Lovely Rats Oh My!

Lovely Rats make lovely pets!

by Tiffany Griffiths

Being a pet owner is nothing new for me. In my 49 years I’ve had multiple types of reptiles, fish, cats, dogs, turtles, birds, rabbits and mice. I am now a rat Mama to 8 sweet rats. Our journey started with my soft hearted hubby who saw two male rats that were not wanted or loved. He came home to talk it over.

Lovely Rats- A Rat Convert

He went back the next day to get them. I had no interest in participating much and didn’t think I’d want to even touch a “nasty rat”. Within two weeks to my surprise they were an integral part of our lives. The person had three female rats in the same situation and so then we had five. We worked hard and long with them until they were comfy with us and could be handled. They loved to be “parrot rats” riding our shoulder around the house. They could run around the bed or wherever we set up a play area and loved to interact with us.

To be fair we did have one of the three girls that was never much for socializing with humans. Leaving the cage caused her severe stress. We never stopped working with her or loving her and she would accept pets after a lot of consistency.

Rats Misunderstood

Rats are extremely underrated as a clean, loving and intelligent pet. But oh boy do they clean constantly. If not themselves it’s a cage mates turn. They love each other and their humans unconditionally and they are smarter than some peers I know!

It didn’t take long to notice the affect that owning these sweet little ratties had on our mental health. Lovely Rats have a notoriously short life span of around two years. Although we had one of our girls live to over 3 years old. We also have had litters of babies and among them are our current 8.

All in all I would really encourage anyone who thinks maybe they might like to have a very special, lovely companion give rat ownership a go. (Well, at least two since most lovely rats need companionship to be happy). My experience has been that these magical mammals have improved my mental health and even my day to day motivation. 

Don’t be a brat- save lovely rats!