Pet rats are one of the most rewarding pets you can have. They will love you unconditionally, as long as you treat them well. They can be trained and are almost like small dogs. Many breeders breed fancy, or pet, rats in many colors and markings. It is also possible to take them to special shows and have them compete against each other, just like cats and dogs.

I have had pet rats on and off over a couple of years. In the beginning they were "food-rats", rats bred to be food for my reptiles and amphibians. "Food-rats" are usually bred only towards large litters, not temperament and colour. If you're lucky, a "food-rat" will make an excellent pet, but most of the time, they will never be quite as tame as regular pet rats.

Rats can be wonderful pets. In many ways a rat can be just like a dog, except the rat is smaller of course. The rat has some advantages over the dog, not that the dog would make a bad pet, but... A rat eats less, don't need daily walks, can be put in a cage, and is easier to transport. That is of course not the right reason to get a rat. You get a pet rat because you like it, not because its convenient.

I have rats because I love them. As most other responsible pet owners, I did some research into keeping rats, and there is a lot to learn. The best lesson was the one about experience. If you really want to understand what your pet rat needs, just study it and learn.

Some experts say that rats can live up to 7 years. Most rats will die between the age of 1 and 2 years. Only a few will see their third birthday. This is the biggest disadvantage with rats as pets; once you get to know them, they die. On the upside, rats live a full life in that time.

You should never keep a rat on its own. Even if you are the most important being to the rat, the rat still need rat-companions. You can either keep two males or two females. If you keep one of each, you will have little rats on a regular basis. This poses at least two problems; selling the babies, and shortening the mothers life. The female will be in heat about once a month, and will accept the advances made by the male. She will crawl on her belly, almost like a cat, move her tail out of the way, and point her behind towards the male. When he mounts, she will look like she enjoys it, and will turn to him when he gets off her, almost as if she's begging him to come back. This behaviour will last for a day. The second day, she will still accept males, but only if he's very dominant and pushy. If not, she will use one of her legs to push him away. When she is in heat, she gives out a different smell than normal. This smell tells the male that she is ready to mate. It's nothing a human can smell, but the signs are there.

Smell is very important to rats. They sue it to signal their dominance, their readiness to mate, their health, and so on. They recognise the smell of different food, and will eat something they have smelled on your breath, even if they have never encountered it before. One time, my very dominant female was in heat, and was going to mate a very non-dominant male. He could smell the heat on her, but when he came closer, he smelled her dominance, and backed away. It was both funny and sad to see these two rats moving back and forth; the male wanting to mate, but pushed away by the dominant smell, and the female trying to get him to mate with her. The result - no babies.

Have you ever seen a rat with all its hair standing on end? One of my females didn't like strangers, and met a small male rat. He wasn't old enough to pose a threat to her, but she reacted as if he was. Her hair became larger, and was standing on end, and she looked quite funny. It was obvious that she didn't like him at all.

One of my female rats uses the sofa to clean her "hands". She had had some tea, and had used her hands to scoup it up from the mug. Her hands were wet, and instead of just licking them, she started to rub them on the sofa, walking backwards. Then she would lick a little, and continue rubbing them on the sofa.