Why I Only Keep Female Rats

Finally got around to making a video on one of the most common questions I get!
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[@charlottemoocow]

I have had male and female rats, and personally, I found the males more calm and cuddley than the females. I did have two males and two females at the same time once, and when one of the males died, I had the other neutered so he could live with the females, which worked really well and they got on perfectly

[@biolumen_]

Males are much much calmer. Females are energetic. If you like to play with your rats, get a female. If you want to cuddle with your rats, get a male.

[@aryastark3148]

​@@biolumen_ my cuddliest rat was a female. More about the individual.

[@garycard1456]

I've always had girl ratties; if I had males, I would be not be keen on neutering them; gonadal hormones including testosterone play an important role in wellbeing, and they serve a number of important functions. Just as they do in humans. I am surprised that condoms for pet rats have not been designed and marketed, lol.

[@jenn2894]

Yes, my boys are so much sweeter than my girls

[@breannalowrie8446]

Me too I dealt with females and males and I found that the males are way more friendlier and cuddlier and I rescue so I've dealt with a lot of different rats male and female so it's not just one specific group

[@demogorgens3715]

We adopted two female rats from a pet shelter and they were pregnant. As we already had two girls we wanted to keep the group all female. When the adopted girls gave birth we had five boys we wanted to give away for adoption. We kept them in a seperate cage and at first didn't give them any names so as not to become too attached. But in the end they grew on us and we decided to let them be neutered and stay. 😀 So we had a mixed group and it worked great.

[@aslan1306]

wow! we also bought 2 female rats to ad to my current group and both were pregnant too! it was amazing seeing how the babys grew up, very special❤🐁🐀

[@MsMistyMaiden]

I have a mixed group too!

[@aryastark3148]

Awww thanks for rescuing from a shelter instead of buying, and for giving so many a loving safe home!

[@oliviastar3812]

did the males get on or did they fight when mature?

[@demogorgens3715]

@@oliviastar3812 The males were pretty chill. They were much to lazy to fight. 😂 Even with the girls they were just like "Okay fine, you win. Where's my hammock?" 😂

[@kenny6920]

I had a male years ago and had no idea how big those suckers were gonna get. I mean it was actually impressive. He never bit and was such a sweetheart and indeed smelled like fritos.

[@samholdsworth420]

Especially during the summer 🤣

[@Robin-xt7yo]

That opening shot of the 3 girls cuddling on their hammock is so adorable and sweet.

[@RowanWarren78]

They do (small rodents) breed quickly. I brought home, as a pet, a little white female mouse. She had supposedly been housed only with other females, except for a single minute she spent being transferred from one pin to another at the pet store. Well, after having her for a short while, she started looking "lumpy"😆. I was so worried she had a growth or parasite. Well, she definitely had parasites, four of them, and they were adorable. I raised them until sex could be determined and separated the boys from the girls immediately!

[@oroontheheels]

I like rats but never had one as a pet. And I was so surprised when I learn form my friend how much work and care and effort she put into caring for such small and seemingly independent creatures.) Now I like watching rat owners channels on KZbin learning even more things about pet rats.

[@abraxas511]

My rule of thumb, as a person who has had both males and females at different times is that I choose the most laid back female, and the most energetic male I can find. Not housed together of course, but in same sex groups. The female ends up calming down perfectly and the male doesnt end up a floppy bean bag of mush. Ive had some males that ended up too lazy to do much but change positions in the hammock. And some females that just never calm down.

[@rluzinski]

We like smaller and more energetic rats, so females are perfect. Females will cuddle, you just have to let them run around for 2 hours first :)

[@franck4727]

I had 4 male rats, all of them had completely different personnalities. My oldest one was very cautious, prudent with other human but very cuddly with me, his son was a ball of energy, he liked to be pet after he had his share of adventures, Kiwi was a bit dumb xd, clumsy but also very calm and his brother, Hazelnut was pretty chill

[@heatherhartman6474]

I LOVE all of your rats! Even the boys you fostered. They are all so amazing! 🤩 you care for them so well. And everyone commenting about their rats on here. Thank you! I love reading about everyone's rats. ❤️ such cute creatures!

[@adelemadden8639]

I have had both male and female rats and they were all wonderful.

[@Rattysauce]

My first pair of rats were female. They were from a friend. When our pet store was selling pet rats, they were all male. It's pretty much the reason I have all male rats. I am very good at keeping the rat smell located to the room they're kept in. No one else minds their smell, either. Also, to me, that muskiness is a comfortable, relaxing smell.

