Had to put two pet rats down
-
One a couple months ago, the other just now. They both had massive tumors. Apparently its almost inevitable with female rats. Cancer is a bitch, but more of a bitch for rats.
RIP Opal and Lily
-
@approxinfinity said in Had to put two pet rats down:
One a couple months ago, the other just now. They both had massive tumors. Apparently its almost inevitable with female rats. Cancer is a bitch, but more of a bitch for rats.
RIP Opal and Lily
Ahh, bummer.
But pets rats? Gotta be a story there.
-
@approxinfinity CANCER DOES SUCK. Sorry for your loss. Meant sincerely. Not a fan of rats, but I can see where the relationship becomes something.
I have a Western Screech Owl Mom and 3 of her babies in my white oak tree just outside the house. It’s a part of nature that they eat my lizards, but then again, all things are connected. Rats play an important part of the whole ecosystem.
-
@rockchalkjayhawk Domesticated rats are great pets. I had a couple of male rats while I was going to community college at home.
They are very social animals, very intelligent animals. Both of mine also died of cancer which unfortunately is not uncommon with rats.
The pros are they are relatively low maintenance compared to dogs and some cats. Cleaning their cage and replacing the bedding a couple times per week was extent of maintenance required which took about 30 minutes total. Another pro is they are relatively cheap animals compared to cats or dogs. The rats themselves were $20 each and the cage, food, bedding, enrichment toys were probably about $250 total with the bedding and food being the consistent recurring costs which is much cheaper than dog and cat food and cat litter.
The biggest con is the life expectancy. Domesticated rats have a life expectancy of up to about 3 years. The other big con is if they develop severe health issues, such as cancer or tumors, it’s generally not worth it financially to treat because they’re cheap animals with a pretty short life expectancy.
I would absolutely recommend something like a rat to people with younger kids that aren’t sure if the kid is ready for the responsibility of a dog or other higher maintenance animals. It’s a much lower and financial commitment if a kid shows they aren’t ready.
-
@approxinfinity Sorry about Opal and Lily. Glad to hear they weren’t named Ben…
-
@Texas-Hawk-10 you said all the things beautifully. Opal was a lovely soul. Lily was a lump. Despite massive tumors Opal still got around remarkably, and she never bit a soul. When they injected her to put her to sleep she screeched, and then licked the vet’s fingers. When they were young they were remarkably athletic. Opal used to swing in the bars on the top or the cage and use them as monkey bars to get across the cage. I am not ashamed to admit that i cried a bit today. Mostly, I dont like being the angel of death to choose to end an energetic, intelligent and loving creature.
@rockchalkjayhawk I got them for my son. He pleaded for them and then lost interest, most completely when they got tumors. They became my pets thereafter. We have cats too.
I will differ slightly from @Texas-Hawk-10 in saying that at least in my experience the rats are higher maintenance than cats because they are supposed to be out of the cage for an hour a day, especially when living single, and are extremely active, and chasing around a rat isnt where i am in life so Opals daily out of cage time was shorter than i would have liked and usually involved me holding her while she tried to houdini my hands or groomed herself.
Theres my full disclosure. If i were a kid I would want a rat, but preferably a neutered male I think. And i think neutering also costs about $500 but limits cancer. So thats a hidden cost.
-
@approxinfinity This is why I say rats are lower maintenance than some cats. Yes, rats need social time to be out of their cages which for me was about 1-2 hours per day where I’d lay some blankets on my bed and let them run around while I did homework. I did have a pen for them to run around on the ground, but they were both absolutely terrified of being on the ground so they played on either my bed or I had them with me on the couch watching TV.
When I was little, we had two cats. One was social and always wanting attention and to play which I was more than happy to accommodate. Cats with that personality are absolutely higher maintenance than rats and I will agree with you on that. The other cat was very antisocial and was pretty much only ever seen at meal time. Cats with personalities like that I would say are lower maintenance than because they don’t want or need attention for the most part other than feeding or cleaning their litter box.
That’s why I say rats are lower maintenance than some cats because a lot of that depends on the personality of the cat.
-
@Texas-Hawk-10 absolutely. Thank you for engaging with me on this. I wish i could have done the 1-2 hours out but these two were extremely bold. They say girls are more inquisitive and males usually more cudly but that (having very inquisitive rats) proved to be a double edged sword.
