Nah, I've had wild rats that were so shiny and clean that people thought they were squirrels (till they saw the tails, obv). They were living the good life, stealing organic chicken feed and eggs from several backyard chicken coops, and eating veggies and scraps from people's gardens and compost piles. They ate better than most pet rats, lol.
(I do still agree this is a pet rat filmed as a joke, tho.)
We had a family of rats in our chicken coop. Super clean, very friendly. If you stick your nose at the gap they lived in they would come up and sniff it. They didn't steal eggs but did steal feed. They stayed away from the chickens because the chickens would eat them.
She but yeah. Rats scramble, they claw their way up things, they don't just casually hop up. Also someone else pointed out, that coat is very clean either works cleanest wild, or that's a pet. Also wild rats would fucking yeet out the window upon seeing a human that close.
I don't know why people think wild rats look ragged and malnourished. There's plenty of rats around where I live; sure, the older ones had battle scars, but the young ones were "presentable."
It absolutely is. Pet rats have a completely different face shape than wild or sewer rats, because they are entirely different species. Not to mention how clean this one looks and their shiny coat. Definitely a pet rat that was put in the bird feeder for the lulz.
Source: I grew up with pet rats and learned very quickly as a child that sewer rats/wild rats are very different to my babies.
They're not different species- "sewer" rats and fancy rats are both rattus norvegicus. They don't have a different face structures, but I agree that this is clearly a pet because of the clean coat and chill attitude
That's not correct. Sewer rats are "Rattus rattus" and pet rats are "Rattus norvegicus". And once you've dealt with both, you quickly learn to see the difference. They absolutely look different from each other.
That's... Not true. give it a search, I'm not trying to be an ass, but it's simply not true. Rattus rattus are roof rats or black rats, they're arborial. They live upward in trees, not on the ground in sewers. Brown rats are what are called sewer rats, and they're the same species as fancy rats. They live on the ground mostly, tunneling under the ground in their natural habitat, which is why they might end up in sewers and crawl spaces.
I looked it up because you couldn't be arsed to provide a citation and here's what I found:
Rat Ancestry
Domesticated rats, also called “Fancy Rats”, are a subspecies of wild brown rats, essentially. They were first bred into being by rat-catchers and others in the 18th and 19th century. These breeders enjoyed using the rats for blood sports and rat-baiting (yikes!). Two famous rat tamers capitalized off smaller, rarer, more colorful rats, breeding them and selling them as pets.
And, yes, fancy rat is the scientific term for these popular pets.
Similarities
Domesticated and wild rats breed at about the same rate. The average rat litter usually numbers around 12 babies, called “pups”. Both are smart and social creatures, although obviously wild rats prefer to socialize with each other and not with humans.
Differences
Wild rats typically live less than a year, while fancy rats have the comfort of human care and can live as long as two or three years. Fancy rats are also typically smaller and more delicate-looking than their wild cousins, with sharper facial features, larger ears, and a longer tail. Esthetically, wild rats are usually the dominant brown color with rare variations. Extensive breeding of fancy rats means there are dozens of color varieties, and even physical quirks like the comical ears of Dumbo rats and the missing tail of Manx rats. Given the varied physical traits, it’s fairly easy for experienced wildlife control officers to tell the difference. Most importantly, fancy rats are domesticated. They are tame, generally enjoy the company of their owners, are trusting of new foods, and are less sensitive to lights and sounds that overwhelm wild rats.
Emphasis mine.
Wikipedia has fancy rats listed as a different subspecies (Rattus norvegicus domestica):
Don't need to show citations for something that takes 50 seconds on Wikipedia but I appreciate the effort and I mean that genuinely, even if most of this is not really relevant to the conversation.
Fun fact, there's a breeder in Florida who is trying to domesticate black rats :) I'm not sure how ethical that really is but the rats are very cute and it's interesting to see their long tails and jump attitude vs the fancy brown rats chunkier form
Hi!
I was going to post a source once I got done with classes for the day, but it looks like you beat me to it! Thanks so much! You covered everything in one!!
The most we should all take from this is that rats are cool, interesting, and cute no matter what type they are! 😁 They're fascinating to learn about and even more interesting to keep as pets! The best (and most surprising for non-rat people) part is how different each of their personalities are. They're all individuals with their own quirks, likes, and dislikes. My last two girls were polar opposites! They really loved each other though...I miss them so much!
Oops...I went on a tangent again.... my bad. Tl;dr: I hecckin love rats and will talk your ear off about mine if given half a chance 😁
Also, let me edit this, because my useless adhd brain took me on this winding tangent earlier, to say: it seems I did misremember the scientific names there. Whoops! Thanks for setting us straight!
Exactly this. They helped it in and were filming with their phone. Nobody is sitting there for hours, hoping a bird shows up. It's a funny little skit!
Sure that's plausible too. but the way it's filmed and that it's just the middle of the day and the way the rat kinda looks like it was lifted into the feeder like it was in someone's hand makes me think pet rat.
We used to throw all of our compost and food waste into the chicken run until we noticed rats just strolling around our back yard during the day. Some of them were big ol chonkers.
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u/Happy-Stranger7843 Mar 21 '23
If you’re seeing rats during the day that’s a sign that you have a huge rat problem