Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / July 2005

Hello. I must say that I highly recommend rats for a college
student...just remember to get TWO rats (social health is very important
to rats!) and to get a cage that is large enough for the rats you get.
My husband and I have our rats in the bedroom with us, and I never hear
them...ours are very good nighttime sleepers. This might have something
to do with the fact that we let them out to play at night about 2 hours
before bed and then give them something yummy to eat when they go home.
Therefore, they are quite sleepy. If there is any noise, it will be from
someone chewing a chew stick or squeaking at someone else who is moving
around too much in the hammock. Just please, please, please get two or
more rats (make sure they are the SAME sex). An extra rat is not much
more expensive than one, but having extra litters can be very expensive.
Below are some great websites devoted to rats--I highly recommend them.

http://www.rmca.org/Resources/rmcafaq.htm
http://www.dapper.com.au/index.htm
http://www.ratsrule.com/

Hope this helps. Good luck!
Jamie

First of all, you really need to get two same sex rats and not just one.
There really isn't much more work with two rats. Both will bond with you
and they will have each other for when they are left alone. If you
provide a rat wheel, there would be noise from them running in the wheel
all night. Also, they will play with each other making small little
squeaks from time to time but for the most part they are quiet. Many
people have rats in their room and they agree that they don't make much
noise. You'll need to provide them with a good size cage, at least
26"x16"x20" high. If it contains levels, that would be great, if not,
you can make your own levels made out of corner shelves, hanging
baskets, hammocks. Provide them with a good quality rat block, making it
available at all times. They would also benefit from having fresh
veggies every day.
If you search the net, Webshots even (search pet rat), you will will
find many cage decoration ideas and give you a good sense of what makes
ratties happy.
My own webshots link is: http://community.webshots.com/user/joanneb70
On my page I have other "webshots community favorites" which will give
you more ideas.
Good luck!!

Joanne
Mom to 19 rats.

I second the "getting more than one" theme here - I have 3 and I think
they'd be lost without each other.  They are very social with their own
kind.  In fact, one of my 3 (Maggie) lived alone for the first 9 months of
her life before I got her, as a rescue.  They said "she liked it that way".
When she was alone she was quieter, not as social with me, and generally a
little skittish.  When she finally moved in with the other 2, she was
noticeably happier right away and much more social with me.

My rats live in my living room just outside our bedroom door.  Sometimes I
put "exciting" things in their cage for them to do at night, like cardboard
houses to remodel/chew on and newspaper to tear up.  Sometimes I hear them
doing it, but it doesn't bother me per se, as I said I was the one who gave
them that stuff in the first place.  Otherwise they just chew on their food
and play games with each other - nothing very noisy.

I also have mice that live on the other side of the house and I *do* hear
them running endlessly on their wheel at night.  In the past I've had
hamsters and they too have kept me awake, unlike the rats.

Meghan

My rats make very little noise-just the occassional squeak here and there
and maybe a little chewing on grains.  But unless you plan on spending alot
of time with your rat or taking it with you everywhere you must get two.
Rats are highly social critters and get very lonely without a companion.
You won't even notice the cost difference of taking care of two instead of
one and trust me, you'll be glad you have two.  They will give you hours of
funny things to watch and hours of love and affection.  They are great
companions and extremely loyal to you.  A single rat will pine for you when
you are gone, which is stressful to it and makes it more susceptible to
illness, especially to respiratory illnesses -which as all of us on this
group know, is heartbreaking to see.  Keeping two rats makes for happy
critters and a happy you.  Happy Rat keeping and let us know about your new
friend!
-Lisa
Mom to the sillies