Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped?

Mine have never escaped, I left the cage door open today for about 2 hours, went in their and noticed and crapped myself looking 4 them-they were both curled up asleep in the corner of their cage!

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped?

Sweet! lol thats really cool, thanks

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped?

I left the cage open while i was out once and they were all still there when I got back.

Only one of my rats has ever escaped - my cage has a big plastic tunnel and it came a bit loose one time. My rat Peach spent the night playing in the kitchen by herself (scoffed a whole bag of sunflower seeds and pulled all my washing off the maiden, but she didn't do any damage). As soon as my boyfriend came home from work Peach went running to greet him.

in my opinion, if a rat has a good home then they shouldn't want to escape. the bar spacing on my cage is massive but my girls have never even tried to get through it.

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

kk thanks, maybe I should have made the poll about fully wire cages lol oh well

Keep the votes coming!

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

My boys have never escaped, even if I leave the cage door open. They just peek their heads out to see what's going on!

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

in the last 10 years, during which i have had 15 rats, i've had ONE major escape. the very first rats i ever had were constant escape artists, but it was completely my fault. i didn't know much about rats (i was eleven at the time, and without the internet) and i had them in an aquarium with a plastic lid. duh. i'd wake up some mornings to find the lid on the floor and the rats nowhere to be found. one time, one of them was out in the house for two weeks. she did minimal damage, though. i found out years later that she made herself a little nest of our outgrown clothes in a box in the basement (didn't actually ruin anything). eventually i caught her, by waiting next to the couch with a laundry basket. she wasn't ever very friendly toward me after that.

so, in terms to damage to the house, none. it was more damage to the poor rat's personality.

also, for a while when i first got my current cage, i didn't realize the bar spacing was too big, and my girls were "visiting" me at night. i have since remedied that with coated hardware mesh. they still couldn't get out of my room, though, since i sleep with the door closed, and i'd usually find them in the laundry basket in the morning, if they didn't wake me up by wiggling under the covers.

conclusion: if my rats have escaped, it's been my fault, and no lasting damage has ever come from it.

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

The first week when I got my rat (still my first and only T_T parents are hard to convince...).... the first week i had an aquarium with a lid that just sat on top. my rat climbed up (10 gal aquarium, not hard to do), pushed the roof out of her way and was almost lost if i hadn't caught the tip of her tail disappearing over the edge of my bed. Since I got the wire cage, I haven't had any problems though. If I leave the door open, she'll stick her head/nose out and sniff around, then curl up and go back to sleep.

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

never had any rat escapes

I had one female that took a stroll around the room & go back to her cage but no one ever escaped. We had found signs of poo but could never figure out how it got there until she was eventually busted mid-prance running under the bed with a large peanut she pulled out of a treat bag. She was placed in a cage with smaller bar set until she grew out a bit more & could be returned to the big girl cage.

This isn't true about the gerbil my girls brought in without my knowledge several years ago. They waited a day to tell me about sneaking him in & he sneaking out of his cage. We never found him, never heard him, never saw any signs of him... poof!

The only thing I could figure is that he found his way outside. The house was an older construction block home that was originally built without central heat & air. At some point they added a unit so there were all kinds of fabricated openings in walls & in the backs of closets to run the duct work room room to room. Some of these spots were not sealed very well. He had to have found his way out that way. I know in the 3 years I lived there I patched a few places where I found hot drafts coming in which were a dead give-away that there was an opening to the outside world.

So nope... not rat escapes but we did have one successful gerbil escape.

Does that count?

(ps... my girls never ever sneaked an animal in again, they felt horrible about this & some 7 years later they still talk about the one that got away)

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

My two boys have never really escaped, but one time I left the cage open and Pilot got out (Albert just stayed in bed) My whole room is rat proof so it's set up for them to free range anyway, but I'm guessing pilot fell off the cage or off the desk and got a minor sprain that healed in two-three days anyhow but nothing was damaged in my room, maybe save for toys, but thats the point of them right?

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

One of my rats was able to squeeze through the bars in the Ferret Nation. Most of the time she'd just climb up to the top of the cage and hang out in the plastic bin where I keep extra cloth and stuff to give to them.

One day, though, I was on my computer and saw her running around the ground. She ended up in my recliner, so I had some trouble getting her out, but nothing serious happened. Now my Ferret Nation has wires over the bars so no problems.

