Interesting Facts About Rats
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Love them or hate them you have to admit that rats have some of the most interesting quirks and histories. Here are just a few interesting little tidbits to tease the mind.
- The first albino rats to be bred in captivity were born to a single albino rat captured in a graveyard in England by Queen Victoria's royal rat catcher Jack Black.
- Sprague Dewley rats, a strain of laboratory rat, can birth more then twenty pups per litter.
- Fancy rats are a domestic variety of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) who are not originally from Norway but probably first came from Asia.
- Some rat species can grow to enormous sizes like the Gambian Pouch Rat whose largest specimens can reach around eight pounds.
- According to the Guinness Book of World Records the longest lived domestic rat died at seven years and four months of age (which far exceeds the 2-3 year expected lifespan.)
- Domestic female rats and their wild counterparts can successfully breed as early as six weeks of age and produce one litter of 1-20+ offspring a month until they are 1.5-2 years of age.
- The Bubonic Plague was not caused by rats but instead was caused by infected fleas that jumped off dead rats onto humans.
- Rats are routinely worshipped and fed in the Karni Devi, a temple completely devoted to them. These thousands of wild rats never gave any of their worshippers infected Bubonic fleas even during the plague years - scientists suspect this is because being territorial they kept invading rats (and their fleas) out of the area.
- The first astronaut rat launched from France into outer space in 1961.
- A rat's teeth are always yellow upon maturity (a rodent characteristic) and don't stop growing until the animal's death.
- The first recorded sighting of a wild albino rat in the Western world was spotted in Europe in 1553.
- Albino rats in the Karni Devi are considered incarnations of the Goddess Durga. Normal colored rats are believed to be incarnations of deceased followers of Karni Mata.
- The first laboratory rats were bred as far back as 1828 in Europe.
- The first selectively bred strain of laboratory rats was bred in Pennsylvania in the Wistar Institute.
- Inbred laboratory rats are created by breeding brother to sister for at least 300 generations. This produces animals who are more then 99% genetically identical, which is more similar then even current clones are!
- Laboratory rats can survive 17-20 days without sleep before succumbing to death.
- Rats have been proven to make a laughter-like noise (unable to be heard by the human ear alone) when tickled and dream while sleeping.
- Gambian Pouch Rats have been trained to sniff out mines in war torn countries - due to their light weight they are far less likely to explode the mines then sniffer dogs are.
- The ancient Romans didn't distinguish rats and mice but instead called then Rattus Major (big rat) and Rattus Minor (little rat.)
- Furless rats are now being bred in laboratories and in the pet population.
- Rats have terrible eyesight and therefore are rarely seen in the middle of rooms or clearings where their whiskers aren't touching the perimeter of a landmark or wall.
- Rats have been used throughout history as food for people and pets, religious icons, laboratory animals, pets, mine detectors, animals used in sports (such as the now illegal practices of rat baiting with dogs,) and some have even been trained to drag wires through walls making some electricians' jobs go much faster.
- The rat is the first animal on the Chinese Zodiac.
- Rats use their tail to contol their body temperature because they cannot sweat.
- Beatrix Potter, the author of Peter Rabbit, was one of the first owners of a pet rat - an albino bred by none other than Queen Victoria's royal rat catcher Jack Black.
If you have an interesting or unusual rat fact let me know and I'll add it! All photos were taken by me of rats I've bred over the years at the Oh Rats Rattery.
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Comments
Fascinating. I especially was impressed by the lab rats surpassing clones in similarity.
wow u suck
Thank you for that terribly helpful critique kittykat. Care to tell me why I "suck"? Is it just a petty prejudice ageinst rats because I have cat articles here too you know... might be more suitable to your... tastes.
RATS ARE FANTASTIC!!!
I also raised rats for fun. I was astounded how intelligent and social they are. I would still be doing it, except I found out that I am "deathly" allergic to them. If I were to get bitten again, it will most likely kill me. ( I only got bitten once, and that was while I was putting down a very sick rat).Within 1/2 hours, I quit breathing and was rushed to the hospital. I really miss my pet rats. They were great fun to watch and interact with. I hate that they only live 2-3 years.
I am so sorry to hear that! I fear that myself as I've developed an allergy to them over the past two years that seems to be getting worse. I really adore the little buggars and would be crushed if I couldn't keep them anymore. I am glad you at least lived with your tango with death though! Geesh! That's harsh!
I've had four rats in my life, and the last two both died less than a month ago. As much as I love them, I don't think I can have any more short-lived pets for a while, at least not until I've recovered emotionally from losing these last few. But seeing this hub just renewed my love of them and gave me a lot of interesting facts to tell my roommate! Thank you!
Great piece. I love pet rats too. They are some of the best animal companions.
Awesome article. Its a shame so many people fear these gentle critters. I've had six rats since 2002-03 and they have quickly replaced a cat or a dog as my favorite pet. Not that I hate either, but the ease of care and loyalty has me really hooked. =)
One of these days I wanna get a Nutria, though.
