#50320 Rats as pets

[vorpal blade]

The subject of this question was keeping pets in apartments where pets aren't allowed, but I'd just like to comment about the idea of keeping rats as pets. I live in an isolated desert community. We didn't use to have wild rats. Now parts of the town are overrun with them. They eat our garden vegetables. They climb inside the walls of our homes. They live and defecate in our attics. They carry disease and viruses. They may be cute and cuddly to you, but our exterminator says that the rat problem probably came from someone's escaped pet. If I catch them I kill them.

[Neologism]

well, I would advise against keeping a chimpanzee as a pet...

[NerdGirl]

I think the problems that Vorpal brings up stem from the fact that a lot of pet owners don't realize that it is possible to have pet rats, guinea pigs, and other rodents neutered, and that it's a good idea to do so. In my opinion, there are enough pets in shelters (of all types, not just cats and dogs) who need homes that we don't need to be breeding more pets.

[Identity Crysis]

As Bob Barker would say...

Get your pets spayed or neutered!

[Nanti-SARRMM]

He's not dead yet, so I imagine he still says it.

[luxurious]

Nanti, I think Identity Crysis means "would say" in the conditional sense, as in "If he were here, Bob Barker would say..." as opposed to the repetition in a past sense way.

So, don't go around picking on people's grammar, yo.

[bobtheenchantedone]

My cousins keep rats, and they are wonderful cute little creatures, and very affectionate and everything. Also, they do get them neutered, if I remember correctly, and they are very careful to keep their rats safe - they have twice as many cats as they have rats.