[@cryptidofthevoid]

We petsat for 2 boys and fell in love with them, we were able to keep them and so intact boys is what we ended up with. When we had one left we had to get more, seeing a depressed rat without other rats is utterly heartbreaking. Weirdly enough, everyone says boys are far more calm and cuddly but none of my boys have been cuddly and they have been utterly chaotic also had hormonal aggression from 2 different breeders which is when we got them neutered. Only one has started showing signs of cuddles as hes 2.5 years and likes the scritches! Are we doing something wrong or did we just get personalities that dislike cuddles?

[@vipervenom7804]

My older males are both about 1 year old and like cuddles after they calm down from free range time the younger boys are about 6 months old and are chaotic and don't cuddle with me yet

[@vipervenom7804]

It could just be their age or just they aren't big cuddlers

[@arsonsnail]

thats how i ended up with my first rat otter! we were petsitting for my moms ex coworker while she got her apartment inspected and i fell in love with otter, from day 1 i had a bond with her like i had never had with another animal, and so i asked her original owner about keeping her, her response was "please take her, i dont want her, i hate her" and that settled it! so i got her a buddy and a massive cage i could fit 3 of myself inside of and shes doing so well now!

[@awetistic5295]

I only had male rats so far, from all kinds of backgrounds, neutered and intact, old and young. They're absolutely wonderful, many of them were so cuddly (especially at an older age), but of course every rat is different. My last pack were neutered grandpas, absolute sweethearts and super snuggly. My current boys (three neutered, one intact) are the weirdest and craziest rats I ever had, it's hilarious. Every one of them has odd habits and they always make me laugh. That's the best thing about rats, they have huge personalities inside their tiny floofy bodies. When it comes to smell, it varies greatly between individual rats. I had a pack of three intact males and one neutered boy, they barely smelled at all. My current guys, even though three of them are neutered, are the stinkiest rats I ever had. They mark A LOT. My two lab rescues refuse to use toilets. It takes more work to keep the cage in a good condition, but it's a first of all 22 rats I had over the years. When it comes to two packs - I had it once because I had old boys with health issues that I didn't want to put through the introduction process. Even though I loved every single one of my rats, it was a lot of stress and I wouldn't do it again.

[@kangaroo9816]

One of my boys had a super intense musky odour. I loved it lol, I would always press his back to my face and sniff him. XD Luckily he didn’t seem to mind. On another note, how did you teach your rats to use the toilet? I failed miserably, though it’s true I wasn’t trying very hard.

[@Eternatease]

Sometimes it is what you feed them that makes them smell stronger. But (as you probably know) never wash rats to 'get rid' of the smell. It only makes them smell stronger, because you wash away their natural scent, so they think "I have to produce stronger scent to compensate". I would only wash elderly rats that were incapable of cleaning themselves properly because of various types of paralysis, and even then not a full bath, but more washing their butts and bellies with a damp wash cloth, and I dried them with a soft towel afterwards.

[@Eternatease]

I use a toilet tray with a different substrate in it than their regular substrate. They're small corn pellets. I also put a (cleaned) rock in it, because they seem to like to sit on it when they do their business, and they scentmark it. But even then they sometimes still poo in front of their house or in a different place.

[@awetistic5295]

@@Eternatease Two of my grandpas had trouble keeping themselves clean in their last days, but I did pretty much the same thing, just washing their butts. Gladly, most of my elderly guys did great at cleaning themselves, for example using the curve of a sputnik to lean back. The scent of the pack is nowhere near as bad as it was, I wonder if it was just a hormonal thing and their habit of peeing on absolutely anything. They're older and way more chill now and don't have to prove their manliness anymore.

[@tricciavillela]

I've only had male rats so far because it's almost impossible to find females to buy here where I live... I don't know why, I wonder if it's because the breeders keep the females to themselves maybe... Well thanks for the vídeo, I learned a new thing today, that females don't smell so strong as males, so I appreciate this information a lot ❤️

[@aryastark3148]

Adopt girls who are being abandoned and from rat rescues.

[@tricciavillela]

@@aryastark3148 here in Brazil it's really difficult to find rescue rats, cause it's not a very common pet around here, at least not in the city where I live...but thanks for the tip, I'll get informed if there's such a thing 🙏🙏🙏

[@incanusolorin2607]

De onde vc é? Tem alguns criadores que enviam pra outras cidades e até Estados, se for na mesma região.

[@tricciavillela]

@@incanusolorin2607 sou de Piracicaba - SP... Aqui só encontro twisters na Petz ou na Cobasi, que são grandes pet shops...

