My poor ratty needs a friend

[DeeDee]

A few weeks ago we found a fancy rat in our trash can. Sweetest little thing and came right up to us. Posted in our local lost and found pet site and nobody claimed her so we decided to keep her. I know they do better when they have little friends so I’ve called around to every pet store and every rat breeder I could possibly find in my area and nobody has any. Petco said they have a shortage right now. Not sure I’d want to get one there now anyway after some of the not so good experiences I’ve been hearing about. I found a few pet stores that said they had feeders that people adopt as pets. That sounded weird to me and I’ll not too sure about that. I live in Tulsa, OK. I’ve googled all the rat breeders in my area but thought maybe somebody would know of a place that wouldn’t show up on google.

 

[lilspaz68]

did you try Craiglist? I'm looking for rat/rodent rescues in your area but I am not sure how far you can travel and if any are still active.

This one is a male and a female (if they are living together the female might be pregnant)
https://tulsa.craigslist.org/pet/d/tulsa-rats/7162745314.html
not really a fan of breeders but she's obviously not trying to make money off them
https://tulsa.craigslist.org/pet/d/tulsa-fancy-rats/7167161277.html
as for feeders being sold as pets..most of my current rescues are "second-hand" feeders and are lovely. Being a feeder usually means a little less handled and /or not as fancy looking as the ones sold as pet stock.

 

[DeeDee]

Thank you for the info. Yes, I am concerned when it comes to getting a female particularly one that has been paired up with a male. If a shop or breeder sells you a female, my guess is you can never be 100% positive that they're not pregnant, even if they assure you that they're not. I'd like to get a male because my daughter said she'd like one that's more cuddly and I know the males are more apt to be. I spent probably half a day on the phone to various vets to see how much it would cost to neuter a male and wow, the cheapest one I could find was $100 so looks like I will be getting a female and hope for the best.

 

[lilspaz68]

$100 is crazy cheap actually I pay around $250-300 for each of mine with rescue pricing too.

 

[Big Schpog]

100 bucks is a good deal, and it's the healthiest thing for them.