However a lot of the reason they dont live as long is horribly substandard care in peoples homes. The average lifespan of UK rats is 21 months according to surveys.
Feeder rats arent handled much but if you are willing to work with them yes they can make just as good a pet as any other rat.
How long do feeder rats live as pets. It just depends on the rat and of course the breeder. You can have a very good feeder rat breeder and a horrible pet rat breeder. We had a rat in the rescue I foster for before I began fostering that the cage pet coordinator still talks about.
He I believe though I could be wrong was a feeder rat and he lived to about 5 years. Feeder rats arent handled much but if you are willing to work with them yes they can make just as good a pet as any other rat. Higgins my number one man was a feeder baby and he is my heart.
As far as out of the cage time goes people suggest at least an hour a day. Perhaps you could let them play in the bathroom with the door shut. If not no I dont think it is fair to have them.
On the other hand rats kept captive are found to live more because they are fed with proper food and are provided with the necessary care. Pet rats can live up to 2 years and are also found to live even for three years but the ratio varies. However be aware that if you are going to take on feeder rats now and then they dont often come without problems.
Since they are intended as food and thusly not expected to live long no thought is given to how healthy they are. If you take on a feeder be prepared for the fact that he may not be the most healthy specimen and may result in costly vets bills. One of my favorite rats was a feeder rat.
My friends snake refused to eat him and she knew I had some rats and asked me to take him. He was probably only two weeks old so I was lucky enough that he wasnt skittish or afraid of people. He grew to be one of my absolute favorites and loved to groom people.
Unfortunately he only lived to be about a year and a half old most likely due to his awful genetics. I wouldnt really recommend getting a feeder. DONT house pet reptiles or amphibians in childrens bedrooms especially if the children are younger than 5 years.
Its best to keep reptiles and amphibians out of homes with children younger. Feeder goldfish and guppies do have shortened lifespans for the same reason feeder rats do – no attention to breeding and horrible conditions in fish farms. Lots of disease ammonia poisoning etc.
However a lot of the reason they dont live as long is horribly substandard care in peoples homes. Goldfish should be living many decades – certainly more than 30 years the oldest. These two species rarely live together in the wild.
Do not force them to do so in captivity. If the rodents are less than four weeks old they can live together. This is especially likely to succeed if they shared an enclosure in the pet store.
It does not take long for rodents to reach maturity though. Be prepared to separate them by sex early in the process. This is why you need at last two enclosures.
Average pet rat lifespans 2010-2016. Fortunately we have a great resource on the internet to help answer the question. The Ratty Corner website ran a survey from 2010-2016 collecting data on how long rats live for in different parts of the world.
Looking at data for 584 rats Ratty Corner found that the average lifespan was 256 months ie. Just over 2 years. The pet rat lifespan is two to three years almost twice as much as that of a wild rat.
The average lifespan of UK rats is 21 months according to surveys. The oldest rat in recorded history is Rodney who lived for over 7 years according to 1995s Guinness Book of Records. Fasting like humans fasting can help to keep a rat healthy and long-lived extending lifespan by up to 80.
No rat should be fed adlib unless they are nursing babies or under 5 weeks old. To conclude for many people rats do make excellent pets and can be wonderful affectionate companion animals. However like all species they do have potential issues that may.
When we were teens we had several lab rat rescues as pets. They lived fairly long lives as rats go. My brother got two different rats from pet stores for his son.
One died in a week. The other lasted a bit longer. He gave up on rats despite having found memories of his own pet.
I looked online for answers. Pet store rats are the same as feeder rats. Poor genetics fast turnover poor health care.
Like puppy mill dogs. If you want healthy pets you need a rat. In the early days of domestication the pet rat lifespan was around 15 to 2 years.
It was occasionally as long as 3 years in some cases. Improved knowledge about proper rat care feeding and veterinary care in recent years has made it feasible for rats to live as long as 4 or more years in captivity. These rats are great for pet rats or for feeder rats to larger-sized predators.
These rats are weaned so they are also sold as pets. We have all kinds of interesting colors better than your local pet stores. Check some of them out here.
Small Juvinile Pet Rats or Feeder Rats. The average lifespan of a pet rat is about 18 years but very seldom do they live to be much older. A fancy pet rat whose genetics are traceable can live to two to three years of age.
The reason is that they are less susceptible to diseases like respiratory infections and tumors because of their breeding Life Cycle of a Pet Rat. Many breeders do go to great lengths when breeding to chose pairings based on health and longevity as well as other factors. For these reasons as well as an improvement in husbandry practices over the last 10 years we have seen lifespans go from an average of 1½2 years up to an average of 22½ and even 3.
Frozen or live rodents used for pet food also called feeder rodents can carry germs that can make people sick. This can happen even if the rodent looks clean and healthy. Freezing does not kill these germs.
Follow these tips to safely handle feeder rodents. Avoid handling frozen or live rodents if you are at greater risk for serious illness. Children 5 years old or younger pregnant women.
I love rats but I hate how short their lives are. I remember I read something once about a person who had succeeded in breeding rats to live somewhat longer by mating the rats later but I cant remember where I found it. September 5 2015 at 545 PM.