Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I was just wondering if anyone else owned a pet rat. If you have or do what is your opinion on them. They are one of my favorite pets I have owned, and I was wondering what other people think about them.

Please don't attach non-wargaming images to Dakka. You need to use off site hosting if you wish to display any such images.
Reds8n

I keep Skaven lite (mice).


Edit:

After you've had an edit made to your post don't try and make others break the rules. Even in jest, if someone did it'd land on you as well, motyak

We have had about 30 rats, not all at one time of course. They are probably my favorite pet I've ever owned. Most of them are extremely friendly, although sometimes you get evil ones that bite. The only problem I had with them is that they don't live long. I always get really attached to my pets, and I love to see them live forever.

 Ruberu wrote:
We have had about 30 rats, not all at one time of course.

Rank bonus?

My sister has rats and I rat sit them on occasion. Their actually kind of adorable when they're relatively clean. They like the crawl up my shirt and just perch themselves on my shoulder and nap

I've had some amazing pet rats! They're fantastic animals. Unfortunately the wife is damn near deathly allergic to them, so the only ones that come in the house these days are of the frozen snake-foody kind. Yes I see the irony there, but hey, snakes gotta eat too!

 hungryp wrote:
I've had some amazing pet rats! They're fantastic animals. Unfortunately the wife is damn near deathly allergic to them, so the only ones that come in the house these days are of the frozen snake-foody kind. Yes I see the irony there, but hey, snakes gotta eat too!

you should have had your snakes eat mice. I wish I could get him on a chariot base but sadly I tried and he chews on it. It is no fun that he removed my photo:

Host the photo on photobucket or somewhere else and link it into the thread,

it's just that you can't host it on Dakka rather than not being able to show it (in this sub-forum anyway)

 DeLong wrote:
I wish I could get him on a chariot base but sadly I tried and he chews on it.

Well you could base your rattie for Age of Sigmar, they avoids the chariot base problem.
Slap together a WHFB miniature without a base, or remove an old mini from its base put the rattier on the gaming table when your rattie takes a bite into the offered mini take a photo.

Now it's a Hellpit Abomination diorama and you can post it on Dakka.

 DeLong wrote:

It is no fun that he removed my photo:

Indeed, but we can make up for that with greative photography.

I've kept rats a few times. They are great pets imo. Extremely social, highly intelligent, and very interactive.

I keep sugar gliders..........

Yep, rats make incredible pets. They travel around town well, they keep themselves fastidiously clean, are very social and very intelligent. You can teach them all kinds of tricks.

While it's true they don't normally live long, I apparently owned one with the mutation of longevity.

War had three siblings (Pestilence, Famine and Time) that went on to have successive generations of offspring. War, herself, had three litters, which also went on to have litters.

War survived many generations of her descendants, finally succumbing to infirmity at the ripe old age (for a rat) of ten years!

Yea my GF has rats, I rescued them from being donated to a rat center as babies and she has raised them for almost 4 years I think now. One died a few months ago, the other is still going despite being very old.

I personally find them to be very entertaining, the rat is at the top of the pecking order in our house. Our 2 cats, Lizard, Parakeet thing and so on are all scared of that rat. I have learned that they are incredibly vicious when they need to be, not against people if well trained though. They are also intelligent, my GF taught them to come to her when called, they also can do obstacle courses, they can also escape their cage at will but choose not to unless let out, if they do leave their cage they just hang around or explore then go back without a worry, when one rat died the other mourned as it hugged the dead rat of hours and then didn't move for a few days even to eat and im sure there are other things they do too.

I much prefer my Lizard though. He lives for a few decades, is very relaxed and more of a wargaming pet. He watches me play wargames at my place and even sometimes at the club.

Yea the down side about rats I would say are their life spans. Although if you have ever had your rat bite you man that hurts it's like a deep paper cut. If you guys look at my gallery you will see my most well painted and very authentic looking giant rat painted and fuzzed.(shhh real)

My son wanted a rat for a pet and so we bought one for him. He named him Charlie and he's been a pretty cool pet. The wife and I werent sure at first but we certainly came around, he's a great pet and we all laugh at the weird things he does

I like their little friends.

Well, I have never had rats (I'm scared of Rodents), but a friend of mine who is also a teacher has black&white rats.

My sister raised a couple for experiments in high school. Mostly just timing them running a maze & whatnot. Eventually she started playing music, to see if it altered the time it took for them to run the maze....made zero difference until she played some Slayer. Then the rats just stopped running the maze and refused to run it ever again.

LOL!