[@wrenbracken3522]

one of my girls got out and met a friend (without my knowledge) and had two half wild babies who turned out to be male (All parties have been checked by a vet). I plan on neutering them to combine the groups in a couple of months to be able to free roam them all together and because my girls are getting old and I dont want either on their own! I never planned on changing the sex of rats I kept but I have completely stumbled into this situation and couldn't be happier. I have noticed behaviour differences (more digging and less jumping) but can't tell whether its the sex or the fact that their (behind on child support) father was wild!

[@aquabluerose7734]

How interesting! You might wanna put out some humane live traps though if your girl found a mate inside your house, since there's never just one rat and you probably have several uninvited ratty guests. I would imagine the half wild babies might be healthier than the average rat and possibly live longer since the parents are from different gene pools.

[@wrenbracken3522]

@@aquabluerose7734 I actually think she left the house (we have a very old very unsealed house). I also think they might live longer! Hopefully anyway!

[@nikkik4603]

My daughter has only had intact male rats, most were sweet but all did their business everywhere and anywhere. 😣 despite trying to train them they wanted nothing to do with that. I don’t know if that’s because she always bought feeder rats, trying to “save” them and they are possibly inbred. I would like to get female rats next.

[@vipervenom7804]

It is not bc they are feeders 2 of mine are feeders the older 2 but the 3 younger were rescues from a horrible breeding situation and none of mine wanted to be trained my females b4 them hated me trying to train them I specifically just "train" them to stay in my bra if it's the safest option for them or on my shoulder which I just did by putting them there and pushing them back up there as they tried to slide down and they started over time to just stay up on my shoulder unless it was safer in my bra same for my females and now my males too so it's not that they're breeders it's just methods or they just don't want to be trained

[@ericamassey1112]

I have male rats in one cage and female rats in another. All of my rats have accidents but my males use their litter box a lot more than the females do. It's just my opinion but I think it just depends on the individual rat.

[@Just-Darcy]

I have 6 girls and 2 neutered males and I loooooove the mixed group! Highly recommend

[@Altitudes]

I mostly kept boys because bigger and squishier. I did like that my boys were calmer, but the few girls I had were all very affectionate and bonded to me so it was whatever. I leaned boys if given the option but I didn't particularly care. It is true that boys have a bit of a musk. Personally I don't find it unpleasant at all but a lot of people seem to.

[@Jezziha]

THE SWINGING OF THE MALE RATS BALLS. WHY WERE THEY SO BOUCY XDD😭😭

[@UwUImShio]

It's the same with male (Syrian/golden) hamsters. They're just… yeah

[@Sweetnsour2023]

I love both but I must admit, the three boys I had were very lovable. They were my heart rats ❤

[@AnnaRubenstein-co6yn]

I also went from gerbils to rats! Both such lovely pets ❤

[@melanierechnitzer2812]

I started with girls because there was a group that needed a new home. I live in a single room apartment so having more than one group is out of the question, I simply don't have the space. I had two neutered boys though and they were absolute sweethearts. They were already neutered when I got them, because they were former lab rats and the rescue I got them from handled everything. I'm also open to getting another neutered male but for now I only have girls. Got two new babies on Friday and they are so tiny!

[@reviewaccount469]

I've never had a female rat that wasn't hyper when they were young, while I've never had a male rat that was ever hyper. There are pros and cons of males and females, but hyper animals are much more difficult to deal with.

[@tracihollan3536]

Ngl, I was a little freaked out by how large the testicles are on male rats, so I got female 🤣

[@ghirathim]

i still had the misconception about trainability. thanks for clearing that up!

[@Wiccanetic007]

Marshmallow got all those pretty girls. I’m sure he’s like “man. I wish I still had my jewels”😂

[@Shawnsatisfiedwife]

So freaking cute when they were are piled in their grass hut ❤

[@lookwhatidonemade.3306]

My fiance and I completely agree with your reasons and choice. We always have male rats only mainly for the free time and the ease of one cage, Hope there's no-one out there that genuinely believes there's a difference in speed and ability to train, yhay;s just crazy!!! Lucky for us we live alone and boyh find the boys scent really comforting as long as you keep them cleaned out as much as you should,

[@lookwhatidonemade.3306]

*that* and *both* typing failure

[@FoleysAquatics]

Got 3 new 4 week old females yesterday

[@marmar92828]

I've had many rats over the years (but no pets at all for far too long). Most of them have been males, but a few were girls. Both sexes were equally good pets, but I think the main reasons for males was similar to yours: my first rat was male. So I just stuck with what I knew whenever I got a new one. That, and my mother (I was a teen at the time when I had my first ones) believed- perhaps rightfully so- that females would attract wild males if any were around. This proved true a few years later when we were renting a house that became infested with wild rats from all the blackberry bushes right outside the back door. The rats got inside, and our female rat that we had at the time was pursued by I don't know how many wild males one night as we slept. Fortunately they couldn't get to her inside her cage, but she was NOT interested in mating and in fact nailed one of them through the bars of the cage! We saw blood on the outside and at first that she'd been injured. But we thoroughly inspected her and she was fine.

