Keeping and Caring for Pet Rats

Rats are intelligent and social animals that can make wonderful pets. They are also easily tamed, making rats especially great for someone who likes to handle their pets.

To learn how to care for them, click here: Keeping and Caring for Pet Rats

Did You Know That Cats Are Really Bad at Catching Rats?

Cats are good at so many thing — napping, chasing laser pointer dots around the room, napping, eating, and napping, just to name a few — but apparently they’re really, really bad at catching rats. A new study published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution explains just how terrible they are at doing one of the things they’re supposed to be good at.

As Wired reports, researchers led by Michael Parsons set up shop at a waste disposal facility in New York City in the hopes of studying urban rats in their natural environment. The original plan was to catch and release the rats and then study their behavior so that they could come up with more efficient ways of curbing rat populations. That’s when the cats spoiled their party… well, sort of.

Not content to just throw in the towel, the team decided to observe how the rats interacted with a group of feral cats which had made the facility their home. The felines, which are well-known as rodent hunters, would surely make life difficult for the rats, right?

Apparently not.

Using cameras to document the happenings inside the dump’s walls, the researchers found plenty of instances of the cats and rats being in the same place at the same time. They recorded over 300 instances of both cats and rats within close proximity of each other.

However, only 20 times did a cat actually attempt to hunt its rodent prey, and almost never actually followed through. In fact, only two rats were killed during the entirety of the observation period. Most of the time the cats just kind of watched the rodents from afar or ignored them completely.

But while the cats were clearly not adept at killing the rats, they did affect how the rats behaved in other ways. When the cats were present, the rats were more careful about their movements, sneaking around rather than trotting out in plain sight. This, as it turns out, does more harm than good, since stealthy rats are harder for humans to control and eliminate.

Feral cats have proven to be troublesome pests in their own right. In Australia, cats which hunt birds are such a massive problem that huge “cat-free zones” are under construction that will serve as a haven for bird populations to recover.

Coming up with new ways of controlling rats in urban environments is certainly a noble effort, but cats are apparently not the answer.

"Hero Rat" Awarded Animal Bravery Medal for Sniffing Out Dozens of Landmines in Cambodia

A rat named Magawa has been given an animal bravery award for sniffing out dozens of landmines in Cambodia. Magawa received a gold medal from the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), a veterinary charity in the United Kingdom, on Friday, making him the first rodent in the nonprofit's history to earn the distinction.

To read more on this story, click here: "Hero Rat" Awarded Animal Bravery Medal for Sniffing Out Dozens of Landmines in Cambodia

Man Discovers A Family Of Mice Living In His Garden, Builds Them A Miniature Village

Recently, wildlife photography aficionado Simon Dell stumbled upon the family of a cute mouse running around his garden. Instead of reaching for the traps, however, he took out his tools. Dell built the mice a miniature village, and they repaid him by posing for adorable animal photography shots.

“I was out one day just taking photos of the birds in the garden and having just cut the grass I noticed something moving on the ground,” Simon told Bored Panda. “I pointed my camera at the ground and was shocked but very happy to see a very cute little house mouse standing up just like a meerkat in the fresh cut grass.”

To read more on this story, click here: Man Discovers A Family Of Mice Living In His Garden, Builds Them A Miniature Village

Rat Poison Toxicity in Dogs

Poisoning by pesticides and rodenticides is one of the most common household dangers to your pet. In this case, zinc phosphide poisoning will be explored as a potential culprit for your pet's health condition. Zinc phosphide is an ingredient used in some rat poisons, and is also commonly used by pest control professionals. One of the effects zinc phosphide has on the body is a release of gases in the stomach, so that an animal that has ingested poison containing zinc phosphide will have breath smelling of garlic or rotten fish. Treatment is symptomatic (based on symptoms), and side effects of zinc phosphide poisoning can linger for several days after treatment.

To read more on this story, click here: Rat Poison Toxicity in Dogs

Rats Chewed Through About $18,000 Worth of Cash Inside An ATM

A local Indian bank got a series of complaints about one of its ATMs. The cause of its sudden malfunction is quite unsettling.

Just thinking about this story alone sends shivers down our spines. What you are about to read will definitely give you quite a shock.

In the Tinkusia district, located in the Eastern state of Assam, India, an ATM was starting to act a bit askew.

Countless people were soon left with empty pockets when the machine simply just wouldn't shoot out any more cash.

After a series of complaints from the bummed out ATM users, the bank's officials decided it was time to figure out exactly what was going on.

If you thought the ATM was robbed bone-dry, then guess again. Instead, it was a family of squeaky rats that had made their way inside the machine. The wily rats had proceeded to nibble through banknote after banknote, destroying a whopping amount of roughly 1.2 million rupees, nearly $18,000. The gobsmacked bank employees even found a rotting dead rat at the scene of the crime. You can see in the photos of what a few destructive rats can do over a short period of time.

To read more on this story, click here: Rats Chewed Through About $18,000 Worth of Cash Inside An ATM

How to Clicker Train Your Pet Rat

The domestic rat is a descendant of the wild brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) and has been bred as a pet for about a hundred years. Pet rats are much less fearful than their wild cousins, and when handled gently, they quickly learn to enjoy riding on their human friends’ shoulders and napping in their laps.

