Rats are a wonderful pet and easy to take care of! “rats are amazing intelligent, interactive, loyal and affectionate!” –Bill (didn’t have a last name) http://www.fancypets.com/  I want to teach a little about what it is like taking care of a rat and the responsibilities. First things first, the living arrangements. Its typical for the rats cage to be living in your room. Also the cage type. The most popular cages out there are: cage/bars and aquarium tank. I personally prefer cage/bars. But it doesn’t stop there with the cages, you also have nest box, rabbitt hutches, cavy cage, and cabinet cage. But never ever use a hamster cage for your rat!

The latest research has shown that since rats have the same insides as human (heart, liver, kidney, bladder, ect.) they can eat just as well as humans! The only real difference with rats and human insides are a rats rib cage is made out of cartilage and humans are bone, and rats are unable to throw up so this means don’t give a rat to much alcohol or it could kill your furry little friend. instead of keeping your rat on a steady diet you could just give your rat plain rat food. That’s healthy for them too.

Something else I have learned from resent research it is now necessary to physically clean your rat. But this is needed till the end of your rats days. Which means when you rats bowels start getting loose and there too old to bend over and clean there bottom or struggle to reach there bottom you must come in with a tooth brush and warm water in the sink. Make sure no one else uses this tooth brush after your rat! But its not just the rat you want to clean it’s the cage to! Make sure to scrub your rats cage clean of any pee and poop. This should be done once a week.

Now a rat doesn’t just need a well balanced diet but exercise to! A rat just can’t stay in its cage all day, the rat should exercise an hour a day out of its cage free to run where he/she pleases. But if there’s ever a day you miss of taking out your rat just make sure there’s a wheel in the cage to entertain your rat when you’re not around. Or you could even put a rope in the cage for your rat to climb. They enjoy hanging around.

So now that you’ve had the total update on how to take care of a rat I hope this helps in anyway shape or form.