40 Times Rats Were Caught Being So Charming, As Seen On This Dedicated “Legalize Rats” Twitter Page
Let's do a little thought experiment - imagine the five most disgusting animals to you. Now let's think about which extremely common animal is most likely to be in the top five for almost every person? That's right - a rat!
Indeed, the global culture for centuries has been very unfair to these fluffy hairballs with nice bare tails. Yes, in the old days, rats carried lethal diseases, but they didn’t do it on purpose! And now let's remember at least some old pieces of art where a rat was portrayed as a good guy! Don't try, you just don't remember!
But in fact, rats are very cute and really smart animals. And there's a wonderful Twitter account called "The Rat Review" which posts memes and images that are meant to glorify rats in the face of humanity.
Today the page has around 52K followers, and we are sure that after the publication of Bored Panda's curated list with its best pictures, there will be even more followers, and the army of rat fans in the world will also grow.
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It is not true that rats abandon their babies almost as soon as they learn to eat and crawl on their own. Mother rats are very caring, and sometimes even carry their offsprings on their backs - especially if they sleep so sweetly. Rats are not in vain used by scientists in their research - they are really very smart and quick-witted.
In fact, rats are quite easy to train, and become true friends for their owners. They especially love it when their fluffy tummies are scratched (however, rats are not alone here - who in this world does not like to have one's tummy scratched?)
I had to look up 'that painting with the finger pointy thing' to make this reference cuz I didn't know what it was called images-87-...d73f7.jpeg 
🎶 they see me rollin, they hating, they trying to catch me riding dirty 🎶
Probably the only work in modern popular culture depicting a good rat is the famous Pixar's cartoon 'Ratatouille'. But even here there is room for a really sad fact.
Actually for the truthful display of rotting vegetables and fruits on screen, Pixar studio employees collected a whole garbage heap, which, of course, attracted many live rats. So, after filming 'Ratatouille' the staff ruthlessly called in the deratisation service... Definitely, this Twitter page with cute rat memes should have appeared even earlier.
Despite all that I withstand, I'm still just a rat in a band
Oh yeah, there is another famous rat in popular culture. This is an outstanding martial artist, as well as a connoisseur of the Renaissance art, named Splinter, who became the teacher of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It was Splinter, by the way, who gave the turtles their world-famous names.
A bowl of peas in water is a really great way to keep rats cool in the summer (although they can be considered cool all of the time)
Note: this post originally had 50 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
If you have rats, here's a really fun thing you can do: get one of those long paper bags they put bottles of booze in, and hang it up inside the cage with a bulldog clip or something like that. In a matter of minutes you'll have zero rats in sight and a bag moving around like it's possessed. It's so funny. And then they get to enjoy tearing the bag to pieces and scurrying back to the nest dragging huge pieces of brown paper in their mouths. 😆
Giving them things like this is so important. They are intelligent and social and need stimulation..
Oh yeah - they need plenty of toys and activities to keep them occupied. I find a good tactic is to have a box full of toys (such as those plastic balls with a bell inside intended for cats) and swap them around periodically to keep things fresh. They also love to explore - when I bought a new cage and put my girls in it they ran around having an absolute blast, inspecting every corner with their tails up!
Rats - are they calmer, nicer pets than mice? Less smelly perchance?
Yes, boys are big squishy couch potatos. Girls are more active. Both equally loving. Much less stinky than mice.
If you get your rats from a reputable breeder, they will be amazing! Smell won't be much of an issue of you clean them out regularly and they will be friendly from the get-go. Boy tatties tend to be more chill than girls. I would like to state, that even if you get rats that have not been handled and acclimated to human bonding, with some work, they will be. I've kept a whole range of rats over the past 10 years and even the bitey pet shop ones will become little snuggle angels when you spend that time with them.
Rats are great pets. They are clean, not known to bite, very social, can laugh when tickled, can be trained. Their biggest downfall is their relatively short life span.
Thank you for your reply! My cats said they are all eager for a new pet. (sigh.) Maybe if they had been raised together? But its too late to try now.
Yes, being raised together is great... I have a Guinea Pig, a Cat and a doggo who all love each other because they were raised together. It can be harder to introduce prey species to hunter species after they are adults.
Personally, I wouldn't trust a cat with a rat ever, even if they grew up together.
My cat sleeps with the guinea pig. It all depends on the individual cat and the individual rat.
100% agreed!
And, unlike most small pets, they seem really interested in interacting with their human ! Not just as food supply. (Of course there are exceptions, some may be shy)
I had a rescued norway rat who was a huge guy. He was named Nicodemus and was a sweetheart. He was often let out of his cage to socialize and taught himself how to escape. He had a routine, every night he'd let himself out, go through the living room, into my bedroom and climb up on my bed. He'd then curl up next to my neck and go to sleep. he never made a mess and would often lick my ear and whisper to me. It was so sweet. Loved him 3000
Awww. Did you name him after the rat from Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NiMH? I loved that book as a kid!