[@msg4925]

I’ve always preferred male rats because they do tend to be calmer. Funny though, my sister prefers female rats.

[@critterallywithjohnernest.]

Really great points you touched on. I prefer females myself but for other reasons. I had 3 intact males that would fight pretty much daily. 😩 it got so bad that at times they would draw blood as none of them would back down. Males are less prone to getting tumors (but still can) than females and males tend to cuddle more which is great but females just seem to get along with each other better. The males never really smelled to me but do tend to mark or dribble on your arm more. Great video and great information Esther 👍!

[@usernameisusernam]

This sounds like one of my girls. She always picks fights with my other rat and dribbled on my arms non stop. I've been trying to train her and I think we've made a little progress lol

[@critterallywithjohnernest.]

@@usernameisusernam 🥰🤣🤣🤣sounds like she was marking you to tell the others that you are hers only.🤣🤣 that just means she loves you!🥰👍💘

[@viridiantheforest1037]

My boys were neutered, and they would get into fights all the time. But they rarely drew blood and it would always end pretty quickly. There was one time that got a little scary.

[@sharicew1988]

My females are super cuddly and one is incredibly lazy too lol, she will sit with you for hours and zone out while you pet her. I've been handling them a lot since a young age. They are full of kisses💞 I think just like ppl it just differs from rateo to rateo 😅

[@jordyplaysgamesAUTISMYEET]

Before seeing I'm gonna assume because A males can be agressive incurably more often than females, B male rats can sometimes take another male out if they won't settle the dominance chain there's also C male rats may not ever stop using the potty on the floor but you can train them to run back to their cage and go potty but it can spread illness if you aren't a clean person. Not that fancy rats are what people think of them but because boys do potty more, they do. One thing about males is that you have to be careful about how much space they have as they can get into trouble. We have a cat, the cat knows not to hurt the rats, but the male rats sometimes chase the cat, and put it this way if a male bites my dog my dog isn't gonna stop biting it back... So I'm gonna say if you ever do, give them their own room. And for the odor there are those cat litter pellets that remove odor that work well for rats, I recommend it for all your rats actually. We don't free range unless they have their own space with the boys, and because the dog will defend his food bowl from anything, even a rat, we also put the females in a room to run. We do breed rats, we do have snakes we have to feed or my mom does, I have pet rats only my males just get to breed with the females every odd time so we don't get inbreeding. One thing I've noticed is having them near each other so they can smell each other is a good way to have your males keep clean as they should start to groom more knowing a female is around. If you are going to breed rats please never put two males together. Two females and one guy, sure. But one female and two guys no no no don't do it. I don't know why you'd think of that but don't. And if you do have free range males lay down puppy pads, as you can over time train them to use the pad, and then their cages, which for my 5 boys stays open all day because they have a room to live in that's been safety proofed. But other than that... Really you don't need male rats unless you have something like we have, ball pythons. This is why we have nearly 40 rats, and it is a pain to keep them all happy but we do it. So if you read this, and you can do all that go right ahead. But know this, after all that... My little guy still sometimes tries to bite me hard, for dominance. The odd male isn't mean but will bite your eyes and other areas because he feels you need to fear and obey and respect him. Just like a dog, we pick up, and flip over on the back, and that is how you have dominance over most mammals anyway, excluding apes. And really any highly solitary critter... As it's harder to dominate a mountain Lion that a rottweiler. But know this, your male rats probably aren't scared of you at all. If their gonna bite you gotta have control of em, and you can tell them no. But they can learn all kinds of things. Our old boy beans would even steal our medical cannabis. Doesn't hurt them because they break it down like us, but you have to keep your stuff up. My females don't care about my ganj ever or my coffee. The males will spill coffee cups to drink them, steal the leftover bits of my roaches, leftover of a burnt joint basically, and they actually don't eat it they use it as bedding for the smell I guess. Keep your cannibis up with rats around especially males. It's not gonna hurt them I learned this, but it's still misbehavior that it's best to avoid. As if they learn they can have it, the smell of it on your hands may make them bite thinking you have something for them. But yes females get into things, males get into everything and you have to do more for them for them to free range, lot of money I spend doing it too

[@jordyplaysgamesAUTISMYEET]

But if you make it work good on you, thank you for dedicating your time to caring for them

[@HeilRay]

4:20 Ping Pong is also a apt name for Meatball.

