Why Choose Pet Rats?
Rats are clever
Rats are believed to be roughly as intelligent as dogs, being able to learn their name and a number of other commands. Some rats have even been trained to do Crufts-style agility courses and other tricks such as putting a coin in a money box and "dunking" a tiny basketball. One breeder I know has trained one of her rats to bring her a tissue whenever she sneezes!
Rats are clean
The stereotype of rats is that they're dirty creatures but actually nothing could be further from the truth. They spend hours every day cleaning themselves, and are thought to be cleaner than cats.
Rats feel empathy
Experiments have shown that, given the choice between receiving a treat and helping another rat in distress, most rats will forgo the treat to help the other rat (even if they've never met before). Rats are the only animals apart from humans where empathy has been demonstrated in this way.
Rats laugh when they're happy
Research has shown that rats emit a high-pitched (outside human hearing range) chirping noise when they're happy. Most rats especially laugh when being tickled, although like humans a small number are not ticklish at all!
Rats can have jobs
Giant rats have been trained to sniff out landmines in Cambodia, where a rat can clear a minefield three times faster than a human with a metal detector. Rats are also able to identify whether a patient is suffering from tuberculosis simply by smelling a sputum sample.
Rats can drive cars (and they like it!)
In an experiment to see what effect the environment a rat was raised in had on its ability to learn new tasks, researchers built a small "car" (Rat Operated Vehicle) with pedals to drive the car left, right and forward. Rats very quickly learned how to use the controls to steer the car towards rewards, but were also found to enjoy driving even when no rewards were on offer!