Some people believe male rats move slower, cuddle more, and are more easygoing. Females are known for being playful, energetic, and less likely to cuddle.
Just like cats and dogs, rats have unique personality traits. “I've always had female rats, and they are super friendly and affectionate,” says Warnes.
Always adopt the same sex, so you don't end up with babies. It's always best to adopt littermates when possible. Gender: Although all rats have individual personalities, females tend to be smaller, more active, and playful, while males are often larger, more mellow, and snuggly.
Rats can make great pets! Rats are easy to care for, have very little odor, and they rarely bite. They are affectionate and intelligent animals that often will bond quickly with their owners and easily learn new tricks.
They are very social and love to hang out with human family members on the couch or on peoples' shoulders or in their laps. They will even try to groom their human companions as if these people were other rats in their “rat pack.” Pet rats love the warmth and contact of their caretakers and are actually very cuddly!
Rat Are Social Animals
Pet rats enjoy being stroked by their owners and sometimes even enjoy a gentle massage, a scratch behind the ears, or a simple tickle. Rats have also been known to return the affection by "grooming" their owners.
Do not kiss, nuzzle, or hold rats close to your face. This can startle your rats and also increase your chances of being bitten. Bites can spread germs and can make you sick. You don't have to touch pet rats to get sick from their germs.
Female rats are smarter than males: influence of test, oestrogen receptor subtypes and glutamate. Curr Top Behav Neurosci.
Pet rats should be housed together from a young age and should ideally be siblings. They should be kept in small same-sex groups and are perfectly happy without the opposite sex.
While rats are social creatures, not every pet parent has the option to care for more than one rat at a time. Rats are not inclined to exhibit extreme negative behaviors (e.g. self-starvation) as a result of living alone as long as pet parents spend time interacting with their rats daily.
Generally, male rats are more a culprit for smells than females. Male rat's urine is much more potent and they tend to scent mark around cages meaning the urine can be anywhere and on anything!
Rat companionship
It's best for rats to live together in same-sex groups. However, males can be castrated so they can be mixed with females if they don't bond well with other male rats. Females can also be neutered by experienced, rat-friendly vets if they are particularly tricky to mix.
Adult male and female rats leave drops of pee everywhere to advertise their sexual availability. Pee contains a lot of information about the rat who made it! It's like a personal resumé. It tells another rat one's species, sex, age, social status, reproductive status, and individual.
At the end of each infertile cycle as progesterone levels decline the uterus is unable to maintain this terminally differentiated stroma and the superficial endometrium is shed. True menstruation has never been reported in rodents.
Nibbling On You
If your rat nibbles or licks you, he or she might be showing you affection by grooming you. Rats also have an excellent sense of smell, so your rat might nibble or lick your hand or smell you after you eat or prepare food.
Rats may also make noises when they are playing, fighting or in pain, but these are very recognizable, high-pitched squeaks. And rats make a very unique but enjoyable sound when they grind their teeth together to keep them sharp.
Rats are generally quiet pets, at least to human ears. They usually vocalize in a range above normal human hearing. But even though we miss out on most of a rat's “talk,” we do hear some of their vocalizations. Gentle chirps or clucks, grinding, squeaks, and hissing are a few of the vocalizations you will hear.
The best way to tell if a rat's happy, according to a new study, is to look at its ears. A happy rat's ears hang relaxed to the sides (right), instead of perked up (left).
A single female (alpha) within each of the six colonies tested showed the preponderance of attacks on male intruders placed into the home-cage when male colony residents were absent. Over 12 weeks of intruder-aggression training female alphas showed only a mild nonsignificant elevation of aggressive behavior.
They can only see a few feet at best and are relatively nearsighted critters, so if your pet rat is not reacting to your presence across a large room, it is because they cannot see you. This doesn't indicate they are losing their vision; it just was not that good, to begin with.
But they do need lots of attention, so you'll need lots of time to care for them. They'll need daily social interaction and at least an hour of exercise outside their cage every day, so it's important that everyone in the family is keen on the idea of keeping rats as pets.