Rats

[Remilia Scarlet]

Ok, kind of a strange question here, but...

I'm getting my first pet rat later tonight. It's about 8" in length. Anyone have any tips on how to keep these things?

[Fredrik]

Eat it

[Lüt]

TeamKill said:

Anyone have any tips on how to keep these things?

Alive?

Heh, I had 2 rats back in elementary school. I had them in a 3-story cage with a good amount of that woodchip bedding at the bottom. It needed to be cleaned every few days. They had a water bottle on one side and a food bowl on the second level. That's about all I remember. Just ask the staff at a pet store, they're really not hard to maintain.

[Sharessa]

Fredrik said:

Eat it

Heh...rats like to crawl inside your mouth to drink the moisture in there. Sounds kinda creepy, but rat-lovers don't seem to mind.

[Alientank]

Get a snake. They eat once a week and shit once a week.

[myk]

Domestic rats seem kind of ugly. I do like brown rats, though. But more than pets those are guests that on occasion choose your attic as a place to stay (without asking, of course.)

[Use]

TeamKill said:

Ok, kind of a strange question here, but...

I'm getting my first pet rat later tonight. It's about 8" in length. Anyone have any tips on how to keep these things?

*sigh*
Start with a big wire cage, not an aquarium. Try to get one with multiple levels, made of a solid material, not wire. Use paper derived bedding, not woodchips. The reasons should be obvious. Most commercial rat foods at pet stores is good enough, if rat is under 8 wks old you can give a little primate diet, or monkey chow, which is great for baby rats. Never administer food through the bars, and clean your hands before handling the rat. Train your rat to potty in his cage, it's easy and it's worth it.

[Disorder]

Alientank said:

Get a snake. They eat once a week and shit once a week.

Yup. One of my friends from my previous school had a snake as a pet. I was there a couple of time when he fed it. That was a pretty awesome sight :)

...Poor mice though.

[Alientank]

Disorder said:

Yup. One of my friends from my previous school had a snake as a pet. I was there a couple of time when he fed it. That was a pretty awesome sight :)

...Poor mice though.

Vipers are awesome snakes.

[Tyockell]

Ok simplest animal to care for i grow them for snake food :-P. Anyway get a round wire cage or even an aquarium give them seeds and grains ocasional veggys..carrots, broccli, lettuce or even stuff like crickets. Now give them a water dish keep it clean, and throw a shit load or paper towle/ news paper in there and they will do the rest by shreading it and turning it into a nest :-P and there ya go.

[Tyockell]

Alientank said:

Get a snake. They eat once a week and shit once a week.

\
Tru that.......gotta love em

[Torn]

what?, I want a spider, a really big one...

[Hell_Baroness]

Aaaaww! I got 2 once and I ended up having 53....so sweet!! They wanted to eat my arm!! ^^;;

*ahem*
The best thing is to keep them in a wire cage (not glass, not plastic, not cardboard boxes), because they can eat the cardboard and also plastic, or even jump out of it, and wander around the house and that's nooot nice...
And also don't forget to feed it, when I did, they started to eat each others......a massacre!!!
And don't let it eat cheese!!! Not good for them!!!
And don't feed it from your hand/fingers or you'll feel regret!!(I still do)

(Oooh, what I really wnat is an emperor scorpion and a tarantula...)

;)

[Sharessa]

Hell_Baroness said:

(Oooh, what I really wnat is an emperor scorpion and a tarantula...)

Heh...you should talk to lament about that.

[Sephiroth]

Alientank said:

Get a snake. They eat once a week and shit once a week.

plus they eat rats

honestly a rat is better than a hampster or gerbil, really i hate rodents(been bit too many damn times)
Gerbils and hampsters are horrid pets!
really i would get a ferret, but a rat is cheap and it makes a good pet.

i also hate rabbits and mice, rodents are just snake food for me

[Rotting Corpse]

Why dont ya get some thing normal like a scropeion or a huge spider?

[Sharessa]

Cats > *

[Remilia Scarlet]

Demons Hand said:

Why dont ya get some thing normal like a scropeion or a huge spider?

I'm deathly afraid of spiders, and also of scorpions.

[Rotting Corpse]

TeamKill said:

I'm deathly afraid of spiders, and also of scorpions.

Why? Its cool that some thing that small can kill ya.

[pritch]

Demons Hand said:

Why? Its cool that some thing that small can kill ya.

It's less cool when it just has.

[Sephiroth]

a scorpion would be a favorite treat for my geckos. thats one of their wild prey items, but i aint buying any for them. I remeber being freaked of by seeing a woman give me a hand full of worms(superworms, not earth morms) but at the same time the feeling was so damn cool.

never have pet mice, those fuckers stink! rats dont really smell as bad.