[@Ghibliballs]

I have only ever had girls because I prefer more playful and rambunctious animals over slow and cuddly ones. Also, all my local breeders never have males available lol

[@PetConnectionInternational]

I never knew you had gerbils! I have two girlies at the moment (one of which is being a big butt to the other like some of your rattos 😅), do you think you'd ever own gerbils again? Also love the comparison of males Vs females! I was wondering myself, I've considered rats, but the potential smell is something that doesn't exactly fill me with excitement, gerbils are so inoffensive I feel like it'd be a big adjustment 😅

[@snowyowl611]

I have both male and female, separate cages of course. The only reason I have both is because I was told they were female and they weren't. But I feel in love with them. I've also had some females I've rescued that were pregnant and in my area people aren't that crazy about rats as pets. So they end up staying with me. I do have free range time for them separately and it is tough but I don't mind so much...at least they aren't snake food ( which is where they were rescued from a snakes cage).,♥️

[@hannahs4624]

I have had both male rats and female rats (at separate times) and I don't have a preference one way or the other. They are all sweethearts. I never really noticed much of a difference in smell, although that was quite a few years ago that I kept rats.

[@Centurion101B3C]

Being myself very much an (admittedly ratty) male, I noticed that female rats did quite strongly react to my presence even when not in estrus with acting receptive and inviting to certain reproductive behaviours. They would even react frustrated when such was not forthcoming and that completely stopped when in presence of capable, but infertile, male rats. I have over the years had multiple ratpacks with both (more or less) intact males and females and all went fine without being overrun by their offspring. Secret of it was having the males have a (admittedly spendy) vasectomy and keeping the ratios between 3 female and 1 male rats. The effect was amazing. The overall happiness between them was much higher/better than compared with the unisex or castrated mixed situation. The smell is manageable with proper care and feeding. No aggression whatsoever. The males were and remained the more laid-back and lazy to the point of being a bit slobby and the females remained their cheerful perky and busy-body selves. Both appeared to live longer and maintained better health. Anyway, just thought that I mention it.

[@NathanielTavington]

I don't understand when people talk about the "odor" of male rats. All of my boys are intact, and while they marked a lot when they were younger (Less than six months old) they have pretty much stopped within the last few months, and they barely have any smell. They smell very faintly like popcorn or clean straw, and you have to put your face in their fur to smell them. The only time their smell has been unpleasant is when they have gotten URIs, the antibiotic made them smell kind of sour but it went away within a couple of days of finishing their doses, and all of my animals have smelled different while taking medication.

[@shinjiwolf]

Only been keeping rats for about 4-5 years now, but I accidentally had to change the sex of the rats I kept when I was missold two girls after one of the two boys I had died, I let them mingle a tiny amount since the girls were very small when I got them (about 9-10 weeks) and the boy was over two years and was losing the use of his back legs (plus he was a big hefty boy, and was never very agile, clumsy sure, but not agile!). The females were a little fast for me at first, just bolting around and one in particular loved to escape! But honestly, now that the girls are around 2 years old, I have preferred having the females to having the males, there is less of a pronounced odor to them as you say, and although they may have slowed down a little since I first got them, they're still very active at the age of 2. Though my little escape artist has down periods as her front teeth aren't aligned, so she 'lets me know' when it's time to get them trimmed by hiding a lot and not moving around much, once she's had her vet trip however she's right back to getting everywhere again! I'm hoping to get more girls soon, though I'm a little intimidated by introductions, I have 2 large cages and about enough space that I can maintain two separately for a few months, so hopefully sitting them next to each other after quarantine and swapping various cage elements back and forth will all go a ways to them get along.

[@sdb5931]

I have had mostly females. I have had males only once and I found the smell really difficult to deal with, that and intros were much more difficult with my boys. So I stick to only females now 🤣 I enjoy the playfulness of my girls, whereas my boys were couch potatoes.

[@chilicats]

So many people I work with have oopsie babies from letting their rats, mice, rabbits, etc. intermingle while watching them. Drives me nuts.

[@JinsanSama]

Can totally agree that it is easier to get female rats. It was the same for me. I adopted a single male rat off of a friend who developed an allergy against him (rash). Becaue I always want to hold animals appropriately, I did some research and learned that my friend shouldn't have had a single rat to begin with, because they are very social animals. So I immediately tried to get him some company, but only got females. So I got three sisters and neutered him, so that they could live together, and all was great. I added two more sisters later on, because I fell in love with one of them and naturally took them both, so they could stay together. I like to think I did something nice for that rat I got from my friend

[@susanberube445]

Just curious about how you keep the cages and carpet clean.

