LIFESTYLE OF THE RAT
Rats spend most of their day cleaning themselves or their cage mates. They interact and bond well with us humans,
although I wish they wouldn't sometimes. Rats are similar to cats and dogs and
they bond in the same way ( We look upon ours as little dogs) but with more intelligence. Rats are quite a high
maintenance unlike other rodents (Gerbils and hamsters). They need to come out of their cage at least 2-3 hours a day
if you cannot give them this time please don't bother getting rats as you will
be condemning them to miserable lives, they become depressed. easily and rats that become depressed will become ill. You need to spend quality time with
them. They are also very sociable animals and need companions. They live in large colonies in the wild. So if you are thinking of keeping rats, it is better that you keep them in groups or pairs of the same sex and preferably from the same litter. Rats keep each other company. If you keep a lone rat, you would be depriving it of it's own
species and this is cruel, just imagine if we were in a cage with a Gorilla. looking
after us, well I would imagine it to be very similar. They love to groom and curl up and sleep together and as rats are
cat nappers we are unable to give them this kind of companionship. Lone rats can, and often do, become depressed. This can lead to stress and you may find you have a sick rat on your
hands, that may result in it dying. We have a couple of lone rats who have become like a second skin. We have to take them everywhere with us, even to bed. Sometimes it is inevitable when one of a pair dies. Most of us at some stage will end up with a lone
rat, we try and match other companions to them but it is not always successful..
Male and female rats make equally good human companions. Does females) seem to be a lot more busy. Always on the move, nest building and stealing anything they can get their paws on. Some of the nests they build are a work of art. Does rarely scent mark and have smoother coats than the male. Does will come in season approximately every 5 days. It usually happens during the evening and will last approximately 12 hours. You may notice a slight change in their
behavior. They may dribble tiny amounts of pee, become a little jumpy and skittish. We call it P.M.T.s. Bucks (Males) are larger, their coat appearance is much coarser. They are more laid back than the females, even to the point of laziness and they love nothing better than to curl up and go to sleep on you lap. Bucks do scent mark quite a lot but again only tiny amounts. Both sexes are equally affectionate and will become attached and crave
attention your attention..
Lifespan
Rats are born after 20 -23 days gestation. They can hear and smell after just a couple of days, they will be fully haired at 10 days and their eyes open between 13 - 16 days. As soon as their eyes open they will begin to nibble on solid food. They still need their mother milk up until they are 4 -5 weeks old and they are fully weaned by this time but they still need to stay as a litter together up until they are 6 weeks
old. We always supplement our babies at least until they are several months old. It is important that they are well socialized. It is illegal to sell rats under the age of 6 weeks.
Rats become fertile between 5 -12 weeks. Females have been known to get pregnant as young as 3 weeks, especially when there are older males
amongst them. The males don't become fertile until they are at least 5-6 weeks old.
The growth rate is amazing. The rapid growth stage is around 12 - 14 weeks. It then slows down but continues to slowly develop up until they 6 - 8 months old. An adult buck should weigh around 400 -700g. Adult does around 200 - 500g. Their life span is between 2 - 4 years
old.
Please note
The lifespan of the domestic rat has been halved over recent years due to the unnecessary demands of fancy rats that are deliberately bred for their colouration and size rather than genetically perfection all for the sake of some human satisfaction of winning a stupid rosette at some country show. Please remember that each time you want a particular colouration it has been specifically bred for you, if the demand was not their these poor rats will not have to suffer the terrible mutations that breeding brings.
If there are any breeders out there that are offended by my comments then perhaps you should come to our rescue and see the mistakes and castoffs that the likes of you have made and not only do we have to tend to there needs and pay costly vet fees, we also have to go through the agony of watching them die from their horrific deformities THANK YOU VERY MUCH for completely messing up our lives, we would have been living in some comfort, instead of struggling, living in one room, having to go without food to feed the many mouths and finally for leaving thousands of unwanted rats everywhere.
If you want to contact us on any of these issues or just like to mail your comments please don't hesitate to contact us ratobilia@aol.com or post a message on our message board
