scared of future rats biting/scratching me

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creative animal lover

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I was reading the post called " Risks are part of life & misinterpretations shouldn't inspire abusive decisions" and how rats had viruses and it kind of freaked me out. I have had many pets for many years and especially know the risks of all animals and how you could easily catch something or give something to them. But this reminded me of a news article I read about an 11-year-old boy dying from a rat bite from a rat he got at a chain petstore which also kind of scared me, but that was a long time ago. What I am getting to is I know there are risks while having rats, but would an average rat cause any problems?
I always try to wash my hands before handling animals and pretty much always remember to wash my hand after interaction especially if I touched the animal or feces or something, but I feel a bit concerned and scared. I am fine with tamed rats, but I am now thinking about if I get rats and they are untamed which is obviously the most likely thing to happen. I know I won't have to worry about this for a while if I do get rats, but what should I do if I get bitten, and have you had any really bad problems with getting bitten or scratched. I hear all about how people are allergic to rats, my friend has rats so I know I am fine around them, and tame rats don't scare me at all.
I guess that I just find it unsettling when I hear about dangers coming from a beloved pet and especially if something would then happen to the rat much less me, my family, or other pets and other rats. So I guess I am just asking what to do if you are nipped or bitten or scratched and if there are any side effects, I guess. I would probably get the rats from a pet store because I think it would be best especially if they are already bonded, but I know they don't get handled as much and they don't have the best health or genetics so would there be any real risks there? Thanks for any help I just kind of panicked because I would not want anything like that to happen with any future rats of mine.
 
Well, I guess all I can say is I’ve been bitten and peed on and had rat heads and feet in my mouth and even up my nose. Nothing deadly has ever gone of it. The biggest thing when you get bit is to keep it CLEAN. Plenty of people out there just aren’t common sense and I feel like most often that is the problem.
 
Sheldon said:
Well, I guess all I can say is I’ve been bitten and peed on and had rat heads and feet in my mouth and even up my nose. Nothing deadly has ever gone of it. The biggest thing when you get bit is to keep it CLEAN. Plenty of people out there just aren’t common sense and I feel like most often that is the problem.
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Yea I get what you are saying. With any animal bite you have to keep it clean and you can't blame the rat if something happens because they bite you and you did nothing.
If its a bad bite could I just wash it off and put some anti-bacterial stuff on it like Neosporin and a band-aid? I am still a little scared, but I know tons of people own rats with no problems, and like I mentioned its mainly with taming since I know tame rats don't really bite a lot.
 
Yea I guess I should be a little more open minded. I do love browsing on petfinder.... they are 2 adoriable baby rats for adoption right now and I can barely stand them ( even though I can’t get them since I have nothing set up).
 
creative animal lover said:
Yea I guess I should be a little more open minded. I do love browsing on petfinder.... they are 2 adoriable baby rats for adoption right now and I can barely stand them ( even though I can’t get them since I have nothing set up).
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I’m selling a good sized rat cage since my girls have been moved to a CN. If you’re eager to get some babies I’d say go for it! I’ve only ever been bitten by a pregnant/nursing mama rat when I got too close to her babies and after a good wash I was fine.
 
Ratmama17 said:
I’m selling a good sized rat cage since my girls have been moved to a CN. If you’re eager to get some babies I’d say go for it! I’ve only ever been bitten by a pregnant/nursing mama rat when I got too close to her babies and after a good wash I was fine.
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Yea I really want them, just I think there is a little more I want to learn before getting rats so I am prepared and comfortable. ( although they are still super cute) I think I just get really paranoid, aspecialy since rats are said to not bite often and as you said she bit in a state of defense or protection.
 
With your concerns, your best bet is an ethical rescue or breeder. I may be wrong but from what I know the biggest concerns with pet rats are Rat-Bite -Fever, and Seoul virus, which affect only certain people with immune disorders. Our rat "guru" Emergent Rattery (who also suffers from immune disorder) operates both a rattery and rescue, and we got 2 of each. They virus test every rat that enters the place, and copied us on the results when we adopted.

EDITED due to the fact we do NOT endorse ratteries here.
 
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TiffanyKei said:
With your concerns, your best bet is an ethical rescue or breeder. I may be wrong but from what I know the biggest concerns with pet rats are Rat-Bite -Fever, and Seoul virus, which affect only certain people with immune disorders. Our rat "guru" Emergent Rattery (who also suffers from immune disorder) operates both a rattery and rescue, and we got 2 of each. They virus test every rat that enters the place, and copied us on the results when we adopted.
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That sounds like a lovely breeder ( even though it's pricy). We do have a good breeder near me. And they seem pretty good since they are not in it for money since they claim they do it as a hobby and they also don't sell feeders. They claim their rats live almost 4 years, which does sound good for me because they also say their rats rarely get tumors. But I plan to go to college in 4 years and I am unsure of how having pets there will be if the rats live until then ( if they even allow it). So I have been kind of looking around shelters because a long lifespan is not something I am really looking for, although, quality health is still something I would prefer. I have been looking at the breeder because I would prefer the rat to have good health and genetics, but if they lived 4 years I think it would be hard to sell them if they couldn't go with me and they lived until then.

Much less I kind of have a time limit of when I can get young rats since I am going to school and if I wait 2 years before getting rats I would chance of having the rats live until I leave. Sorry for long post I guess I am just rambling, but yea so I am kind of conflicted on where I should get rats because of their lifespan, especially health and also my predicament.
 
