Do any of you with pet rats, or whose kids have pet rats, have a preference of males or females? I know females are prone to tumors but males scent mark. I also read that males are more cuddly(might be better for DD) than females. Just wondered if anyone thought there was a big difference. I also wondered if anyone knew how much neutering/spaying is and what some safe, favorite toys are.
Males are much more laid back than females and they get noticably larger. An old bird cage of appropriate size makes a great cage if it's fitted with shelves and ramps. PVC pipe of large enough diameter make great tunnels and large parrot toys you can hang from the bars.
My DD has 5 rats; 3 which are females & 2 males (sons of one of the females). She's had rats for quite a bit of time -- usually just females. Unfortunately, her first rat was preggo when she brought her (unknown) so that's how she ended up with the boys (and watching them be born, she grew fond of the 2). Anyhow, we're partial to the girls. Not to get too descriptive, un-neutered males just don't look appealing from the backside, lol. And yeah, that's about the only reason. Right now, having both sexes (caged across the room from each other of course) we still lean toward the females. All 5 are friendly and never been bitten by any of them so either sex I think would be a great pet. It all boils down to how often they are handled to develop good social habits.
Thanks, Rachael! JCoRes, 5 must be a whole lot of bedding to change! I bet they are really fun to watch, though.
Most vets hesitate to put such a small animal under anethesia but if you can find an exotics vet they'll probably charge between $80 and $100
Do any rodent owners out there have any deodorizing tips? Besides being really vigilant about cage cleaning, that is, I do that. At Petsmart they push the Carefresh but I think that stuff smells bad before they even use it. I am going to try and litter box train them but it would be nice not to have to change bedding every few days. Rats are apparently the smelliest, I guess.
We had a few pet mice - we enjoyed that they were smaller, both were males. One was very gentle, the other tried to bite. The smell wasn't too bad - used the cedar litter, cleaned once a week usually. The first one was white with brown markings - my dd thought he looked like a cow - named him Mr Moo-mouse, he was the best of two. He got out one time - but luckily we found him before the cat did.......:lol:
