As clever as a dog
Rats learn their names, come when called and can be taught tricks. They solve puzzles for fun.
Rodents · Time every day
Fancy rat
Rodent · tamed from the brown rat
A sleek rat, white with a black hood over its head and shoulders, big ears and a long bare tail.
- Size
- 20 to 28cm long, plus the tail
- Lives for
- 2 to 3 years
- Suits
- Anyone who wants a small pet that knows them
Scampers after you, whiskers working. Move your pointer and see.
Good to know
Six things about the rat
It laughs
When tickled, a rat gives squeaks of pleasure too high for us to hear.
Very clean
Rats spend hours washing themselves and each other. They are cleaner than most pets.
A tail for balance
The tail helps it balance and lets it lose heat. It should never be picked up by it.
Bred for 150 years
Tame rats have been kept and shown as pets since Victorian times. Fancy simply means bred as a hobby.
Rats that save lives
Their giant African cousins are trained to sniff out buried landmines and are too light to set them off.
The real thing
Photos of the rat
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
Looking after one
Keep two or more of the same sex in a tall cage with shelves, ropes and hammocks. Let them out to explore for an hour a day, and feed a rat mix with fresh scraps.
Before you get one
Rats are probably the most rewarding small pet, friendly and rarely biting. Their lives are short, which is hard on a child.
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