hello! i'm trying to convince my family that rats are truly good pets and aren't "nasty little disease-carrying assholes" (my dad's words not mine..) i fell in love with rats back in 2021 and have been trying to convice my family that i can care for them and that they aren't a health risk. could i please have some help?
p.s. i would love some care tips..i've browsed just about every rat-care forum there is but i will gladly welcome anything you believe first-time owners should be aware of.
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This comment might not have been in the right timing and you might have already found a way to convince your parents but I just want to interact with people around here, you can ignore it if you want xlzkslfndlxjdl
It's sort of difficult to try to change the stigma most people have about rats but it is possible to debunk some myths...
First, you could try to talk them into some sense about rats being "dirty" animals, they're not. Just like all feral and street animals there's a risk of always transfering disease to humans, be it like rabid dogs or cats with toxoplasmosis and yet people don't consider these animals as "dirty" because they're seen most often as household pets (despite some particular cases where street dogs ARE dirty or ill, people still make the effort to feed them or maybe even take them to vets). Pidgeons are also another example of "dirty" animals because they're most often seen as feral birds in the streets while they actually come from an already domesticated species.
Rats also keep constantly grooming themselves just like cats do, whenever they have the oppotunity to lick their bodies and faces they will, and rats can also be potty trained if you want the enclosure to look more neat and have it easier to clean after.
Second, you should try to convince them of benefits about having these pretty much low maintenance rodents. Although rats require mental stimulus and a fair ammount of enrichment, I'd say a good enclosure size for a pair of rats should have at least 0,5 square meters of floor or around 5 square foot. You could have it a two floor cage or not, I used to have hamsters and rats in square canary cages so I never had a two floor enclosure for my pets, still I made them a sort of hammock with cloth so that's the closest I had with a second floor? The point is, they can be just fine with just a nice floor.
Rats are also omnivores, you can give them a variety of foods, almost anything you eat, they can eat. I used to give my rats rice, fruit, dried grains, and occasionally dog food. As long as you don't overfeed them carbs and sugar they should be fine.
As always, rats are a very smart species so they can be trained and recognize their own names, these guys are pretty much miniature dogs so they enjoy playing, human company and generally are well-behaved biting extremely rarely.Â
Note for some needs that rats will require, you have to give them something tough to nibble on as their incisors never stop growing, I always left a little piece of wood for my rodents for them to chew when needed. Also, this need to chew on things makes it dangerous to have if there are any cables around. If you take them out of their enclosure make sure to have them play around somewhere without cables or at least cables your ratties cannot access to.
Rats will be most comfortable with deep bedding, so you could add in shredded newspaper, (safe) wood shavings or fleece.
You can also add a wheel for your rats to excercise
And uhm-... I think that's pretty much all I can think of, I apologize for any typo, my first language isn't english and I'm not exactly a rat expert but I have had a bunch of animals as pets so I have some experience in taking care of them, if you have any questions you can ask me ^^
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