Rats like to please their people, are natural problem solvers and hate being bored. So both you and your rats should enjoy the process of teaching them to do tricks. Your rats will probably think they are successfully training you. As well as enhancing the quality of their lives, training your rats will build the bond between you. And you'll look cool showing off to non-rat owners what your little furry companions can do.

Cats Are Apparently Terrible at Catching Rats

Cats are good at so many thing — napping, chasing laser pointer dots around the room, napping, eating, and napping, just to name a few — but apparently they’re really, really bad at catching rats. A new study published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution explains just how terrible they are at doing one of the things they’re supposed to be good at.

As Wired reports, researchers led by Michael Parsons set up shop at a waste disposal facility in New York City in the hopes of studying urban rats in their natural environment. The original plan was to catch and release the rats and then study their behavior so that they could come up with more efficient ways of curbing rat populations. That’s when the cats spoiled their party… well, sort of.

To read more on this story, click here: Cats Are Apparently Terrible at Catching Rats

Hundreds of Breeds of Pigeons Compete in Their Own Version of the Westminster Show

Ontario, California - Dogs aren't the only animals that vie for best in show. Hundreds of breeds of pigeons compete in their own version of the Westminster show, strutting on long, thick legs or fluttering curly, lacy feathers in their bid to be best bird.

These pigeons aren't the nuisance flocks that swarm food scraps at outdoor restaurants. They are genetically rich birds, including variations bred to look like turkeys or sound like trumpets, that drew thousands of enthusiasts including ex-boxer and pigeon lover Mike Tyson to the National Pigeon Association's 93rd annual Grand National Pigeon Show.

Showing pigeons is one of the oldest and largest hobbies in the world. It thrives at a time when pets are becoming a more important part of people's lives and animals kept as companions range from the traditional to the unique, such as rats and tarantulas.

More than 7,800 birds packed the Ontario Convention Center in Southern California last weekend, cooing and strutting in their cages, which sent feathers and feed flying. But the well-behaved show birds wouldn't let one drop of waste fall on a judge's shoe as they were examined for build, color and weight.

There were birds in blacks, whites and browns with feathers on their feet, circular crests framing their faces and 8-inch necks. Some looked like street pigeons but bigger and stronger, with massive shoulders and thick necks.

Tyson, the four-time heavyweight world champion, kicked off the three-day event by releasing 100 white pigeons. He agreed with the mostly older male owners about the need to infuse young blood in the aging hobby.

"Take this opportunity at a young age to enhance your responsibility and enjoy it," he told youngsters who asked for photos and autographs.

Tyson, 48, who had pigeons as a kid, keeps 1,800 birds. He said he was 10 when he won his first fight because a bully killed one of his birds in front of him.

"They teach you a lot about yourself," Tyson said of pigeons.

Nearly a thousand different breeds of pigeons exist. Not only can these birds become pampered pets, they can be raised for racing and stunt performances. Racing pigeons can fly for hundreds of miles a day and flap as fast as 80 mph, and performers will unleash death-defying stunts midair.

"Racing pigeons are the Ben Johnsons of the world and fancy pigeons are the Naomi Campbells of the world," said Fadiel Hendricks, president of the National Fancy Pigeon Association of South Africa.

The performers are dubbed rollers and tumblers because of their motion during flight. The popular Birmingham roller dives into a series of backward somersaults, stops the roll before hitting the ground, then heads back up and performs the feat again.

Hendricks, who traveled 36 hours from Cape Town, South Africa, said age is a problem in his country, too. In his group, 90 percent of the members are over 50.

"We are up against computers and computer games," he said.

Bob Nolan of Dana Point, a historian and 60-year member of the Los Angeles Pigeon Club, which hosted the show, said new variations are rare because "kids aren't much interested in breeding anymore."

"All these pigeons are man-made. None of them occur in nature like this," said Nolan, who raises English trumpeters, known for their acoustic sound of distant trumpets. "All of these breeds have evolved from man's creative genius."

Samantha Wendell of North Hollywood and her fantail Francis, which looks like a turkey, are inseparable.

"Pigeons are just like dogs, they love you like a dog if you spend time with them and love them back," she said. "He is all hugs and snuggles."

Tyson says he will watch his birds for hours. The fighter who bit off part of Evander Holyfield's ear explained his softer, pigeon-loving side by saying: "What I am just wasn't what I did for a living."

The Hero Rats of Africa Sniff Out Land Mines — and TB Infections

MOROGORO, Tanzania — The grass is still damp with dew as the sun begins to glint over the Uluguru Mountains. It’s only 7 a.m. in Morogoro, Tanzania, but Oprah and Malala and Taylor Swift and the others are already hard at work. They are heroes in the region, literal saviors to thousands of Tanzanians and those in the international community as well. It is on this large swath of land that giant African pouched rats, often named by their handlers after celebrities or loved ones, are meticulously trained for nine months to sniff out land mines. Down the dusty red dirt road, you’ll find others just like them — but there the rats are training in a laboratory, learning how to detect tuberculosis amid thousands of samples.

