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Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2018
Messages
17
Location
South Carolina, USA
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Hi everyone! My name is Chris, and I've recently acquired three adorable baby boys: Sulli, Olly, and Ki. I've just returned to rats after taking a break for several years to allow my broken heart to heal a bit. There were no rescue rats in my area. I bought them from a breeder. I do, however, have two wonderful rescue dogs and a cat I hand raised from a litter of feral kittens in my neighborhood 17 years ago. I love all my pets like crazy, and my new little boys already have me wrapped 'round their tiny toes. I'll help answer questions wherever I can, and I hope someone will answer my questions as well. Blessings to all!
 
Thank you, jorats and bluerose!

I noticed you folks in Canada seem to have healthier, longer-lived rats than we have down here. When I took my boy Nick to an exotic vet a few years ago, at age 2 yrs, 3 mos, she was impressed. She said with rats, every day past 2 is a gift. I have found this to be true. With the best care I can possibly give them, my oldest rats have been 2 yrs, 9 mos and 2yrs, 10 mos, but most have not seen 2. I'd love to get some healthier rats and know others would as well. How long do they typically live for you, Canadian friends?
 
I don’t know how I keep missing all these posts. Hi and welcome! Most of mine lived just past 2, but my current girl will be 3 in December! Most of my rats were from the same litter and died of PTs, but the ones that didn’t lived past 2 1/2, so I’m not sure if the genes were good or bad. The others were unknown ages and all lived to be either 2 or under.
 
Hi L&R! Congrats on your oldie then! It sounds like your liter had a genetic predisposition for pituitary tumors but the ones that didn't get it lived longer than most of mine. I've read about several 3 yr olds and lots of rats well past 2 on this forum, mostly from Canada. I understand rescue is important in areas with large rat populations, but where I live rats aren't very popular, and the ones available aren't very healthy. I'd pay a lot for rats with longevity in their breeding. It seems they barely get past teenager nonsense, then they're suddenly old and frail. So heartbreaking!
 
Thank you, jorats and bluerose!

I noticed you folks in Canada seem to have healthier, longer-lived rats than we have down here. When I took my boy Nick to an exotic vet a few years ago, at age 2 yrs, 3 mos, she was impressed. She said with rats, every day past 2 is a gift. I have found this to be true. With the best care I can possibly give them, my oldest rats have been 2 yrs, 9 mos and 2yrs, 10 mos, but most have not seen 2. I'd love to get some healthier rats and know others would as well. How long do they typically live for you, Canadian friends?

To my knowledge, the average lifespan of rats is probably close to 2 to 2.5 years old - but I thought this was true across North America ….. it seemed to be several years ago but may be closer to 2 years now.

My rats usually live more then 2 years (often 2.5 or higher) and I have had a couple that lived past 3 years
and I believe that Jorats had a girl that lived to 4 years

It is important to note that this is a rescue forum and my rats are rescues, not bought from breeders (whose rats do not seem to be healthier despite their claims). Rescue rats are rats being rehomed and here they originated from pets store rats (bred in large mills) or backyard breeders, or their parents did ….. so they do not necessarily have a great genetic backgrounds.
Rats used to live much, much longer but their lifespan has been decreasing over the last 50 years despite advances in health care and diet.

If our rats are living longer then it may be that the people on this forum tend to do their best to provide healthy food (I see rats on facebook being fed all sorts of unhealthy and disease causing things) and we tend to provide our rats with prompt medical care. This forum and it's members also tend to have high standards for rat care, much higher then the standards promoted by some people in the USA such as Debbie Ducommun. All of this makes a huge difference to health, happiness and lifespan of each individual rat.

In my area of the country, heart problems are very common in rats but this is often not diagnosed.
I don't think our rats necessarily have better genetics (some rats have more genetic health issues then others, even in the same litter) ……… diet, environment, spaying & neutering, and prompt medical care can all make a big difference to a rat's health and lifespan.
For example, a couple of us have noticed that when girls are spayed young, we rarely see pituitary tumours.
 
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Actually, my vet told me that she'd never seen rats live beyond 2 years and my first few rats barely made it to two. After doing research, changing their diets to low fat and low protein as well as enriching their habitat, I believe this is why my rats began to live much longer lives, my vet agrees with me.
 
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