I thought I would share our experience of girls and boys in case it is helpful.
We have neutered males and un-neutered females. We had the boys neutered so that we can house them together.
Before they were neutered, the boys weren't too smelly, probably because they were young. But our old boy did have quite a strong buck grease smell before neutering. Buck grease is like a rust coloured grease which they can get on their skin. After neutering, buck grease doesn't seem to be a problem anymore.
The neutered boys don't smell much at all, but they have a sort of "gingerbread" smell that the girls don't.
Both smell nice if their enclosure is kept clean and fresh.
Lastly, you mention getting a male rat - singular. Rats prefer to live in a pair or more, so if you do get rats get a couple or even a trio is a nice number to have.
Emiology is a youtube channel which is very helpful, also Shadow the Rat. I encourage you to watch lots of videos to help you learn about day to day rat care. They are very nice little animals.
We have neutered males and un-neutered females. We had the boys neutered so that we can house them together.
Before they were neutered, the boys weren't too smelly, probably because they were young. But our old boy did have quite a strong buck grease smell before neutering. Buck grease is like a rust coloured grease which they can get on their skin. After neutering, buck grease doesn't seem to be a problem anymore.
The neutered boys don't smell much at all, but they have a sort of "gingerbread" smell that the girls don't.
Both smell nice if their enclosure is kept clean and fresh.
Lastly, you mention getting a male rat - singular. Rats prefer to live in a pair or more, so if you do get rats get a couple or even a trio is a nice number to have.
Emiology is a youtube channel which is very helpful, also Shadow the Rat. I encourage you to watch lots of videos to help you learn about day to day rat care. They are very nice little animals.
