Many people simply do not like the idea of rats as pets because they think that rats are dirty, sick creatures. This widely believed rumor is actually false! I have observed my pet rats, and I have seen them washing themselves with their tounges multiple times a day. In a recent survey, 44.44 percent of a few middle school students said that they didnt like rats because “they are dirty and smelly. This rumor probably started with people noticing rats at trash dumps, but I am talking about how store bought, breeder bought, or shelter rats can make great pets. Even with my love of rats, I wouldn’t approach a rat that has crawled out of a Dumpster.
One of the main reasons people have a lot of prejudice towards rats is because of The Black Death.The Black Death, or Bubonic Plague was a massive deadly disease in the middle ages. It was believed to be caused by rats, since in the Middle Ages, people killed off cats, because they were believed to have relationships with witches, and no cats meant that rats thrived, on account of a lack of predators, and because people of the Middle Ages threw all their garbage and leftovers out the window, leaving a bounty of rat food. But just because there was a high population of rats in that time period, it didn’t mean that the rats were causing the plague! It was actually the fleas on the rats which carried the disease: the fleas infected the rats, and then looked for another victim, either another rat or, you guessed it: a human! Because the rats carried the fleas, many people think that this another reason to blame the rats, but actually, more rats died from the disease than humans.
Some people don’t want pet rats because they say that rats are rodents, and they say rodents chew and destroy objects, and that they are very hard to train. Actually, you can train a rat to use a litter box to minimalise the time you take to clean its cage, and only by spooning the poo pellets into a corner or little plastic box inside the cage. And if youre worried about the rat destroying you clothing and things with its teeth, dont let it out in places where you leave your possessions (or just move them out of reach for the rat), and get your rat something to chew on, like a store-bought chew toy, or just a stick you picked up outside (in the case of the stick, try not to pick up a dirty or bad-smelling stick, chewing on these could give your rat an upset stomach). Many bad behaviours in a rat have very simple ways to stop them.
Some of the reasons that people have given rats a low popularity rating are that people believe that rats are filthy, dirty creatures that caused the Black Death, and that they are virtually untrainable rodents. But if you look at the pleading little rat in the pet store with an open mind, and an open heart, you might be able to see the cute and loving little pet that will follow you to the end of the world if you just give it a bit of love.
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