Rats in the City: Pets, not Pests

From pirate ships to plagues, rats have historically been misrepresented as conniving little demons with gnashing teeth and long claws who get into our food and infest our buildings. The first image that springs to most minds is the long-tailed, beady-eyed denizen of the sewer. That guy is Rattus rattus (black rat), and you'll find him in the wild (and the subway station). It's his cousin, Rattus norvegicus (brown rat), who has been domesticated over the past 100 years. These rats, known as fancy rats, are the most common type of pet rat. They make excellent companions for busy city-dwellers without the time or space to devote to a larger pet, and they're much cleaner than people think—which means you can hide them from your landlord and that pesky "no pets" rule easier than a dog or cat.

Some reasons to keep a pair of pet rats:

• Says rat expert Sandra Beasley: "They are like having a small dog the size of your fist,” but they do not need to be allowed outside or taken for walks.
• They can be trained to do tricks and taught to use a litter pan.
• They are inexpensive to care for. Beasley keeps over 50 at once!
  
• They will run through tubes like hamsters and play with strings and feathers like cats—but they don't scratch the furniture.
• They are extremely intelligent and they adapt well to their humans' schedules, sleeping while you're away at work and ready to play and entertain you when you come home.
• They form close bonds with their human companions and seldom bite unless threatened.

Pet rats will ride on your shoulders (my boyfriend calls them "shoulder captains") and love to play and be petted, but they need supervision when out of their cages because they can:

• chew wires,
• eat your food, and
• endanger themselves by getting underfoot.

Rats have a short life span: they're considered senior once they're 18 months old and they rarely live past two and a half or three years. So, you should be able to commit to them for a couple of years, but you may be spared the task of moving with them once you finish grad school.

They also tend to do better in pairs or groups. “We always recommend getting a second rat to keep the single one company,” says Kim Jackson, vice president and director of operations for Mainely Rat Rescue. The care required for two is almost exactly the same as for one, and two rats are easier to manage than a cat or dog.

To have happy rats, you'll need to provide:

• a decent-sized cage that you will clean weekly,
• a well-balanced diet of lab block, grains, nuts, seeds, and fresh fruits and vegetables,
• daily supervised out-of-cage play time for at least an hour,
  
• and at least one other same-sex rat friend.

If you find yourself pining for a fuzzy friend but you don't have the time for (or aren't allowed) a more traditional pet, consider adopting a pair of fancy rats—you'll be surprised at how quickly you become buddies.