My husband moved his new girlfriend in and along with her children, she brought her rat.

All I know of the rat is that it is large and brown and, when in her home, wasn't caged and could freely roam her home.

How sanitary are these. I don't know if she got it from a pet store, though, I'd have to imagine she did, though, nothing with her would surprise me. And, I guess the thing likes to bite... are rat bites like a cat bite or should I be concerned with my kids going over there?

I can't even believe he'd allow it in the house. I had to beg and plead to get a kitten.

i had a lot of friends in college who had pet rats, and believe it or not, as long as they've been purchased from a pet store or a licensed breeder, they're very safe, very clean, and - trust me on this - very friendly and downright loveable. it took me a bit to warm up to my friends' pets, but once i bonded a little bit with 'em, i found out that rats can be really personable and they really aren't just out to bite your face off and give you rabies.

i dunno bout rats but growing up i always had pet mice

they were really cool !

i guess one kinda pet animal is almost like the next

the mice would bite once in a while but it wasnt too bad
they kept themselves pretty clean and as long a cage was cleaned once a week it never got nasty

maybe her rat is llitterbox trained and doesnt poop/pee all over the house

but if not i can see where THAT might get nasty

Thanks, guys... this is reassuring. I'd really have to think she got it from a pet shop and that it wasn't just found near where she lived, but like I said, it wouldn't surprise me. I'm just gonna have to ask.

As long as it isn't going to bite a tip of a finger off or give the kids some sort of infection... I'm cool with it.

I've had friends with pet mice... but, from the sounds of this rat, it's HUGE. So, I wasn't sure what kind of wound this thing could inflict on my kids.. lol

I got a couple of pet mice running around my house.

sag10 said:

Ship them to me and I'll send them over to Eric's!

It's definitely one from the pet store. If it wasn't, you wouldn't have seen home just roam around. hehe Like Anx said, they're clean and friendly. I never had any rats myself, but we did have about 15 mice at one point.

AFAIK they won't bite you unless they're scared (or think you might be tasty )

sag10 said:

Mice are cute.

AzureStarr said:

JoweeCoco said:

Okay, then I'm cool with the rat.

AzureStarr said:

I worked in a pet store for a while and whenever I cleaned the female rats cages they would bite me. They just didn't like me disturbing them. I've had friends who have had pet rats since and they were very sweet.

here's some stuff you can read on pet rats:

http://www.petpeoplesplac...faq/07.htm

as long as u dont have a pet snake the rats are fine

TheRealFiness said:

my nieces (18 & 19 yrs old) have two male rats... they hang out all day in their hoods of their sweaters or in their pockets. they snuggle in bed with them. wouldn't be my idea of fun, like animals that know where to poop. but they seem to be perfectly safe!

I was a rat-sitter for a summer, Bene was fantabulous, so sweet. My dog Ollie was afraid of him, so I'd take Bene and chase Ollie round the apartment with him... when I would hold Bene to Ollie's nose he's put his wee hand on it and push it away so the nose looked like ) cos he didn't like the wetness of Ollie's nose

Rats rock!

We've had eight pet rats and only had trouble once. My son was bit by one because it was old and he frightened it by moving too fast when he was cleaning it's cage.Anyway we didn't think anything about it for a week and then he came down really sick, the bite had healed by then so when he went to the doctor they thought he just had an ordinary virus and sent him home.
a few hours later we had to take him to the hospital because he had so much joint pain and a really bad headache= worse than a migraine, and a low grade fever. They didn't know what it was until he got a rash on his arms and legs in a glove and stocking pattern which is typical of rat bite fever. He had to have pennicillin IVs for a week and was pretty weak for a while.
The doctor said that it is a bacteria that all rats carry, but not all people are susceptible. It's very rare for people to get sick with it and it is very treatable.
We had to have that rat put to sleep for a different health problem, but we have a very sweet eight month old rat named Mr Marbles who has never bit anyone, and not one of our other rats ever bit anyone . I guess I would still recommend them as good pets after all people get sick from other pet bites and scratches sometimes too.

shellyevon said:

i KNEW there was a reason i dont like those little fuckers, i think they are ugly and creepy !!!

all the rats .... send them to HELL !!!!!

nakedpianoplayer said:

Honey, it's you... you're in hell, that's why the rats aren't there with you