• osanna@thebrainbin.org
    10·
    4 hours ago

    I had companion rats. I had 7 of them (almost all rescued). they’re smart little guys. they can be toilet trained and you can teach them all sorts of tricks. I miss my rats :(

    • scbasteve@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      2 hours ago

      I have three right now. Theyre very sweet little guys with intense personality. It should be a crime how little their life span is.

      • osanna@thebrainbin.org
        3·
        2 hours ago

        it sucks that animals that can be SO affectionate (they pee on you to claim you as theirs lol) only live for 2-3 years, 4 if you’re really really really lucky. It sucks :/

    • osanna@thebrainbin.org
      2·
      16 minutes ago

      if you get rats, you can’t have just one. they’re highly social and need other rats. two is the absolute minimum, but three is better. please don’t get just one. it’s cruel.

      eta: also, they need a big cage. since they’ll be spending 20-23 hours a day in it, they need a lot of space. those little hamster cages won’t do (they’re too small for hamsters too tbh). the king of rat cages is the double critter nation. I had one. it was epic. they had soooo much room

      they also need at LEAST one hour of playtime outside of the cage. but that’s just the minimum. if you can give them more, that’s even better.

      sorry for the rant. a lot of people don’t realise how to PROPERLY look after rats. also, I’m highly passionate about rats and giving them best life possible, and since they only live a few short years, you will want to give them the best lif le possible

    • ThanksForAllTheFish@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      3 hours ago

      Kind of true, but it’s more like an ant scent marking. They know this is a place that’s safe (rats have been here). With good absorbent natural substrate in the cage, and wiping down their free roam area if needed, it’s mostly unnoticeable. I like to compare it to a person needing to change their t-shirt every day, probably not a deal-breaker for interacting, unless you don’t clean for way too long.

      • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        4·
        2 hours ago

        It’s not “kind of true”, they mark scent with urine. And they’ll mark all their cage mates too, and that includes their human.

        But yes, rats are tiny and don’t pee on you and your house much, that’s true. They also absolutely have bladders (what a weird myth that is) and almost always potty train themselves to do most of their urinating in certain spots when not marking scent.

    • spinnetrouble@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      4·
      8 hours ago

      Thanks for the link. This is really cool work! Search and pre-rescue rats are a small part of what Apopo does: they mostly do unexploded mine clearance and tuberculosis detection! 😳

  • Pyr@lemmy.caEnglish
    15·
    9 hours ago

    They should train them to bring down a little can on a string so you can talk to them 😂

      • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.todayEnglish
        7·
        6 hours ago

        Could you imagine? You’re trapped after an earthquake, and convinced you’re going to die, and a little rat comes up, and you begin to get scared he’s going to chew on your face, but he hands you a Bluetooth earpiece, and scurries off to get his treat. You pop it in your ear, and your rescuers are on the other end!

        I’d want to meet that rat when it was over. Give him an entire granola bar.