Rats!

[xautomaticflowersx]

The black and white hooded rat is Hidey and the brown/grey and white hooded rat is Tricks. They are such friendly little rattums... simply gorgeous!

 

[Synirr]

Awww, what cuties

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

Thankyou!
They belong to my brother, but he's going away to Japan later today for a week (the lucky so and so). He's then going to Sydney and will spend Christmas and the new year in Tasmania!
So I'm on rat-duty for the coming month. Haha... not that I mind, they are lovely rats.

 

[JackDemp528]

They're so cute. I love rats. They're wonderful pets.

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

They are! I love the way they get all excited when you enter the room and they start frantically grabbing the bars with their little hands.

 

[Angel Lady]

I love them it is about time we have a pretty rat in the competition. POTM for both pictures. and good luck getting a second nomination...

 

[timmystood]

Hi

Nice pictures.
I know this will upset loads of people but I am aloud my own ideas! - I have never liked rats, comes from my dad's dislike of them. I think it's because (and nobody dare argue this with me!) they can carry every single disease known to man-kind! Their just not for me!
But to be fair i've never had any contact with them as pets so I cannot really say their bad pets or anything because I don't know!

I'll second that nomination though! Cute pictures!

 

[andywg]

Lovely looking rats. I miss mine.

And to take up a challenge, rats do not carry every disease known to man. They did not carry the plague that blighted London in 1665, but rather the fleas on the rats did.

Also rats are th least likely of any of the rodents to bite and even the wild ones in cities are cleaner and carry less diseases than pidgeons and squirrels.

Sorry, couldn't resist

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

*Pats andywg on the back*
Rats are fastidiously clean animals and will spend a lot of time each day grooming themselves and each other. People tend to think of rats as being greasy, smelly and disease-ridden, but it's a misconception. Wild rats *can* carry diseases, like all wild animals can. If we weren't such a filthy species littering the planet with mountains of uncontrolled waste each day we wouldn't have rat 'problems' as they wouldn't be attracted to the unsanitary places where our waste is strewn. Easy food is easy food to a rat and our waste is their victory! As a side note, before people start mentioning rabies: interestingly enough, there aren't any recorded cases of rabies caused by rat bites in the United States. Obviously being in the UK this doesn't have much bearing on wild rats since we don't really have rabies over here, but it's still an interesting fact.
At any rate... what have domestic rats got to do with diseases?
And as for smell my brothers rats actually have rather a nice sweet smell to their fur which I happen to quite like! Their pee smells obviously, but then who's doesn't? They only become smelly or greasy if their cages aren't cleaned regularly enough (although males do have more oily fur than females). I adore my brothers rats and I would seriously consider keeping them myself in the future. Definately a reccommended companion animal!
Anyway! Lets not do the 'rat debate'... everyone has their own views and most people won't budge on them so there's little point in debating!
Thanks for the nominations guys! Wow... that means I'll have 3 pictures in this month. I may even be in with a chance .