anyone here with a pet rat?

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thinking of getting one but not 100%, the last small mammal experience [degu's] not going exceptionally well due to the noise they made and the fact they were exceptionally boring.

so, how entertaining is a rat and what do i need to know? i am expecting to be able to let it out and have the run of the place whilst i'm in the same room and would want to be able to walk about with it perched on my shoulder like some kind of downmarket pirate.

is one ok to keep on its own? any issues with keeping a pair? i was after a fancy rat after seeing a russian blue but reckon i'll end up wit ha pet shop rat as i wasn't successful with a search in the yelow pages for rat breeder's.

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forgot about the housing, how big are we talking? i have a 4ftx2ftx18in aquarium and was going t ocreate a wire mesh extension for it so it'd be about 4ft tall with a few levels on it.

re: males & females - what sort of difference in activity are we talking? i don't want speedy gonzalez but also not keen on one that acts like a stoner all the time.

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ascayman said:

get one of those siberian hamster's

hamsters are crap. had a pair of russians due to them lasting longer than the OH who's idea it was to have them. they bored me and too small to let them run free.

carpet - do the females sit still enough to become my cheap parrot?

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missed the hamster reference, been a while seen i've watched fawlty towers!

will head to the pet shop on the way home and see what they have. inquisitive/active is good, i used to keep mice as a kid and was after a larger version [in temprement, amusement factor] thereof!

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Steamer said:

shirt said:

... would want to be able to walk about with it perched on my shoulder like some kind of downmarket pirate.

Totally off topic - sorry.

But this did remind me of my ex. Her Black cat used to perch on her shoulder when she was walking round the house...

..however looking back I do actually believe she was a witch.

i used to live in manchester city centre and had a house cat. if i needed to take her anywhere i'd put a hooded top on and sit her in the front with head peeking out from just under my own. it used to amuse me no end as people would look straight at me without realising, or suddenly do a 'wtf' when my chest meowed.

more o/t but i think a rat would be de-rigeur for the discerning english pirate.

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ferret? don't tempt me, almost came home with the biggest rabbit i've ever seen earlier.

went to the pet shop to look at cages. am hoping to use the aquarium as a base to build something like the above out of wire mesh. they had a couple of both sexes for sale and a dozen 10mth old males free for adoption. all the bumf reckons its best to have a pair so will have to see what i come up with cagewise.

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sidekickdmr said:

get a house rabbit, got one about 3 weeks ago, no noise at all, small solid poo's and it is already litter trained

i am tempted. the one for adoption is fecking massive and would be cool to have around. my sister had a house rabbit when i was growing up and they aren;t much fuss at all.

the main downside is that it would make me look like a massive bender. how do you pull it off [fnar fnar]?

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sidekickdmr said:

shirt said:

sidekickdmr said:

get a house rabbit, got one about 3 weeks ago, no noise at all, small solid poo's and it is already litter trained

i am tempted. the one for adoption is fecking massive and would be cool to have around. my sister had a house rabbit when i was growing up and they aren;t much fuss at all.

the main downside is that it would make me look like a massive bender. how do you pull it off [fnar fnar]?

because I am comfortable with my sexuality and don’t feel like i have anything to prove!

and he is a right dude!

how did you manage to litter train him?