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I don't have rats yet. But I did a ton of research on this topic when I was thinking about getting them and I was nervous about rat bite fever because of that story. Rat bite fever is very rare. It is more rare that Cat Scratch Fever and no one warns you about that when you are going to get a kitty. I volunteered with shelter cats without a second thought. Rats are actually more clean and safer to own than dogs because they cannot contract parasites that you would get from having your pet go outside. Rat bite fever is a risk depending on where you get your rats from. However, the most important things is that if you are a new owner and you get bit and you get sick is to see your doctor. The child died because it presented as the flu and the child did not get medical attention right away because the parents did not know about rat bite fever. If you have flu like symptoms and are a new owner talk to your doctor tell your doctor you have new pet rats and get tested. However, it is very rare and knowing about rat bite fever so you can take action if you do get sick is what will keep you safe.
 
Understanding an animal's nature is very important. If animal is going to bite you, they usually give you warnings before they lash out at you. I have 4 ratlings 3 are young males . I also have 6 parrots. I habe been bitten more often than I care to say, but it was my own fault for failing to listen to what they were telling me. i recently learned a hard lesson with one of my young males (rat). We eere playing having a good time, I guess I touched his back end a few nany times...and he did warn me but I failed to listen. Finally, he tagged my wrist pretty good. It wasnt his fault...it was mine. Their body language will tell you a lot on what they are trying to tell you! Vishnu is a very sweet boy who loves to cuddle and kiss my nose...just don't touch his back end! Like ever!! LOL! In saying that....what to do if you do get bit. Flush your wound, with saline immediatley and keep it covered when you are around your rats until it closes up.
Ratlings are the sweetest creatures in my books and they would rather "make love , not war" . After my boy taught me a lesson in respecting his boundaries, every day he goes to where he bit me and gives the wound his TLC.
 
I really have to upvote checking with a shelter. They are going to be able to work with you on getting some babies that are appropriate for a new owner. They are very careful about placing the right rats with the right people. I really think you would end up happiest this way. [emoji847]
 
Dearie me, similarly to Sheldons post I’ve had baby rats crawl into my mouth and bite my tongue and lips, scratches all over my body (to which often I left untreated until showering because there’s always so many scratches and I can’t keep track!) and since I only have boys, they pretty much scent mark me every day, also I’ve picked up their droppings with bare hands multiple times before and after washing my hands nothing has ever gone wrong with me!

If you get your ratties from respectable, private breeders nothing will go wrong. However I’m not sure about pet store rats (you don’t know what situation they came from.)
 
Yea I am thinking about shelter rats, but of course they come from places like pet stores, but I stay pretty clean and wash my hands so I think I should be good.
 
Quote from the rules in the introduction section:

The Rat Shack was created primarily to offer a place where rat lovers can unite in order to learn and share their experiences with regards to rat care . It was also created to promote rats needing good homes, rats in rescues and shelters.

========================================

I would encourage anyone thinking of getting rats to adopt from shelters, good rat rescues, or rats being rehomed.
IMO, if you are interested in buying rats (from stores or breeders, etc) then there are many other places on the internet where you can go to find out/discuss that. This is a rat rescue site.

Btw, rat-bite -fever, and Seoul virus are not the major concerns regarding pet rats, unless you are a breeder churning out litters. (Edit: because, as mentioned by a previous poster, they are rare, so not a huge concern for pet owners.) There is, however, a list of things used to judge if a breeder is ethical or unethical.

The breeder TiffanyKei mentioned was BANNED from this forum and to my knowledge, Emergent Rattery is considered an unethical backyard breeder. TiffanyKei please stop mentioning and promoting her and her rattery.
 
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SQ said:
The breeder TiffanyKei mentioned was BANNED from this forum and to my knowledge, Emergent Rattery is considered an unethical backyard breeder. TiffanyKei please stop mentioning and promoting her and her rattery.
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No need to shout :) Being educated and fair minded, the censorship seems a but paranoid to me :) My vet (who is endorsed on this forum?) told us Emergent was a rescue long before she became a breeder, and has known her for 20 years. He said she 's the only Rescue in Ontario that tests rats for diseases (not just for Seoul Virus which was my concern too).

I don't get into politics but since Emergent was the one who endorsed this forum to me, I find it strange she would be banned? :O
I'm pretty sure she gave us our 2 pedigreed rats only because we adopted the rescues first, and only because my boyfriend insisted . Personally I don't care other than I have to work with rats for school , and was told your forum was useful at least for articles. Otherwise I stay away from politics. My grandmother taught us thats the sure way to find failure in life.
 
TiffanyKei said:
With your concerns, your best bet is an ethical rescue or breeder. I may be wrong but from what I know the biggest concerns with pet rats are Rat-Bite -Fever, and Seoul virus, which affect only certain people with immune disorders. Our rat "guru" Emergent Rattery (who also suffers from immune disorder) operates both a rattery and rescue, and we got 2 of each. They virus test every rat that enters the place, and copied us on the results when we adopted.

EDITED due to the fact we do NOT endorse ratteries here.
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NO NEED TO EDIT. EMERGENT RATTERY IS A RESCUE ALSO. THANKYOU
 
Emergent is a rattery and always has been. She sometimes rescue as well. But since there's breeding, she can't be promoted here. Thank you for understanding and following the rules.
 

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