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! This makes daily cleaning much harder to manage.
Cleanliness: Rats are very clean animals. Females, with proper care, do not smell. Males on the other hand tend to have an odor. Rats can be litter trained to do their “business” only in their cage.
Neutering can reduce the musky scent. It also often helps reduce or even eliminate urine marking. Some male rats however, can actually be trained to stop urine marking.
Male rats tend to be quite cuddly and affectionate pets with a mellow temperament. They are likely to enjoy snuggling up with you for some head scratches. If you want a more independent and adventurous companion, a female rat may be the pet for you. Female rats are quite active and like to get busy exploring.
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.
Males are more likely to mark than females. Castrating males may decrease the behaviour; but both sexes (entire and neutered) and all age groups will mark to some degree. If you have fertile rats, this marking behaviour may vary with intensity in line with the female's heat.
Rats can be extremely social and even like to cuddle!
They are really social animals, forming large groups in the wild, and living together in large shared burrows.
Unlike most small pets, rats love being picked up and handled by their human owners. While rats do enjoy human interaction, they'll need to be picked up and handled from a young age so they're used to it. Rats rarely bite and their larger size makes them easier to pick up.
As given appropriate housing, bedding and cleaning, you shouldn't experience unpleasant smells from your pet rats.
A comparison of aggression of male and female colony alphas tested with opponents of each sex revealed that aggression was mainly directed at like-sex opponents, and that female attack was more defensive in character than male attack regardless of opponent sex.
Clean the cage completely twice a week by replacing dirty bedding and scrubbing down the rest of the cage with warm, soapy water. High-quality rat blocks should be available to your pet at all times. Avoid seed mixes, as many rats will pick out their favorite bits and leave the rest behind.
– Use bleach and vinegar to clean walls where rodent droppings were found, or use a broom and dustpan to sweep all fecal matter into plastic bags for disposal. Spray white distilled vinegar onto surfaces after you've cleaned them – it will kill any remaining bacteria that may have been missed with the earlier cleaning.
Some people have found that they can deter rats from coming onto their property by using certain smells and aromas. The most effective smells are essential oils, specifically; peppermint, castor, and citronella. These are good choices because while their smell is powerful, many people also find the aromas pleasant.
One of the most common causes of a stinky rat is their pee. It's actually more unpleasant and pungent than their poop as the ammonia quickly develops to create a strong smell. Male rats also mark their territory, and they don't hold back from doing it on any surface.
Rats are extremely sociable and really thrive when they have the companionship of other rats. Lone rats crave this attention so will often become depressed or display aggressive or nervous behaviour.
They're normally active at night and at dawn and dusk. Rats live for around 2 years, but some may live longer.
Excited rats may also jump, hop, or “popcorn” when they are happy. They may run excitedly at full speed around the house or enclosure—just like how dogs get the “zoomies.”
The past decade dramatically deepened our understanding of the biological origin of this capacity. We now understand that rodents robustly show emotional contagion for the distress of others via neural structures homologous to those involved in human empathy.
Rats make lifelong bonds with their owners Ask any rat owner, and he or she will tell you: Rats recognize their owners and respond to their sight and voice. They are very social and love to hang out with human family members on the couch or on peoples' shoulders or in their laps.
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.
At about 9-10 days old, too, you can start to see the hint of the testicles shape appearing on your male rat, but the testes do not fully descend until about 5 weeks old, the age of sexual maturation.
During the day, rats tend to sleep off and on, depending on how much is going on in their environment. Rather than sleeping for hours on end, a rat might nap for four hours or so, then wake up to play or groom herself, then go back to sleeping some more.
Rats will generally groom each other on the heads, shoulders or necks as these are the hardest to reach places for a lone rat. More aggressive grooming (to show dominance) will normally happen on the belly or flank and is usually coupled with some squeaks of protest from the groomed rat.