RCReptiles.com

[Herphero]

Anyone have a pet rat and pet ball python?

[arlynos]

actually two pet rats and a ball python,

white rat is named Elwyn
White and black rat is name chistian because of a cross on her back

and the snake is named tyrandra

[Herphero]

never have any "mistakes" from all the smell? Every time I clean the rat cage my snake comes crawling out in a frenzy for dinner.

[arlynos]

well no not yet, I just got the python and I dont clean the cage in my room I take it into the kitchen where I keep the feeding cage so if he gets hungry out there thats good.

[NickMyers03]

do breeder rats count?

[Number 2]

I have a pet rat now. I was against the idea of having one until I met this one. I reached in to pick him up and he started hopping all over and was very playful so I kept him for my daughter.

My rat is litterally house on top of my kingsnake tub and next to my pastel. No problems as of yet!

[PyMama]

I thought about it...and actually a few weeks ago one of the balls didnt eat hers...so I decided to keep it for a week and maybe say it was my pet rat....but i just couldnt....the ball took it.

As of right now I have another one that one ball didnt eat. Its in a small tank with stuff and food...but I think it might have the same fate as the previous "pet" rat I had for a week.

I dont think I can have them as pet...too tempting to become food!

[arlynos]

I had the rats first, though if I deciede to breed her again, the snake will eat them muhahahaha. though of course I wont let my fiance know.

[deborahbroadus]

I have one Rat and one ASF that I have set aside and try to handle every day..(call it an experiment). The rat comes when I open the cage instead of running like my breeders and I pick this one up with my hands instead of by the tail.

The ASF is still jumpy but waaay less so and also lets me hold it. I have not named either because if either of them gets out of place...they are FOOD.

btw: I was cleaning rat cages last night, and after all this time...a baby nipped me!! I promptly fed it off. The rest don't bite no matter how scared they are (so far).

[Buck_99]

I have an ASF that was originally intended as bait for Mrs. Nesbit (RIP), and he's become a bit of a defacto pet. I don't want to feed him to anyone for fear the snake will get addicted to ASF like crack. I don't handle him, but I talk to him, and like to watch him build his little home.

[arlynos]

They are very annoying after you clean there cage, well up until I switched up and went with pine bedding instead of paper, they would rip it up and move it all around making there house, almsot to the point I would kill them. But they are better now that they are in a tank and have pine bedding, just them trying to get out is what the problem is.

[uncle_flo]

Uncle Flo' doesn't get it. When they're pets, do they still go every 30 seconds? Or is that just something they do to annoy you 'cause they know what you did with their loved ones?

[arlynos]

I do beleive that they still urinate often I am not sure about every 30 seconds, but it could be. I dont hold them over a cup with a stopwatch, but with two rats I have to clean the cage at least once a week with all there fecal matter in it, and goodness forbid it dont happen every 2 weeks.

[raven]

Yup. I have hamsters, gerbils, and rats as pets. Not futures breeders or meals in training, but actual pets. I have one rat, one gerbil and 4 hamsters in my bedroom along with the two snakes and one rat, one gerbil, and four more hamsters in the living room with the cat and 3 mice. (Mice are food, not pets.)

Deb, I'm not at all surprised by what you're finding in your experiment. I can't speak for the AFRs but regular rats enjoy human company more than you would ever expect from something so small. Not only does my rat run to the door when I open her cage, but the couple of times she's gotten out in my room, she comes to me immediately when I call her. In fact, one night, she got out while I was asleep (stupid me I didn't get the door closed well enough) and instead of wreaking havoc in my room, she crawled into bed with me. I don't know for sure, but my thought is that she got out and immediately climbed up and woke me.

Also, FYI, someone mentioned using pine bedding. Pine (and cedar) are not good bedding for any flavour of small rodent and over time can cause serious respiratory problems. Even kiln-dried pine is frowned upon. Aspen is much safer, though sometimes mice will develop an allergy to it.

All rodents nest - rodents need a nesting place and materials like snakes need hides and water dishes.

Also, this randomly occurred to me. I wonder if it would keep the smell down in a rat colony if you used a larger enclosure with more rats but trained them to use a litter box so their bedding would keep clean longer. (Yes it is possible; I have one litter trained and I'm currently working on the second.) Then you could just empty the litter box every day instead of cleaning the whole thing weekly.

[deborahbroadus]