Ontario County, Toronto Rat Control Situation:
Do Rats Make Good Pets?
This is a very controversial topic. Parents from previous generation could not even think about giving the kid a rat as a pet. But now many scientists are saying that some of the myths associated with rats are not true. So if one is careful then they can allow the kid to have rats as a pet. But parents need to be aware of a couple of things when it comes to getting a pet rat. After all rodent type animals do carry some kind of virus so one needs to be careful when they handle these types of animals.
Anyway, getting a rat as a pet is not easy as people living near you will be a little curious. They know a lot of things that rat viruses can do. Do not get nervous; just tell them that rats are not poisonous until they are beaten by wild rats. This is exactly like getting a dog. You can keep the rat safe from rabies virus.
One of the major benefits of getting rat as a pet is that unlike dogs or cats, rats clean themselves regularly.
There are a lot of people who already have rats as pets. If you want to be one of them then here is your guide to finding the perfect rat for you.
Allergic kids
There are kids who are very sensitive; some kids are allergic to even dogs. These kids still have a rat as their pet. But as a parent you need to find a rat which is hairless, if your kids are allergic. You can also try to get Rex Rats as many surveys proved that even very sensitive people did not have rashes or cough around these kinds of rats.
Buy two rats
You may not know this but rats are very social animals. They lobe human contracts and they also live in groups. If you buy one rat then it will get lonely in his cage. They also die sooner as they get sad. This is a fact. So if you are thinking about keeping rat as pet then please get two of them at a time. You need to put the two rats in a big cage and you will be amazed to see how much the rats play.
Sex
There are some people who like to get a little adventure with their pet rats, like train them like a cat and dog. For these people, getting a female rat will be the ideal solution. Female rats are very curious and they are also much calmer than the male rats. You can actually train the female rats.
Before we end the article, here is another quick suggestion, do not buy pet rat, and adopt them from animal rehabilitation centres.
Toronto Rat Control Tip of The Week
Can A Rat Have Rabies?
Rats have powerful bites:
Rats can have very powerful bites and are capable of damaging the skin quickly. A rat can bite through cinderblocks to get into an area if it needs to. Rats could bite through clothing or manage to break the skin even unintentionally with a very quick bite. Handling rats with care or using heavy gloves is recommended if you have to remove one or relocate it. It is ultimately best if you avoid handling rats whenever possible.
Many people are bitten each year with low rates of infection:
Rats bite over 50,000 people in the USA each year. Rabies vaccine shots are very rarely delivered in these cases and the risk for other types of diseases that rats carry can be far greater. Going to see a doctor about a rat bite can be wise if you are starting to feel some of the secondary symptoms or it looks infected.
Rats do spread disease:
Rats do spread a series of diseases including rat-bite fever. It can be transmitted through a bite or through pets. Rabies can be a deadly disease but most of the diseases that rats pass on are only able to cause the chance for fever and infection which carry lower rates of mortality.
Other animals can be much riskier to receive bites from:
If you are bitten by other animals like raccoons, coyotes, woodchucks, or skunks, this will give you a much riskier chance of receiving something like rabies. When bitten by a rat, you should be concerned but you may not have to run to get the bite checked out with the same urgency.
The main theory of low rabies cases:
A rat would have to survive a bite from a predator in order to become a carrier of rabies. As coyotes and larger animals will be likely to kill a rat in an attack, this leads to the chance of rats not being able to spread rabies at all.
