Many people associate rats with plague and diseases or vermin that would eat food/destroy things, etc.

My father doesn't like rats because he grew up on a farm and they were pests and he hates their tails (he likes hamsters because they don't have tails.)

My mother hates them because she was taught to hate them. Them and anything 'icky'.

 

Yeah I think it's just because of thier reputations. The only reason I didn't think of them as icky is because there was a teacher in my middle school who had all sorts of animals including a rat. I went there and someone handed the rattie to me (his name was ringo) and I've liked them ever since.

 

lots of people are like that, sadly.
like..my mom and entire family. xD
but more often than not, once people eee pet rats, they lose their fear and even think ratties are cute! ;]

 

Most people think that at first, because rats have bad reps They were blamed for the bubonic plague, and have destroyed a lot. So when people think of rats, they think of disease-carrying vermin. But everyone who has met my rats has changed their opinion of them, even my grandma who was adamantly against my getting rats in the first place. She still doesn't like it when they climb on her shoulder, but she lets Bella lick her hands and has admitted more than once that they're cute ^_^

 

People hate their tails but that is my favorite part... especially when they curl up with them and snuggle with them when they sleep.

 

Y'know, this has bothered me for a long time. I mean, I don't go through life upset about it, or anything, however, anytime I can, I try to promote "good rat image." I carry pictures of my boys, and talk about them and show off their pix a lot. Some people are very surprised to see that ~THAT~ is actually what a pet rat looks like.

Still, it's very ingrained in people to look down on rats, and it's just not fair. Anytime I hear one of those derogatory slang comments involving a rat, I bring it up, and prove how silly it would seem, with any other small, furry animal.

"He's nothing but a low-down, no-good, dirty chinchilla!"

"Yeah, when da cops got 'im, he hamstered us out."

"...like bunnies deserting a sinking ship."

"I smell a GERBIL!"

...and so on. Nobody takes as much collective verbal abuse as the rat, even if it's not directed at them personally, and considered a "figure of speech."

 

"He's nothing but a low-down, no-good, dirty chinchilla!"

"Yeah, when da cops got 'im, he hamstered us out."

"...like bunnies deserting a sinking ship."

"I smell a GERBIL!"

Next vacation I get, I'm coming to stay in your brain

 

XD!!!

Yush, I try and promote good-rat-image too. As soon as I say I have rats, they're like "Ew, please, what is WRONG with you?". But I continue, talking about them like I would with my cats, describing their personality and stuff, and you see their expressions change. Well, at least half of the time ^-^

 

My roommate is a converted! I told her I wanted rats, and she was like, as long as I don't have to see them... now she thinks they're adorable! Most people just have no idea, and these horrible things are the image that they have of rats, not the sweet, loving, intelligent pets that we all know.

 

The only reason that (before I got rats or was around Vixie's) I thought they were gross at all is because I read the book Dusk, about a girl with hawk DNA and she lives in an area with these huge army of rats led by this super smart rat they called the General... anyway, the part that made me think they were nasty was that it mentioned the trails they leave behind but then I saw that Vixie let them run all over her everyday and she wasnt dying so I figured they were safe enough.

 

Well.. most of my friends didnt like them... they would tolerate them. My boyfriend does not absolutly love Maci.. but he knows she is special to me and therefore he puts up with her. He will let her run around by him.. and he will watch her while i clean her cage. My little sis does not like Bruxing. she hates it... it grosses her out.. but ohter wise most of the people i know dont mind her.

 

Y'know, this has bothered me for a long time. I mean, I don't go through life upset about it, or anything, however, anytime I can, I try to promote "good rat image." I carry pictures of my boys, and talk about them and show off their pix a lot. Some people are very surprised to see that ~THAT~ is actually what a pet rat looks like.

Still, it's very ingrained in people to look down on rats, and it's just not fair. Anytime I hear one of those derogatory slang comments involving a rat, I bring it up, and prove how silly it would seem, with any other small, furry animal.

"He's nothing but a low-down, no-good, dirty chinchilla!"

"Yeah, when da cops got 'im, he hamstered us out."

"...like bunnies deserting a sinking ship."

"I smell a GERBIL!"

...and so on. Nobody takes as much collective verbal abuse as the rat, even if it's not directed at them personally, and considered a "figure of speech."

That's great! LOL!

 

Well.. most of my friends didnt like them... they would tolerate them. My boyfriend does not absolutly love Maci.. but he knows she is special to me and therefore he puts up with her. He will let her run around by him.. and he will watch her while i clean her cage. My little sis does not like Bruxing. she hates it... it grosses her out.. but ohter wise most of the people i know dont mind her.

 

I was at PetsMart with Lucy one day and this middleaged, superficial, rich blonde woman behind me is burning a hole in my head staring at Lucy running around on my shoulder and I thought this woman thinks i'm nuts. I hear "excuse me?" and I am thinkin' "oh here we go!" she asks how old Lucy is and comes to find out she actually kept two dumbos and gave me the name of a local breeder. I was very suprised.

My friends get grossed out when Lucy cleans my goatee and tries to steal food out of my mouth as i'm eating it.