🤔 Not really comparable, I think. They are super nice and fun, but I wouldn't say calm 😅
Less "bitey?"
Uhmm, not gonna lie ... You do want to make sure any cables in the room are well covered in some way 😬😉
I've generally found girl rats to be a lot more skittish while the boys are more content to lie around having their ears scratched. :D
@Katie, really? That’s good to know, had only girls so far 😁
I've had both! A good demonstration of how they're different: I bought a canvas puppy playpen and filled it with toys and treats, thinking my rats would love it. I put the girls in there and they instantly started running around looking for a way out and then escaped by chewing a hole in the wall! So I tried the boys instead... and *they* instantly lay down and went to sleep! (Either way I got rid of the playpen - talk about a waste of forty bucks, grumble...)
🤣🤣🤣 Oh well, it was worth a try!
Even more hilariously, the lady I sold it to was also a rat owner and when we met again a few years later I asked how it went and she said one of her girls completely demolished the thing! 🤣
Which supports your theory of girls being more savage in general. 🧐🤔 Interesting indeed! Might consider boys if I ever have ratties again!
I want a rat now
If you do get some, don't have one but at least two 😊
Seconded. There are a very few rats who are solitary by nature - most will start going stir crazy if they don't have any ratty friends to play with. I had one girl who lived alone for a few weeks after I adopted her and by the end she was gnawing on the bars of her cage out of sheer boredom and loneliness. I found a friend for her (it's hard to adopt rats where I live because pet shops don't sell them and there are very few breeders) and put the new girl in a cage next to hers so they could start getting to know each other. Five minutes later they were running back and forth, trying to get to each other, so I said screw it and put them in together. Instant best friends for life.
Exactly, the only pets that can be kept alone as single pets are dogs, cats and hamsters. All the others need at least ONE partner, also birds (parrots, budgies, Canarian Birds & others), and fish anyway. Also the famous Koi carps.
If you have rats, here's a really fun thing you can do: get one of those long paper bags they put bottles of booze in, and hang it up inside the cage with a bulldog clip or something like that. In a matter of minutes you'll have zero rats in sight and a bag moving around like it's possessed. It's so funny. And then they get to enjoy tearing the bag to pieces and scurrying back to the nest dragging huge pieces of brown paper in their mouths. 😆
Giving them things like this is so important. They are intelligent and social and need stimulation..
Oh yeah - they need plenty of toys and activities to keep them occupied. I find a good tactic is to have a box full of toys (such as those plastic balls with a bell inside intended for cats) and swap them around periodically to keep things fresh. They also love to explore - when I bought a new cage and put my girls in it they ran around having an absolute blast, inspecting every corner with their tails up!
Rats - are they calmer, nicer pets than mice? Less smelly perchance?
Yes, boys are big squishy couch potatos. Girls are more active. Both equally loving. Much less stinky than mice.
If you get your rats from a reputable breeder, they will be amazing! Smell won't be much of an issue of you clean them out regularly and they will be friendly from the get-go. Boy tatties tend to be more chill than girls. I would like to state, that even if you get rats that have not been handled and acclimated to human bonding, with some work, they will be. I've kept a whole range of rats over the past 10 years and even the bitey pet shop ones will become little snuggle angels when you spend that time with them.
Rats are great pets. They are clean, not known to bite, very social, can laugh when tickled, can be trained. Their biggest downfall is their relatively short life span.
Thank you for your reply! My cats said they are all eager for a new pet. (sigh.) Maybe if they had been raised together? But its too late to try now.
Yes, being raised together is great... I have a Guinea Pig, a Cat and a doggo who all love each other because they were raised together. It can be harder to introduce prey species to hunter species after they are adults.
Personally, I wouldn't trust a cat with a rat ever, even if they grew up together.
My cat sleeps with the guinea pig. It all depends on the individual cat and the individual rat.
100% agreed!
And, unlike most small pets, they seem really interested in interacting with their human ! Not just as food supply. (Of course there are exceptions, some may be shy)
I had a rescued norway rat who was a huge guy. He was named Nicodemus and was a sweetheart. He was often let out of his cage to socialize and taught himself how to escape. He had a routine, every night he'd let himself out, go through the living room, into my bedroom and climb up on my bed. He'd then curl up next to my neck and go to sleep. he never made a mess and would often lick my ear and whisper to me. It was so sweet. Loved him 3000
Awww. Did you name him after the rat from Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NiMH? I loved that book as a kid!