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Return To Pets Article Archive   Pet Rats - Why They Make Great Pets By Scott McHenry There are many misconceptions about rats. People think that rats are unclean and carry disease. In fact, rats are quite clean and groom themselves several times a day. These arent sewer rats were talking about. These pet rats, or fancy rats as theyre called, have been domesticated and bred in captivity for at least 150 years. Rats are very intelligent animals. Some consider rats to have intelligence close or equal to that of dogs. Rats are capable of learning to come when their names are called. They can even be litter trained just as easily as training a cat. If you have any experience with other rodents such as hamsters, mice or gerbils you may be afraid of biting. This is almost unheard of with domesticated rats. Unlike their rodent cousins, rats are generally docile creatures. Most of the time rats just like to lay around, especially males. Rats can easily be trained to be good lap pets. In the wild, rats live together and have a complex social structure. These social instincts carry over to pet rats. Pet rats tend to develop strong bonds to humans and to their cage mates. So much so that its common for rats to become very depressed when a cage mate passes away. Many apartments wont allow dogs or cats, and it may simply be impractical to have larger pets in some houses. In those situations a pet rat is perfect. Cages for pet rats usually dont consume much room at all which makes pet rats great for small apartments. Rats are friendly and intelligent animals and make great first pets for children. Being clean and easy to care for makes them great companions for the elderly. Go out and get your pet rat today! About the Author: Scott McHenry and his wife have had a large number of pets of many different species. They have several years experience with rats and together run www.ratanswers.com, a rat informational web site. Bird Dog Training

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