Ratties!
Ratties are my newest pet, and I am a first-time rat owner. My Mother let me get them as a gift for my 25th birthday!
I did my research from the beginning this time, so as not to make the mistakes made when we first got the guinea pigs.
I know there is quite a bad stigma against rats, that they are dirty, filthy, nasty creatures. And I have to say, guinea pigs are so much messier than the rats. I couldn't litter train my pigs for the life of me, they just go wherever they happen to be at the time, which makes for very messy living quarters. (I use fleece bedding and their cage needs to be hoovered daily with a hand-held vac or their cage would get caked in piggy jellybeans real fast.) But as far as the rats go, they almost always use their litter pan, and as long as I change it out regularly, (I use Yesterday's News litter,) the fleece stays clean and only needs to be washed once a week. As long as a rats' cage is kept clean and they are fed the right foods, they generally stay very neat animals, and don't smell. In fact, they are constantly cleaning themselves.
I do not use traditional bedding in my small animals' cages, I use fleece instead. Fleece as bedding is gaining popularity, though, because it is easy to keep clean, and can be used over and over again which saves a fortune on beddings such as Aspen and Carefresh which can be quite expensive.
Here's a photo of my rattie cage, so you can see what the fleece looks like in the cage. I use mini binder clips to hook the fleece to the cage, to keep the ratties from destroying it.
If you look closely, you can see that I have cat jingly balls in the cage, as well as bird and dog rope toys hanging around the cage. Rats don't like to be bored, as they are really quite intelligent creatures whose minds needs to stay stimulated somehow. So I just get creative with their toys, and their playthings during floor time, and they stay happy, and I must say, also very entertaining!
As far as their personalities go, really the best way to describe them is like little dogs! They get so excited when I come into the room, and they will follow me around in their cage, waiting for me to come and say hello. So I go up to the cage and open the door, and they all run over to the open door to give me kisses. I greet each of them by name. (Rats can pretty easily learn their names, they are quite intellegent.) Sometimes when I talk to them, they get so excited that they run around and do little jumps similar to when a guinea pig popcorns. The ratties will come out and run up and sit on my shoulder. Gandalf, my biggest boy, is obsessed with face, and quite frequently knocks my glasses off, hee hee. Any way, in my opinion they are great, smart, clean pets that are a joy to have. But you do have to be prepared for vet care expenses, as they are prone to certain illnesses, such as respiratory infections.
So about my ratties. I have 3 boys, all named by me after characters from Lord of the Rings; Frodo, Gandalf, and Shadowfax. (Gandalf's white horse.) Frodo is a gray hooded dumbo, Gandalf is a gray dumbo, and Shadowfax is an albino.
Soooo.....*drum roll please* I bring you photos of my precious ratties.
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