Picking a Pet Rat

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Laura Fitzgerald and on behalf of Expert Village, I would like to talk to you today about the care and maintenance of your pet rat. And now I am going to talk to you about choosing your rat. You can get your rat at many places, such as your local pet store, at a local pet shelter, from friends and family, and from the newspaper. Any where you look, you can find people that have pet rats, they are becoming more and more the family pet as people find out how low maintenance they are, friendly they are, intelligent, and fun, more people are breeding and keeping pet rats. In my hands today I have Tar, he is a big Rex rat, this was my first pet rat here. He is about eighteen months old. When you are choosing a pet rat, and you got to the pet store, and let's say you are looking for one, the first thing you need to do is be careful when you reach in not to scare them. You will find that they will want to come to you and find out what you are all about and your smell. And then you should carefully pet them. It's almost like going up to a dog, you show them your hand, you show them that you are not going to hurt them. Then when you finally get your rat, put both hands under your rat when you, pick him up with both hands to make sure that you do not drop them or that they cannot jump out of your hands and hurt themselves. You should look into their eyes to make sure that their eyes are clear and look into the ears to make sure that there is not any crust or black stuff or dirt or anything of that sort. You're looking to see if they are clean and that they have no sores or bite marks where they have been hurt in the cage by other rats or cage furniture. You want make sure that they have a good weight, making sure that they are not too skinny and that their feet are okay and not sore from being on wire shelving or maybe from other rats injuring them. You want to make sure that all of their toes are okay and that the nails are okay and that the nails are not broken or damaged or bleeding. You can also check in their mouth to make sure that their teeth are okay, that they are not too long or too short and have been filed down by age. It is preferable to get a young rat, because rats only live up to eighteen months to two years, so you want to get the maximum amount time for keeping your pet rat. "