breeder, I think you will be overall very happy with your decision. To find a list of breeders in your area, go to this page. If you don't understand how to get this list to work, or are just to lazy to, feel free to email me with your state and/or city. I'll do a search for you, and I may check for their references, visit their sites, and email them to tell you which ones I like best. I'm always happy to help! Usually I can get back with you with a list of good ratteries in your area within three days, depending on how many requests I have. Why am I offering to search for you? Because that's how important I believe it is to get a healthy rat from a breeder. Occasionally animal shelters will get rats in. It's rather rare, but it does happen! I know of a few stories that are perfect examples of great rats being abandoned to shelters because the owner was moving into an area where the landlord wouldn't accept them. It's sad, but can happen. So check with your local animal shelter. Also, you can try doing a search on Dogpile to find a rat rescue group in your area. There are a few out there! |
| Ooh yay! You found a good place to get a rat, now: When you approach the cage, do the rats jump up to meet you? Do they cower and hide? Do they just not care? If they're try to check you out and get attention, they'd probably be excellent pets. This is your ideal choice, if they're interested in you. If they seem afraid of you, they probably aren't the best choice. Over time, you will probably be able to earn their trust, although they may always be on the skittish side and not entirely calm. It can happen, I know it to be true, but unless you have a lot of patience and are okay with spending a lot of time on their socializing, maybe it isn't the choice for you. If a rat isn't interested in you, it could mean several things. Maybe it's sick and therefore doesn't have enough energy to meet you. Maybe it was sleeping, because rats are naturally nocturnal (although they will change their sleeping habits to fit your schedule). Maybe it's just an aloof rattie! After briefly scanning their personalities, you've found one you're interested in. Now you: Ask to hold the one you're interested in. I think it's common sense to know you should hold a rat before you decide to let it into your home. Judge how it acts to decide if you'll think this rat will fit well into your liftestyle. If you want a playful rat to have some fun with (most likely a girl), check to see how the rat is reacting to you holding it. Does it scurry around your shoulders excitedly, or simply sit there? Maybe you do want a lap rat. Then a more lazy, calm rat might be better. If the rat bites you, maybe you shouldn't get it... Unless your an experienced rat person and enjoy dedicating a lot of time to socializing it. Again, it shouldn't be too hard to tell if a rat is right for you! Well, you found one that matches what your looking for. Now, for a brief health-check: AGH! THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU GET A HEALTHY RAT, SO DO LISTEN UP! Check the eyes. Make sure their a clear black with no white spots (unless their an albino or odd-eye, or some kind of rat with red/ruby eyes. Then it's okay to have red-eyes.). When I went to PETsMART to get my first two rats, Lily and Quinn 1.0, all of the rats except the two I got had a white film covering their eyes. I'm not sure what it meant, but it was abnormal, and I wouldn't trust it. I know this may sound a bit odd, but check their bum. If they have poop smeared on their rear-side, it's not a good sign. They might have diarrhea. If you get the rat from a store, the diarrhea may be okay because they may just be nervous from being shipped. That is the only exception to the no-diarrhea rule. Next, check their fur for any bugs or wounds. Cagemates occasionally fight, so a wound might be present. If you see something suspicious, ask the person supplying the rat or just avoid it. Checking for parasites (little buggish thing like fleas and mites) is important. Both the stores I've gone to have had rats with parasites. PETsMART's rats had lice and Ocean Odyssey's rats had mites. Now no, a rat will not immediately die from having parasites and yes, you can treat it. But parasites are a huge pain in the butt! You've got to scrub out the cage for a while before you can get rid of them, and if one rat has the parasite, almost always, the rest in the cage will too. Let's say you're looking at the rats in the cage, and there's three you're interested in. One has mites, but the other two don't seem to have any. Do yourself a favor and just run away. I know it's hard, but do it. Unless you want a crap load of work ahead of you, stay away from parasites. Also, if left untreated, parasites can ultimately kill your rat by making it anemic. Sneezing. Listen intently for a long time. How often do they sneeze? If a rat sneezes, it is really not a good sign. It might not seem like much then, but if they do have an upper respiratory track infection, it's going to get worse. It will eventually overtake the rat's immune system if it doesn't get antibiotics before it's too late. All of us must sneeze at some point, so if a rat sneezes once in the twenty minutes you're watching it, it's probably nothing to worry about. But if it has multiple sneezes, I urge you to think about whether or not you want to risk losing a rat. Also, check its teeth and weight. If a rat's teeth are quite long, and it looks rather skinny, it may have overgrown teeth that will need to be trimmed by a vet. It is treatable, but another hassle. |
| The rat has passed with flying colors and we're perfect for each other! Any last words? Have a blast with your new friend! By the way, if you haven't read my other sections, I think you should know that you MUST GET AT LEAST TWO RATS! So, if you have a cage waiting at home stocked with a watter bottle and food, the doors are open for you to have a good life together! |
| NOTE! Don't get a rat unless you have the following things already waiting for you at home: Water Bottle Food Toys Cage with Bedding A Good Rat Book A Good Rat Vet's Phone Number on Speed Dial My web site on favorites, or Some Site ;) My email address in your adress book! If you have all these things, you're good to go! By the way, on the last three I was just being "cute", but you should know a good veterinarian and it couldn't hurt to have a few web sites on hand! |
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