I don't know about boys but girls are certainly fun. I have five.

They are absolutely affectionate. Just because a rat is too lazy to run around and tolerates much fussing, doesn't make it more affectionate. My girls are affectionate but sometimes the world is just too interesting to be bothered with skritches. Mine hang out on my lap wrapped in a blanket in the evenings. Occasionally, they wake up, wander around and come back for a nap. If you 'teach' them human affection by being patient and understanding, they will love a good skritching and belly rub. They also love hanging out in big pockets and getting to see the whole apartment.

Yes, girls are energetic, girls are curious and definately, girls are smart! They are fun to watch, easy to train (if you respect their attention spans) and loving. When I open my cage door, within a minute, there are five girls hanging off me! It is great! All this probably applies to boys too, but I have no experience with them.

 

If you're getting the boys together from a place where they've already been socialized, you shouldn't have any issues with them being aggressive towards one another. My boys are super sweet and affectionate (though most babies will be pretty crazy, regardless of gender). Ratigan loves just taking naps on my lap or my shoulder. Obviously every rat will have their own personality, but as a general rule males are not only more calm but tend to bond more closely with their humans.

Also, their marking is pretty inoffensive if you ask me. I mean, it's good to cover up anything you really don't want marked as far as moisture goes, but its really not stinky or gross. I love my squishy boys!

 

I've got girls, and they're very active, but will happily sit on my shoulder if they're in the mood. They trail a lot, (mainly on my wife, which I find both odd and hilarious) so don't think that by getting females you'd avoid that

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If you want laid back, your best bet is males. Females can be like that, sometimes, but it's less likely. I have four females and they are plenty affectionate, but only for a moment before they run off to explore. I'm definitely getting males next time. I think the main drawback with males is more health problems, and they may be a little smellier.

 

In my experience, females are actually more aggressive towards each other. There's rarely a day that I don't here a squeak come from my girls cage whereas seeing my boys fight is an oddity. Since you're getting them young, there's very little chance that the boys would have any issues with each other. It's only older males being introduced to older males that tend to have issues.

Also, girls don't mark any less than boys. In fact, my girls do it more on average. Also, one of my boys, Bartok, is semi-potty trained and will hold it for as long as possible until I put him back in the cage. He's good at telling me when he needs to "go" and once I was in the middle of bathing him... and he still held it. I wish my bladder was that strong.

Boys can be icky sometimes, though. Their male parts can be disturbing to some people and two of my four boys have oily fur (though it's improving lately). But my boys are lap rats. Gus Gus and Bartok would stay on my shoulder or lap all day if I let them. Gus Gus also enjoys it when I give him massages and won't move a muscle as long as I'm petting him.

To avoid marking on you (you can't avoid it on objects), I'd say just don't let them walk over your bare skin. Even Bartok marks me when he walks over my hand.

Girls are a lot more hyper on average. Even my calmest girl is more hyper than my most hyper male.

I'm not recommending either way; just giving my experience. I love having both genders, personally (separate cages, of course). Both genders makes great pets, just in different ways.

 

I've got 2 girls and 1 boy.

The girls are active and happy. One is EXTREMELY personable. The other sort of a "she'd rather do her own thing" sort of a girl. They're both happy and friendly. The only difference between my two girls is...... Holly, the alpha of the group, wants to have it her way. She loves to come out and play, but when she's done.... She would rather be left alone or take a nap. Blue, the passive one..... She craves attention. She'd never go back to her cage if you'd allow it. She has to be in the mix and no matter what you're doing, she wants to do it too. She never tires of being showered with attention.

Then there's my male. Armageddon is pretty lay back. He loves attention, but he's more of a couch potato. He's likes being active, but he rather share a pizza or fall asleep in your lap. He's shy and nervous at times, but only if he thinks Holly is around. He doesn't like her scent on us, so we have to take him out first. He's HUGE for his age. He weighs in at 465 grams, at 4 months, and is still growing. BTW he's not fat..... In fact, he looks slender for his weight. So, males are more lay back, but they can get HUGE.

I can't really decide which sex I would choose. That's why I'm glad I have both.

How old will your daughter be? Depending on her age...... a female rat might be better.

I remember explaining to my daughter, who was 6 at the time, about........ parts...... Yeah, male rats have very large parts....... According to her...... He needed to be wearing pants. LOL.

 

I'd say for a first set, get males. Here's a list of pros/cons for each sex however:
Females: More active, very excitable, like to play and explore, stash and dig. Slimmer and weigh less on average and generally more entertaining. Problems include increased health problems (as opposed to what someone else said, girls get more problems) such as mammary tumours and urinary tract infections. Females definitely still mark on you.

