Once upon a time my sister Alice gave us two hooded rats (the white ones with the black heads) for Christmas. We’d never had pet rats before.
Well, hey, this video’s not lyin’. Rats (at least the ones of my acquaintance) are affectionate and playful–and very intelligent. If they could live ten years or so, they’d be reading and writing.
Whenever I had to take one of our rats in to see the vet, I’d just deposit her on my shoulder and there she’d stay until the vet examined her. Often the other people in the waiting room would go “Ew!” and make faces. But after they saw how good my little rat-girl was, usually they wanted to pet her.
Caveat: None of this applies to wild rats. Just in case anybody needed to be told.
I would never have thought of wanting a rat for a pet, and if I had, the idea would have been nixxed right away. However, I know people who have had pet rats, and they loved them.
I used to have three rat-girls: Integra, Kira, and Chai. Fancy pet rats are cute. Wild rats, not so much!
My dad used to tell me that rats made great pets. I don’t know if he ever had any, or maybe a boyhood friend did, but he was adamant about how great rats were.