Edit: By the way, I don't think this forum has 100 active members. So I don't think you'll get all those votes

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

Carrot managed to fit her head through her old cage so we got a new one. IT was a guinea pig cage though so its to be expected.

I leave the cage open when free ranging and they usually go back in after an hour or so by themselves. The new baby doesn't know how to get out of his cage yet, its cute.

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

It really depends on the cage you buy. If you buy a Ferret Nation or other cage with wide-spaced bars, then your chances are much higher of having an escape than if you buy something with smaller bar spacing, like a Martin's.

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

Rats are NEVER going to burn your house down. Your dad's claims have no basis.

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

When I was a kid...our hamster escaped...and we never found her...or well...we found her dead several months later

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

Rats are NEVER going to burn your house down. Your dad's claims have no basis.

I dunno. I've once had a rat pee on the back of a DVD player and it started to spark and smoke. If it gets into some open wiring, onto an open appliance etc .. I'm sure the risk is there. Even if it's minimal

Hence a good ratproofed room! Lol

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

My rats get out all the time. My boys leave their cage door opened though. They always come back when I call them or when I put food in their cage. They never get into anything, if anything happens they either pick on the dog, sleep in a shoe, or come to find you so you can hold and pet them. Capitan Morgan is the only one who gets into anything and the only thing he even gets into is my son's toys. He loves the puppets and will climb into them and it does take a bit to find him again, but now that we know where his hiding spots are it's simple.

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

My little Ed managed to get away from me during free range time. The little sly thing squeezed into a spot where not even my hand to reach him! I had to spend quite some time coaxing him to get out.. but then again, he was always independant. & if the cage top was ever open he'd dash to get out. Using food for bribary is effective

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

Rats are NEVER going to burn your house down. Your dad's claims have no basis.

I dunno. I've once had a rat pee on the back of a DVD player and it started to spark and smoke. If it gets into some open wiring, onto an open appliance etc .. I'm sure the risk is there. Even if it's minimal

Hence a good ratproofed room! Lol

Exactly.... the room my rats are in is terrible if they escape, there's a computer, two gaming systems, a TV, a DVD/VCR player, a fishtank and a bass guitar amp in here. O_O

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

Once.... my little female..I forgot to close the door to her cage, she didnt go far, just up the stairs and back down, but that was enough lol.
My boys wont leave their cage unless i allow them to, they poke their heads out a look around then go about their business.

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

According to this book, wild rats are responsible for an estimated 25% of structure fires.

That said, I've never had a rat escape *yet*. Snakes - that's another story.

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

snakes are escape artists.

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

Edit: By the way, I don't think this forum has 100 active members. So I don't think you'll get all those votes

Oh :lol: well its going quite good so far...

Thanks everyone who has voted and commented so far by the way

KayRatz: My dad is worried that the rats will escape, get in the walls, chew wiring and thus start a fire...but most of his arguements for not getting rats are in fact based on NO real knowledge or information... :roll:

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

No escapes here.

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

Edit: By the way, I don't think this forum has 100 active members. So I don't think you'll get all those votes

Oh :lol: well its going quite good so far...

Thanks everyone who has voted and commented so far by the way

KayRatz: My dad is worried that the rats will escape, get in the walls, chew wiring and thus start a fire...but most of his arguements for not getting rats are in fact based on NO real knowledge or information... :roll:

Any rodent can do that -_- But I've never heard of pet rats "getting in the walls." Seriously, at least if they escape we aren't introducing a new species...

 

Re: Help me get Rats, have yours escaped? (Aiming for 100 vo

I've never heard of a pet rat getting into the walls. I don't see why they would though either. Wild rats get into walls because they chew through them in order to get to food. Your pet rats know where the food is... it's in their food bowl. They don't scavage for food like wild rats do! If anything a wild rat will climb back into their cage with their friends where their hammocks are the very second they are hungry or thirsty. Yes if they smell it they will come, but they don't go out and activley look for food all the time like wild rats do! Your dad's fears are unfounded. Tell him that comparing a wild rat to a pet rat is like comparing a pet dog to a wolf. There isn't a comparison. Yes the same manerisms, a wild rat will clean himself the same as a pet rat, but a wolf will lick his butt the same as a toy poodle will....... doesn't mean they are the same!