Rats and Geckos?

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TheresaB.C

New member
My hamster recently passed away, cant say I miss her to much considring that she drew blood from everything that moved. Anyways, I am considring getting a rat. I was wondering if anyone had experience with keeping rats and reptiles at the same time. My mother is worried that the rat would think our household lizards are food considering they hunt small lizards in the wild. I honestly would be more concerned about my mothers foot long bearded dragon eating it. Obviously they would never meet, let alone be unsupervised. I am looking at a rat since they are very smart, easy to care for and fairly cheet. Please keep in mind that wild rats and domestic rats are very different. Domestic ones are smaller, more intelligent, less prone to disease and lack a wild rats instincts from 200 years of domestication. If any has any experience with rats and lizards, please let me know.
 
Yoshi'smom

Yoshi'smom

New member
So I have owned several rats in the past as well as having two females currently.
I can tell you that they are very intelligent and quite affectionate. Perhaps one of the best/most rewarding small mammals to keep as pets.
You mentioned that your mom thinks that the rats will try to hunt your geckos down? This is not true. Rats are not meat eaters by nature. They hunt for grains and vegetables mostly and meat in a rats diet is not healthy.
I keep all my animals in the same room. 2 rats, 4 hedgehogs, 4 hermit crabs a pacman frog and my many 6 different species of geckos. I've not had a single problem. In fact my rats cage sits right next to a stack of gargoyle tubs.
Most parasites/diseases/illnesses that rats (and other rodentia) could be affected by aren't communicable to most other mammals let alone reptiles. I specifically asked a vet this question as I was rat-sitting a very good friend's rat whom had an upper respiratory infection. Most of these don't even affect other mammals. Think about it, their bodies work in completely different ways. This isn't saying that all aren't communicable but I think as long as you wash your hands, you'll be fine.
 
T

TheresaB.C

New member
Sorry, that was bad wording. My mother tried to say that the rats would attack my geckos. Thank you very much for helping me with this, still trying to convince her that they would be a good pet. Next step is her counter argument about cage space. (will be able to easily make a cage)
 
Yoshi'smom

Yoshi'smom

New member
They ideally would do best in as large a cage as possible. My girls love all their space and bounce around the whole thing. They are very active and require lots of attention and space. My girls are very spoiled and always pine for my attention. One of my girls will run back and forth by the door when I'm in the room so I will let them out to play.
 
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