|
dollparts85 -> RE: Anyone ever have pet rats? (3/22/2008 5:06:19 PM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: velvetears
If your older rat is female the two may be smelling her scent and fighting because they smell her. Rats are very social creatures, loving, playful and very intelligent. i would say take them out and play with them a lot. or get them those plastic balls they can roam around the house in.
Hairless rats are a mutation and they don't generally live past 9 months. They usually die of kidney failure and when it happens it comes on fast. i adored my one hairless Rufus, he would curl up in the crook of my arm and sleep as i watched tv. the female i have now, Abby, is sweet - she is tan. i have had her for about 3 months and shes n ot even a year yet. She is still fearful when she comes out of the cage. She knows her name though and knows when i come home she gets a treat. If i hold her she burrows under the blanket. She put her teeth on my finger once but i think she thought i was giving her a treat she let go when she realized it was me. i wish i could let her roam but i have a cat. The cat has no real interest as shes very old now and has eye cancer but i think the rat smells her scent and feels vulnerable when she is out and smells her scent perhaps?
i did have three male mice once, they were brothers and one day my um went upstairs and found one splayed open like a half gorged Thanksgiving turkey, head missing and blood all over the faces of the other two. She came running down the stairs, hand over chest, her chest heaving from not being able to catch her breath and screamed out what she found in the cage [:o]. They used to fight but i never thought two would gang up on one and eat him! We have 8 mince now all seperated males and females, and the males fight i am always on edge. We had to put the bully in his own cage - he attacked all the others, i guess he was the dominant one lol. Not very domly if you ask me lol. So far the rest get along fine - males are upstairs and females downstairs.
I didn't know that about hairless rats :( I never would have got one if I did...it's so upsetting when they die. She was so cute though! She was an adult when I got her...not sure how old...but full grown. She did get fatter though while I had her LOL ended up getting a pretty big belly actually [:)] she wasn't the most friendly or calm rat...I figured she would turn around the more she was handled...she seemed to be really stressed out when we did handle her.
I've had a few mice over the years...but God, they smell awful! LOL I thought rat pee was bad but damn...mice are a lot worse LOL I'm always afraid of hurting them too b/c they're so small. They don't live that long either...for me at least...I think I may feed them too much b/c the ones I've had would end up getting SO fat LOL
|
|
|
|