[@ShadowTheRat]

Just ordinary cleaning does it - rats don’t produce much waste so with proper bedding cage cleaning is easy enough, and keeping the carpet clean isn’t too bad because rats naturally go back to the cage to potty when possible. The marking is kept in check by us rug doctoring (washing) the carpet yearly, plus I vacuum and use an enzymatic cleaner daily when I clean up the area.

[@jayeautocorrectstohate5054]

I wanted only males but got a female by accident so now I have 6(4males,2 females) and it is stressful having to have separate free roam. I plan on always having rats but will be more careful in the future.

[@arowland1741]

what is that stuff on your finger? the stuff youre rewarding her with

[@lisalovesallanimals]

I used to keep male rats as i found the more of a nice cwtsh thats hug in welsh 😀

[@MooseCall]

I've only had males by choice. They're lazier and I love those big squishy bolls!

[@sarahsnursery]

I have 4 pet male rats, also have a marshmallow as well in my group, and a pickle too. I do hear where your coming from about the group thing and the smell. I guess I've also thought about having females later on down the road. But I also guess I prefer males over females, they have that calm and cuddly personality. And are not as prone to getting tumors as much as the females are more higher risk for that. But I love all animals. So I'm not picky. But I can agree that smell is the worse for sure. But there are ways I try to prevent it to a point. Lol 🤣 I enjoy your videos. Keep up the good work! And give your pet rats some love for me!!! Junior, Pluto, marshmallow and pickle say hello! 2 partly hairless rats, a dumbo and a rex I have! I'll always love them. They best pet for sure!!!! I did just lose my pet rat Charlee this year but have my other ones to love on as well. These guys have such great personalities and empathy, it's incredible. I love them more than people at times! Way smarter at times than me, makes me feel dumb at times too. Lol 😂

[@asha2957]

My white rat is hurt by a black rat... He is breathing soo heavily and also crying... I don't have any animals doctors around meeee.... What should i do? My rat is 2 yrs old.

[@_sijeuni_]

I found my very first rat outside, he was a young albino boy. Because he wasn't neutered I ended up with a group of males. I now have 9 boys some of which are neutered and some aren't. That's because I only have rescues, 4 of them are former lab rats and they only allow you to rescue lab rats when they get neutered because they don't want them to reproduce outside the labs. My other boys aren't neutered. At the moment I only have space for one group of rats but I wouldn't mind having a group of female rescues in the future (and if some neutered boys don't get along with the others, I could always try introducing them to the girls then which isn't bad either).

[@RedNightDragon1]

Thanks for rescuing your first boy.

[@aryastark3148]

Thank you for only rescuing!!

[@L0V3_S1CK..]

my mom doesnt get me male rats because she doesnt want my rats to mate

[@Agentanimation404]

I’ve had 48 rats total and only 8 have been girls we currently have to do 4 different free range times it gets to be a lot

[@bluehorsecreations6762]

I have found more trouble with female ratties than males, males are super active and cuddly (from my experience) but thats so cool that your lil girls are chill

[@benjamindegadoi8924]

When we had rats we got 3 intact males and they all got along and barley cought them fighting/being aggressive towards one another.

[@snoopysrc]

Female rats are very friendly

[@the-nighttimes]

Oh my goodness, the Footage of Meatball just cracked me up, man.

[@lauryniti1807]

i know this was about a specific topic but i just loved watching the rattos

[@abraxas511]

Sadly, I also only take a second to breed. But it's that second time where the magic happens ;)

[@Recep007]

Haha

[@Merchenta]

Shadow dear I had two brothers and one well ya know so he is only only one left. Should I get him a friend or leave him solitary? Hes been flourishing since his brother passed. (his brother was a bully)

[@6Twisted]

I used to hate the idea of neutering but it makes them much happier not having a sex drive they can't satisfy and stops them fighting so much.

[@heathert9272]

MY FIRST GROUP OF RATS WERE FEMALES. MY SECOND ONE WAS A MALE. HE WAS A SOLO RAT RESCUE. MY 3RD GROUP OF RATS WERE ALSO FEMALES. MY CURRENT GROUP ARE FEMALES AND MALES. THEY COHABITATE AND MY MALES ARE NEUTERED. I NEVER SMELLED ANY STRONG ODOR BETWEEN THEM.