Males: Less active, more "squishy", will come up to you for cuddles more often if you want the affection. Boys can be smellier than girls though and will develop "buck grease" later in life when their hormones come out around 6/7 months. During this time they can get aggressive with one another so you may need them neutering. They also weigh more than girls and obviously without neutering you can feel their "parts" on you, as compared to girls where you feel nothing.

It's really up to you however, I mean there's a risk you may need to get either sex spayed/neutered depending on the chance of mammary tumours and hormonal aggression. But for your daughter I'd go with big, squashy boys! And if they're socialised properly from the breeder and immediately when you get them home they'll be very nice lap rats indeed.

 

I'm a fan of girls. I had two boys before my roommate adopted them so we could more comfortably keep the genders separate, etc, and I LOVED my boys dearly but if I had to pick between the two I'd pick girls every time. I currently have six and am passively seeking one or two more... they are all quirky and loving and LOVE to explore and get into people's business. We've had a lot of success introducing people to them who were previously unsure how they felt about rats. I love the curiosity and activity of the girls. I tend to think there's something wrong with the boys because they don't explore or play as much. I also find girls to be generally sleeker and prettier, but that's a personal preference. It's really up to you and who you fall in love with.

 

I have only had males, so can't tell you much about girls. Though I will tell you that in my experience, the lap rat thing isn't always true.

Right now actually I have Soda, my almost 2 year old boy, on my lap running around and trying to keep him from getting off my chair (He's also scent marking my quite a bit but that's normal for Soda).

As for the scent marking, it's not that bad once you get used to it. just make sure to warn guess before handling them. One thing about it is that all rats mark a different amount, some is due to genetics, personality, and their rank in the colony/group/mischief. eventually over time you'll see who scent marks more. (which can actually be good since when males have UTIs they can scent mark more then usual).

Males also tend to be bigger, which I personally like.

Other then Size, normal activity level, and that females are more likely to get Tumors, there isn't any difference between them. Out of my so far 7 boys, only one has been "aggressive" and that was Storm, but he wasn't actually aggressive (he was more like a jerk then anything) and he had Hypothyroidism so his was due to a disorder and not being a male.

So I would actually ask your daughter what gender she wants.

 

Thank you for all your input!! It's great. Too bad I couldn't get one girl and one boy so we could have the best of both worlds. But, we don't need the worries of neutering/spaying right now. I'm leaning more towards boys at this point. I think. Maybe? LOL. One thing I thought about, like Kaliloca mentioned, is the issue of the little (or NOT so little) boy parts. My daughter will be turning six so I don't know how put off she could be. She already knows boys have different parts, and she calls them Googalies (I have no idea where that even came from!). I think that she'd probably be okay, especially if we're getting them young before they've had a chance to fully "bloom"....Overall, I'm thinking a squishy lil love bug would be the best bet at this point. Altho, I'm sure I'll probably change my mind a few times more. Thanks again, guys & gals!!

 

I feel the need to warn you that not all boys "parts" start out small and then "bloom."

My first two boys, who came from a breeder, had tiny parts at four weeks old (I even wondered if they were female for a while) and they did eventually become more apparent, though they're still MUCH smaller than other males I've seen.

My second pair of boys came from a petstore and were about six weeks old and had bigger "parts" at that age then my other boys had at the time (they were three months old). However, my petstore boys' parts are now (at three months old) not nearly as apparent as they were as babies and definitely not as big as other rats I've seen.

Just something for you to keep in mind when choosing. Every rat is different and thankfully I haven't had an adult male whose parts were obtrusive. It probably stems from genetics, so if you get from a breeder, you might be able to see, or ask, how apparent their parts will be when grown.

Best of luck.

 

I got my daughter 2 males for her 6th birthday. After owning rats when I was a teenager and their personality traits, we went with 2 males as they are more cuddly. Now we have had these guys for about 6 weeks now and their a hoot. Very active as their still babies but they are a fantastic pet!!!

 

But to add, all rats, like people have distinct personalities and my favourite rat if all time was a female!

 

Yup the boy part thing factored into my decision to get girls, the sales girl pointed it out to me with my then 5 year old daughter. So that kind of flipped the coin for me... As to whether you want a laid back rat with a 5 year old is also debatable. My daughter is an active kid and an active rat challenges her more and is more fun to play with. As adults we're more likely to appreciate a lazy boy rat or even an old dog more than a kid might.

Does your kid want a playful puppy or an snugly old Beagle?

 

I had to tell you guys, we went to Petsmart the other day and they had rats. So I thought I'd test my daughter out and asked if she would like to hold one. She was very excited and we held one and she giggled like a little school girl! LOL. So I'm excited that she'll really like her birthday present. But the funniest part though was when we left she said, "Mommy, he had a really big butt!" Yeah, those weren'this butt...But we can definitely go with that! LOL