Nutria aye? Refresh my memory, are those the rodents that they have started to farm for meat? I have always wanted a Gambian Pouch Rat but they were made illegal to sell/buy/adopt during the monkey pox thing (don't get me started on that!) and now that they are again legal to buy/sell/transport/trade the only ones you can find are the ones breeding in the wild in Florida after pet shops dumped them... SIGH. I wish I cold find a breeder! (In the States as theyhave remained illegal to import..)
Yeah, I think the pouched rats are back to being legal. They are awesome! Though as you say, I don't think they're being bred here anymore.
A Nutria is a semiaquatic rodent. Here's a video link to one eating a carrot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBkXljIPsCc
They seem to be just as tame as their rat counterparts. Doesn't even bite when you mess with it eating, as many dogs and cats are apt to do.
Very interesting facts. I have two female rats. A black hood rat named Scythe (she has a rock in her tail and holds it like a scythe) and a light tan hood rat named Sickle.
Great hub :)
i love rats
Awwwe, you mean like get enough of a life to heckle random articles you don't like out of ignorance? If only I could aspire to that! Thank you Jon. You're adorable. I just want to pinch your wee little flame warring cheeks... Have a lovely day!
Hey, By the way awesome hub. just out of curiosity how many rats have you had throughout your life and what were their names.
I have two female rats named daisy and Kiwi they are adorable little creatures.
Oh heavens, I don't know. When I had my most I had a full-fledged moderately-sized rattery with 59 permanent residences who of course all had names. At that time I was breeding two litters a month for sale to the public... so it adds up. I got out of breeding (and wish I didn't now!) and am currently contemplating getting back into it. My first rat was actually a chocolate capped boy the dog officer caught outside. Someone obviously let him "into the wild" thinking he'd be OK in the middle of winter! I guess he had a mate who died in the storm previous to his capture. I named him Nappy. My latest addition to the family are two furless sisters, one a black capped and one a black self, who I have named Story and Soho. You can check out my article on Punderful Furless Names to see more names I've used in the past. :)
Hi. I just wanted to say thanks for the cool rat facts. I didn't know some stuffee that I do now!
No problem! Thanks for stopping by to read my article.
facts about rats are interesting but there is no pic of albino rats.
albino rat are very short in the country , they should be breed so tha the research can be done.
And what country are you in Sumera Raqueeb? I can certainly put a photo of one or two up. I've had a number of them in the past... I just need to find the photos to prove it. :)
i have a rat book that includes facts about jack black the royal rat catcher! well i'm a new rat owner of my baby cherio. one problem - no idea if its a boy or a girl! cherio has no boy or girl parts! it doesn't have nipples but cherio looks pregnant - help!!!!!!!!!
Ah, well... in that case, do you have a picture of Cheerio? (You can send it to the 'contact Theophanes' button at the top of the page if you want reassurance!) When did you get Cheerio? Gestation is only 19-25 days, 21 being average, so if you've had him or her longer than that then you're fine! Also nipples are hard to find on furry rats if you've never looked before but if he really doesn't have any than he's a boy and not pregnant, just fat! Boys tend to get very obese... I actually had a few that topped two pounds at one point.. Though obesity shouldn't really be encouraged it's veeery common in males. Anyway, feel free to send a pic if you have one. I'll gladly check out Cheerio's tail end. :)
i'll send a picture in a bit
THANKS :)
It might be a bit till i send the pics....Cherio says Hi!
is it safe to feed my rat baked cheese
crackers?
Most things are safe for rats in moderations, cheese crackers included. :) Just avoid pits and seeds from fruits, and things that could melt and choke them like marshmallows and whatnot. Oh and a lot of household plants can be really bad if gnawed on so keep them away from that! My boogers LOVE boiled eggs and fruits. Healthy diets are good for rats too!
thanks! Is it true that they can't have junk-food?
Well, junkfood's not good for them because of the sugar and caffeine. They have a sweet tooth too and sometimes will refuse regular food until you feed them something they want... so you might be creating a monster there! But eh, a little treat no and then shouldn't hurt them.
I've heard that albino rats have shorter life spans and poorer health, is that true?
That really depends Lynny. As a whole albino rats aren't that much different from regular rats (though their eye sight is worse than darker eye colors.) You might have gotten that idea from people buying feeder rats for pets... A lot of people use albino rats to feed their reptiles because you can't really tell the difference between them at first glance... and of course if you're breeding rats for food you're not going to be concerned about health or the diversity of the gene pool so a lot of white rats you find at pet stores are severely inbred, which could indeed cause them to have significantly shorter lifespans (if there's already a flaw in the family genes inbreeding will intensify it and the rats will have shorter and shorter lifespans over successive generations.) Hope that answered you question!