[@marilyn148]

I wished that I would have seen your videos when I had my male and female rats. They never did have babies for some reason and that was great. I would have enjoyed teaching them tricks.

[@kerrilouiseleslie7364]

I have 4 male rats and the are adorable and that and probably in the future I would try and get girls to see what it is like

[@mirandagarrett4231]

Can anyone help with a question I got two female rats as babies they were sisters Raya one of the sisters passed away at about 3 in a half I didn't want her sister to be alone but she refuses to take in another rat she seems to want to be alone and just with me is that ok I have been told rats should always have a buddy but Rita just doesn't seem to want a friend except me

[@ruthcross3911]

My male was the sweetest he was like a watch dog he would not allow anyone in my room but me and he free ranged he never was locked up he had a bridge from his cage to my bed from my bed to the floor he was my best buddy I ever had

[@crystalheart9]

That was a fun video and informative.

[@speedsketch4414]

I've got 3 intact males and the only reason I wouldn't get a female is because I don't have room for another big cage

[@abbexx4283]

Yeah...rat...uh...sausages...are huge..the footage if the rats were cute, though!!

[@normajeancaballero7959]

❤️🐁❤️🐀❤️🐀❤️🐁❤️🐀❤️🐁❤️🐀❤️🐁❤️

[@Sorrowsong0]

I keep male rats because when we first started owning rats, they were the ones that were available. Similarly to you, when the first pair died and a third one remained we had to get him some companions and it went on a chain like that. Then the chain broke and we had a hiatus. Then when we were able to get rats again there were still only males available so that was who we brought home. Their odor doesn't really bother me much. I would probably only get females if there was another hiatus and another chance to get rats but instead happened to only have females available.

[@leen7055]

Totally agree about females over males, my reason is they are cleaner, they don't eat as much, they don't pee as much, and their cages don't smell as much. Love the males, and I have some, but so stinky and much more cage maintenance required.

[@robertdavies9764]

I have no problems with male and female. It usually takes a few times for the male to be successful. I breed for my local pet shop so not a bad thing if accidents happen for me lol

[@Corey-ek9mk]

I have only male rats. They seem so much calmer and sweeter. Female rats never stop slow down and enjoy life. And i have no problem with oder they get baths every week. They don't stink. I've always had a breeder cage. 6ft tall two levels at the top separated from two levels in the bottom. You can open it up for breeding if you want to and have both sexes. I leave it open for my rat boys. Four stories of fun.

[@Bateluer]

I've had both males and females, but nearly every female I've had has had mammary tumors. Tumor removals may be considered a relatively common surgery for rats, but its not a cheap surgery. Usually around 500-700 USD near me, and its steadily ticked upwards. For my males, the most common medical issues are URIs and the occasional swollen/infected foot. These issues are treated with a relatively simple Doxy Rx. That usually runs about 50 bucks for the vet to tell me that my rat is a rat than another 20 or so for the meds.

[@crystalseraphin3703]

I already have 5 intact females but I just recently rescued 3 males, two of them had hormonal aggression and one of them even bit me, I gave him to a very caring new owner that had expierience with biting rats and I kept the other two males, they didnt get along tho, since the one of them had aggressions. I had hem both neutered and kept them in seperate cages alone for like 2 months, which was really exhausting because I tried to free roam them as much as possible so they dont get depressed. But the waiting was worth it! Yesterday I introduced them all together and they got along really really well, I never had such an easy introduction. All 7 are already in the big cage and the one that used to be aggressive is now very sweet and was never aggresive towards another rat again :) I am very happy with how it went and the neuter surgery went really smooth. They both were young and healthy. Another reason why I gave away the 3rd boy was because he was already a bit older and I didnt want to take the risk of neutering him. But if possible I would love to keep owning a mixed group! (I only take in rescues)

[@crystalseraphin3703]

I know some people are against neutering males so they can be kept with females but I think it is not a problem as long as the boys are healthy and not too old. I personally think it is healthier for all rats to live in a mixed group than in seperate groups. I guess that would just stress them out to smell the other gender all the time but not being able to really interact. I saw how both genders reacted when they were seperated and even tho they were in different rooms they always jumped on the doors and wanted to get to the other rats, they seemed really stressed about it and now they are much calmer and very happy.

[@scarysp00der74]

The only reason I have just one sex of rats is because I fell in love who two little rat girls on Dec 9th of last year, and because there was only room for one cage, I didn't want male rats as well because, well I don't want pregnant rats. I would be open to having male rats at some point.

[@Rougelesss]

I've only ever had intact males, no reason other than I like my pets to be a little more lazy. I'm not very odor sensitive so I'm also unbothered by that!

