We keep three rats at home, Spock, Bones and Kirk.Spock is the blond rat shown here to the right. Spock and Kirk arrived into our house as birthday presents for my wife. When we got them they were about six weeks old, and still very small. Spock was always the more adventurous and curious of the two and is presently the 'alpha' rat. Later I saw an advert at our local supermarket for a good home for a young rat. I received Bones free from another rat fancier whose female rat had birthed. He was minuscule when I brought him home; after some initial sniffing by the 'alpha' Spock he was accepted into their pack.

Spock is now dead. He died of a brain tumor in January 2002, soon after Christmas. We had to put him down, as he was sufferring, had lost his personality, and was losing a lot of weight. He was a great pet, and felt part of our family, such as it is.

On the left here is Kirk, our cute but obese rat. Kirk is extremely gentle, despite being by far the heaviest rat in our little pack. As a result of his size he is also the nicest to hold. In this picture here he was still quite young. Here he is grooming himself, sitting in his characteristic pose. Rats are surprisingly clean little animals, and they maintain quite a high standard of cleanliness within their cage. All three rats are potty trained, and we use an old biscuit tin with cat litter (wood pellets) in the bottom as their toilet.

Here is Kirk (eating as usual) and Bones in their hammock. A hammock is an excellent toy for rats. Just get a rectangular piece of old cloth, slit it at the corners and tie the split corners to the cage bars. In warmer weather our rats prefer to sleep together in their hammock, or sometimes just doze in it during the day. 

Running Free  Rats don't need to be kept locked in their cage, and if you are a good owner, and have given them a nice cage, then it can be quite safe to let them loose about the room: our rats love their cage, and always return to it after their adventures in our living room. Rats will also return to their cage, sometimes at the rush, if they find something 'nice' on their travels. They love to hoard, and will drag back sheets of paper from the printer, toilet rolls, erasers, earth balls from the plant pots (see left) and strategically placed titbits of food left around for them to find such as plums or apple slices. All the rats enjoy digging, so sometimes we give them small pots of herbs as a treat. Kirk seems to enjoy eating the earth, and regards it as some sort of delicacy: as yet it seems to have done him no harm.

Fighting  Rats enjoy fighting or 'boxing' with each other, mostly for no good reason. Unlike dogs, who will often fight over scraps of food, the rats seem to have a clear understanding about who has the right to what food, but will often spar with each other spontaneously at other times. When let run around the room, Kirk will often harass Spock, trying to pick a fight. Each has their technique: Kirk uses his weight, and his favourite method is to simply press down on his opponents belly. Spock seems to have developed his own little martial art, and does some fancy side kicks when fighting. Although for the most part this fighting seems good natured, it should not be encouraged, as they are prone to pulling tufts of hair from each other. Poor Kirk seems to always come of worst, perhaps due to his gentle nature, and once Spock actually bit him in the belly. Luckily only the skin was pierced, and no organs.

Food Their staple is a dry rat food called 'Reggie Rat', which seems to consist of some seeds, some dried squashed peas, some corn, and some hard processed beads of various colours. The rats are picky, and never eat the large brown lumps. We regularly feed them scraps from our own meals, and they love pasta. Other favourites are baked beans, which they actually peel before eating, and whole corn cobs. Special treats are drops of coffee and hot chocolate, and baby food.