Thanks! My bro had one and it died quickly. :(. The dude working there didn't even know the diff between sexes. He was cleary a male.
I was thinking about getting one from petco, their cages are always clean and they have plenty of toys and the sexes are seperated. I tried lookig for breeders but can't find any here in Tx.
Really? There's four listed in Ratster... http://www.ratster.com/breederlinks.html
I only had one PetCo rat. Sweet as pie until one day he snapped and became one of my most difficult animals. I'll never get it! PetCo gets their rats from rat farms... same problems really. Hope you can find a breeder, it's really the best way to go and don't forget to check your loacl shelters, you might be surprised! :)
Thanks for your help! Checked out the site before, and all were way too far. :(. I don't think my dad would drive that far anyway.
You seem to know alot about rats! Thanks for the info
Do you have any advice on rat leashes?
I have tried all sorts of rat harnesses... I have tried ferret harnesses, kitten harnesses, home-made harnesses, and parrot harnesses as well as vests. I haven't had any luck really, since a rat can easily squeaze out of anything that it can get it's head through... Depends on the rat too. I had a few that just didn't care and would wear them like perfect gentlemen. I never was daft enough to try this with a female. :) The ferret and kitten harnesses deffinately were better than the bird harness. The vests had differing success rates...
Okay, cool! It'll be nice to try to leash her instead of worrying about my sweetie breaking through my barriers while free roaming.
I have one rat, but spend hours with her daily, she has lots of toys and fabric in her cage, do you think she will be fine without a "sister"?
Hey, I'm trying to decide to get a hairless rat or a regular one.
What could you add?
Rose, I've had a lot of lone males over the years who just didn't get along with anyone (usually rescues and inbred feeders and whatnot... you don't see this too often with breeder bred rats like in the old days.) Females though... I really do like to see them have friends, they seem more social on a whole. In the wild rats can distinguish between up to 500 other individual rats, friends, per se. It's something to think about.
Lynny, check out my article on furless, it may help you decide. They're wonderful little boogers but they do require a little (not a lot) of extra care.
I have bred Rats for 7 years and these are interesting facts! Thanks for sharing.
I have an albino male named Keenan. he was a rescue from being snake food which he shouldn't have been in the first place. he is going on 3 and doing good other than he is a fatty mc fatty. my fault for spoiling him rotten, he eats mostly all healthy food he just loves food too much, that and he has always refused a wheel and ball i try to make him work for his food by putting it farther away and changing the place its at. but he just loves to sleep and eat and be loved, and i can say he's had a way better life then being let out into the wild to die at 3 months old. i just wish he would stop gaining weight so he could live longer... i never would have bought one as a pet, but adopting him has been one of the great things in my life. he's such a love bug and thinks everyone is his buddy.
very interesting article. I had no idea there were so many interesting facts about rats.
Hi Theophanes...
It's so interesting that I have stumbled upon this site, I have two Rats myself and one (Zoe, Himilayan) is sitting on my shoulder as we speak. I just bought her a baby friend, and she is taking care of him like it was her own... I have noticed a very interesting fact about rats, when they are little, they are very playful, and will actually play with your hand and chase it around like a cat. It is the sweetest thing, but as they get older, unfortunately, they become lazy. I must say, the little one is giving Zoe a hard time, chasing her around and always jumping on top of her. Also, if they are taught they will come to you when you call them, like Zoe, if she is playing around on the couch and I call her, she comes to me, don't know if she thinks I've got a sweaty for her ( she loves chocolate) or if she really loves me, but she definitely knows me very well!!! We love our rats, they are such good pets!! Was good to read the other comments, I love them even more now....
rats r ok
thanks for helping me with my homework!
(PS.I know what plagiarism is)
rats are AWESOME
I have been watching a family (1 female and 5 juveniles) of wild rats every day where I work. I saw the mother nip the backside of a pheasant and chase a rabbit! This family is so cute, all this goes on 2 mtr from a window. Awesome. x
Hello. I have heard this before and wanted to know if you could confirm it. I have heard that if you have a rat in your home, as pet or otherwise, a mouse will not enter. Is that true?
hi i have a rat fact for you. Rats tails are sensitive. rubbing a rats tail is like some one rubbing the bottom of your foot.
i have a rat named splinter her nails are long like her sister do you have any tips on how to cut them. i also notised the older she gets the lazyershe get,when she was a baby she was crazynow not so much
i might be getting a rat soon and i know a bit about them one fact i know is that a boy and a girl ratcan make babies in two seconds! another one is that a female rat goes into heat every four to five days! rats reach pubity at six to eight months. rats can eat chocolate but they try to avoid it so dont force them to eat chocolate.
This Article was very helpful because it helped me do some of my homework for Girl Scouts. Thanks a Bunch!!! :)
I have had two rats and I have two more there so lovly
Woody Marx says:
2 years ago
Glad to see your original hubs back and running! :)