[@hh-mv3jw]

i got my males neutered to live with the females i already had, i will definitely stick to females in the future bc it really is a lot of extra work while theyre seperated. i love my group to death now though and it was worth it, the females and males have such different personalities and quirks you wont get with just 1 sex

[@ShwintyKat]

I've had both and will likely always consider mixed groups, though the rescue I adopt from spays and neuters all rats that come through them before adopting out. I've also started to prefer males because of their size, I love a big rat, and the lack of mammary tumors

[@scottpaulhubbard8771]

We will always have male rats just because they are more loving to us and we first got males so it's just a personal thing for myself to decide to have them

[@megagrey]

Who could forget Marshmallow and Meatball?

[@degecoutee5842]

Long live Meatball!

[@oliviastar3812]

Do runt males not smell then? Friend had one and he had a baby smell when young, then no strong smell. ?

[@mikedelvecchio3193]

I got a little dude and he’s been great

[@sashad.7722]

I cannot compare because I now have two in-tact males but i just love the way they smell. I even joke that would like to have such perfume😍 As for marking, they do it like crazy. Every time I see video with male rat on the sofa, I wonder how people cope with it. Impossible with my fellows.

[@Awes0m3n3s5]

That thumbnail feels clickbait, but good explainations!

[@Liquid_Rat]

i keep male rats and can confirm, they stinky lil boys lmao but I love them and wouldnt trade them for the world!

[@abraxas511]

My males smell like Fritos. Who doesn't like Fritos?

[@plumpudding748]

I think rats smell so yummy, females, males and neutered males! They smell a little different from each other but I seriously love the smell. I find most people cannot detect body odor unless they put their noses up close, unless you're my sister who says rats smell very pungent... Love both males and females equally! I have two girls right now who are SO cuddly and one neutered boy who gives me the evil I when I try to stroke him!

[@RedNightDragon1]

Rattus Norvegicus don't smell really, either sex. Now Rattus Rattus (roof rats) smell really strongly, a sort of coffee beans smell.

[@plumpudding748]

@@RedNightDragon1 Ooo that's really interesting! I'd love to smell a rattus rattus one day 😄

[@YPE302]

lovely rats.

[@Blubblub205]

I still find it insane that a rat spay/neuter is 300 per rat where I live - I ended up with two females as my friends snake refused to eat them when they were jumpers so I’ve got two males and two females now. Zephyr (M), 4, isn’t a fan of being held, he’s a lazy chonk who’d rather lay around. has a foot fetish😂 ⚠️ Nimbus (M), 3, loves to bounce around and play chase with the cats while he’s in his pen (never in together but the cats know not to mess with the males as they always free range in a pinned portion of the cage.) Athena (F), 1, insists on climbing and destroying everything so you have to have a CONSTANT eye on her, she loves cuddles. Zeraphina (F), 1, hates being picked up, loves carrying random objects over to you, she hates climbing which makes her free range easier 😂. The amount of candle warmers I have to mask smell along with cracking my window doesn’t always help but in all honesty, I don’t like people going into the small animal room anyways if it’s not me. It’s my therapy 😂

[@mikeymfhighlights547]

Rats are fun. Though I wish I knew rats would have been as big as they are with my kiddo before I got the dog and cat. But the dog and cat both are cool with the rat though the cat is more like I don’t care where the dog is like how soft do I have to be to get to play with rat friendos

[@enulyraunaj]

Esther I am really struggling with solo training. I started training my rats during free range, and now whenever I take my training kit out allll the rats run towards me. I tried to take them out individually but they are less focused and all the other rats just stare at us grabbing onto the bars.. If you don’t free range separately, how do you do your solo training sessions?

[@abraxas511]

I had the same problem and changed my free range room into a room separate from the cage room. So the rats I take out for solo training are not visible to the ones in the cage. They each get a solo training session then free range together.

[@enulyraunaj]

@@abraxas511 Thank you!!

[@Ninuturu]

how are rats compared to gerbils? I have gerbils atm, havve kept gerbils for over years, but tempted to get rats sometime

[@joannasisemore7184]

i have had both and both genders make great pets. the males have a smell but it is kind of like corn chips. if your male rats stink is it the actual rat or their cage? i went over to the male side after years of loosing my girls to cancer. males have health issues too but the giant mammary tumors are mostly a female thing. my boys all ended up with hed but that means they made it to old age which is a good thing.

[@leightonolsson4846]

They both have charms but I definitely prefer girl rats! Male rats are not the brightest bulbs... And once you've seen them clean their 'appendages' you can not unsee it.