ats!  Filthy, disease-carrying, parasitic vermin.  Or something like that.

I've had pet rats since about 1990, and have owned at least 100 since then, usually 3-5 at once.  My pets have birthed at least 60 litters in that time, averaging around 10 kits per batch, so if I counted the total of all rats I'd be up into the 700+ range, though most of those were only for a few weeks until they grew large enough to sell to pet stores.

Owning rats is sort of like owning a furry ant farm, but you can take them out and they won't vanish into the walls. Well come to think of it, they probably would, if there were a large enough hole. Okay, but ants won't chew the paint off the walls and eat electrical cords! Oh wait, that's not a bonus either.  Hmm...

This page has the adult rat pictures, but not the action photos.  Nor the cute baby photos.  So basically this is the page of normal, boring rodents, not chasing around or doing anything interesting. Enjoy!

• May 31, 2002
• July 2, 2002
• August 6, 9, 11, 16, 23, 28, 30
• September 3, 5, 12, 18
• October 5, 6, 20, 24
• November 7 and 16, 2002
• December 2, 2002 (at the end of the gay animal discussion)
• January 24, 2003
• February 12, 2003
• March 17, 2003
• Bo R.I.P., April 2, 2004.
• Janky R.I.P., June 2, 2004.

(The two sisters I brought up with me from San Diego got old and died a few months apart in early 2004, and have not been replaced. I may get some more rats someday, when we've got a bigger place to house them, or when we need breeders to feed our future tegus. Or both. I do miss the little furry scurriers, at times.)

Just to get it out of the way right off the bat, this is why I almost never post any pictures of the rats in their cage.  You can't see crap, the flash shines off of the mesh, the camera focuses on the mesh and the inside is blurry, etc.

Another odd aspect of this is that I'm writing the caption less than 10 months after the shot was taken, there are five adult rats here, and not one is still alive, and I only remember 2 or the 5 at all clearly.  They grow up and grow old so quickly that I never really get attached to them; hence the ant farm analogy.

This is what they usually do inside the cage when I'm near, especially if they are hungry.  All action and standing up and sniffing and interest, hoping for treats or dinner or both.

My early efforts at getting pictures of the rodents proved less than successful, due to their habit of moving quickly. Especially when I tried to hold them still by putting them in one hand, and snapping at them with the other. They normally run up my arm to perch on the more secure shoulder, and they saw no reason not to do that just because I was holding a small silvery thing up to my face.

I did get some to hold still, at last. They don't particularly "like" to be held this way, but they'll tolerate it in short doses, as adults.  Young ones won't take it at all, but that's why you handle them a lot, so they get accepting of it and accustomed to it. Plus it's fun.

Some rats are calmer about it than others, of course.  The exception is if you are feeding them something tasty, in which case they will sit like this forever, or until they are no longer hungry.  Which comes first is anyone's guess.

Rats like to scratch, usually their ears or the side of their faces. They have long nails on their hind toes, but their toes are more like fingers and can all move independently and are longer than their front fingers actually, though less nimble.  Anyway, they scratch a lot like dogs, have long thin nails that they can target exactly where they want, and after some scratching they very vigorously lick and bite at their toe nails.  None of mine have fleas, but they do get mites on their skin at times, and maybe just itches.  I'm never sure if they are actually killing bugs or just doing it as part of grooming.

They also do an adorable face washing thing where they lick their paws and rub them over their ears and muzzles and such, using the sides of their paws, and usually doing it while at the water bottle, so they have plenty of water available as they lick water and then lick paws and then groom.

They are social animals, usually running around together, and they enjoy clustering in the same area and chasing each other, and sleeping in piles and grooming each other. None of these photos is evidence of that, but anyway, here are three cute shots of two rats together.  I like the right one, with one sniffing up (you can just barely see a tip of my finger where she's sniffing) and the other sniffing to the right.

I think they are cute when they stand up, with their ruffled belly fur and their cute little forepaws curled up.

One of the better close up, in focus shots I've ever taken of a rodent. They do have nice shiny pelts and colorful markings, some more than others, of course. Unfortunately, they never get very long fur, unlike various breeds of cats.  The camera flash screws up their eye color though, bringing out the pink in black or purple eyes, like this one has.

Various head on views.  They tend towards fat as they age. The middle one is a male, the other two are females, all full grown adults.  Younger ones are thin like weasels.

All site content copyright "Flux" (Eric Bruce), 2002-2007.