Rat

Rats kept as pets are descended from brown rats. It used to be said that they migrated from Asia to Europe. But they came to the West by ships and caravans.

Characteristics

What does a rat look like?

Brown rats are rodents and belong to the mouse family. They weigh 200 to 400 grams, sometimes even up to 500 grams. Their body is 20 to 28 centimeters and their tail is 17 to 23 centimeters long. The rat tail is shorter than the body and looks like it is “naked”. That tail is one of the reasons humans are disgusted with rats. He is not naked but has numerous rows of scales from which hair grows. These hairs act like antennae, which the rat uses as a guide.

And the rat’s tail has even more good qualities: the rat can use it to support itself when climbing and thus keep its balance. It is also a kind of thermometer that the rat uses to regulate its body temperature. Brown rats are gray to black-brown or reddish-brown on their backs, and their abdomens are off-white. Their eyes and ears are quite small. The ears are short-haired, the snout is blunt, the tail is bare and quite thick. The feet are pink.

In addition to these normally colored animals, there are also black animals, some with a white chest patch. The rats that are kept as pets today are all descendants of the brown rat. They were bred in many color variants: there are now even spotted animals. The white lab rats are also descended from brown rats.

Where does the rat live

The brown rat’s original home is the steppes in Siberia, northern China, and Mongolia. From there they conquered the whole world: they traveled around the world as stowaways on ships and many other means of transport and are found everywhere today.

Wild brown rats live in steppes and fields. There they create widely branched burrows under the ground. Brown rats bonded closely with humans a long time ago. Today they live in cellars, pantries, stables, in garbage dumps, and also in the sewage system – pretty much everywhere.

What types of rats are there?

The brown rat is closely related to the house rat (Rattus rattus). She is slightly smaller, has larger eyes and ears, and her tail is slightly longer than her body. In Germany it was pushed out by brown rats and is now so rare in Germany that it is even protected. Rats have many other relatives around the world. It is not known exactly how many there are. Over 500 different rat species are known to date.

How old does a rat get?

Rats kept as pets live for a maximum of three years.

Behave

How do rats live?

Brown rats are perfect survivors. Wherever people live, there are rats. No matter which continents the Europeans discovered in the last few centuries: the rats were there. Because they are not specialized in a specific habitat, they quickly conquered their new home.

Rats learned early on: where there are people, there is also something to eat! It is not known exactly when brown rats became attached to humans: it could have been a few thousand years ago, but it could also have been just a few hundred years ago.

Rats only really wake up in the evening and are active at night. About 40 percent of brown rats in Germany live outdoors. They make great underground passages and burrows with living and food cauldrons lined with leaves and dry grass.

The other rats live in houses, cellars, or, for example, in the sewage system. They make nests there too. These living areas are the territories of the rats and are vigorously defended by them against foreign animals. Rats often make real trips in search of food: They walk up to three kilometers to find food. Rats are good climbers, swimmers, and divers very well.

Rats have an excellent sense of smell, which they use to determine whether or not food is suitable to eat. If an animal refuses the food – for example, because it is poisonous – the other pack members also leave the food where it is.

Rats are very social animals. They like company and live in large family groups in which 60 to 200 animals cavort. It’s not always gentle and calm there: rats have a strict hierarchy, which is often determined in fierce fights.

Rats can breed very quickly. That’s why in some big cities there are more rats than people. The males can reproduce at the age of three months, the females a little later. They have young up to seven times a year.

Friends and foes of the rat

Red foxes, martens, polecats, dogs, cats, or owls can be dangerous to the rats.

How do rats breed?

Male and female rats do not live together as pairs. A female is usually mated by many males – and this is possible all year round. After 22 to 24 days, a female gives birth to six to nine, sometimes 13 young. Often a female gives birth to her young in a communal nest, and the rat babies are raised jointly by the different rat mothers. Young rats that have lost their mother are cared for by the remaining rat mothers.

Baby rats are real nest animals: blind and naked, they have pink, wrinkled skin. They only open their eyes when they are 15 days old. Now her fur has grown too. They slowly begin to discover their surroundings. They leave the burrow for the first time when they are three weeks old. Young rats are very playful and frolic a lot with each other.

How does the rat hunt?

Sometimes rats become predators: they can prey on birds and even vertebrates up to the size of a rabbit. But not all brown rats do that. Usually it is only certain packs that eventually start hunting.

How do rats communicate?

Most of the time you only hear squeaks and squeaks from rats, but they can also growl and hiss. Rats “talk” to each other in the so-called ultrasonic range. However, people cannot hear anything in this range.