It is here in the field that APOPO, a nonprofit organization that trains African giant pouched rats to undertake such endeavors, works its magic. The humans are patient, methodical, while the rats seem eager to learn — an interaction reminiscent of a new owner training a puppy. After each rat undergoes its daily weigh-in — they are generally between two and three pounds — it is put in a harness to walk one of the areas marked off on the field. It paces the ground, scratching feverishly when it detects a dismantled land mine beneath the surface. An APOPO worker uses a clicker to notify the rat that it is correct. The rat then scrambles to receive its treat of bananas or peanuts. After nine months of training, they are shipped out to APOPO’s partner organizations in various countries, where they will detect and help dismantle thousands of land mines that have been left over from decades of prior conflicts.

To read more on this story, click here: The Hero Rats of Africa Sniff Out Land Mines — and TB Infections

Man Captures Footage of a Massive Spider Carrying an Adult Mouse

Coppabella, Australia - An Australian man summoned to his neighbor's kitchen to "see something cool" captured footage of a massive spider carrying its next meal, an adult mouse.

Jason Womas of Coppabella, Queensland, posted a video to Facebook of the gigantic huntsman spider carrying the apparently dead mouse up the side of his neighbor's refrigerator.

"So I am just about to leave for work... and me neighbor says 'You want to see something cool' and I say 'Hell yeah.' So we proceed to his place and he shows me this. Huntsman trying to eat a mouse," Womas wrote.

He said in a follow-up post that he and his neighbor decided to let the spider go about its business unharmed and they gave it a name, Hermie.

"OK guys so just letting you all know that the spider is fine. We have named him Hermie, we have adopted him and he is now running his own extermination business out of our town Coppabella. Oh and he is now paying rent," Womas posted.

Felines Are Helping to Curb the Rat Population in New York City

Multitudes of feral cats roam New York City's concrete jungle, and some now have a practical purpose: They're helping curb the city's rat population.

A group of volunteers trained by the NYC Feral Cat Initiative traps wild cat colonies that have become a nuisance or been threatened by construction, then spays or neuters and vaccinates them. The goal is to return them to their home territory, but some end up in areas rife with rats.

Feline rat patrols keep watch over city delis and bodegas, car dealerships and the grounds of a Greenwich Village church. Four cats roam the loading dock at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, where food deliveries and garbage have drawn rodents for years.

"We used to hire exterminators, but nature has a better solution," said Rebecca Marshall, the sustainability manager at the 1.8-million-square-foot center. "And cats don't cost anything."

About 6,000 volunteers have completed workshops where they've learned proper ways to trap cats.

The program is run through the privately funded Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, a coalition of more than 150 animal rescue groups and shelters. It estimates as many as half a million feral and stray cats roam New York's five boroughs.

The life of a street cat is a tough one. Some are former pets, abandoned by owners. Plenty die of disease and malnutrition or are hit by vehicles. Others ingest poisoned cat food — set deliberately to get rid of them, cat advocates say.

Many of the animals are displaced as a result of New York's development, with new construction creating perilous conditions for those that once inhabited the city's nooks and crannies, from vacant lots, decaying factories and empty warehouses.

One colony of two dozen cats living in a lot on Manhattan's West Side are about to be displaced by construction on a new $3 billion office tower. A City Council member is working with residents and developers to make sure the creatures are moved to a safe location.

The Javits Center's quartet of cats — Sylvester, Alfreda, Mama Cat and Ginger — were lured to its 56 loading docks about two years ago with pet food brought by animal-loving employees. On a recent fall morning, Sylvester stationed himself next to a commercial truck, ready to pounce if needed.

The cats are predators but don't necessarily kill rats. Instead, experts say the feline scent and droppings repel the rodents.

"A mother rat will never give birth near a predator because the cats would eat the babies," said Jane Hoffman, president of the mayor's alliance.

The cat population is controlled through spaying and neutering, provided free of charge by the Humane Society of New York and the ASPCA. In most cases, adoption is out of the question for feral cats because they are just too wild to be domesticated.

Thanks to the volunteers, says Marshall, "we're protecting wildlife in the city, and the cats get a second chance at life."

15-Inch Monster Rat Burrowed Itself in a Family’s Home Behind Their Kitchen Sink

A Swedish family actually lived what is probably many people’s worst nightmare after they discovered that a 15-inch monster rat had chewed through the wood and cement into their home and burrowed itself behind their kitchen sink.

This “Viking rat” was discovered by the Bengtsson-Korsås family at their Solna home after their cat Enok refused to enter the kitchen. The family already had suspicions that there was a mouse in their home after hearing noises, so when they went to empty the trash bin, they were shocked to find that a monster rat had made itself a home.

“It was right there in our rubbish bin, a mighty monster. I was petrified. I couldn't believe such a big rat could exist,” said Signe Bengtsson-Korsås. “I couldn't help but do the old classic and jump on the kitchen table and scream.”

Signe’s husband Eric said he didn’t believe his wife at first, but when he finally came in contact with the rat himself, he was horrified by how large it was.

“It was quite a shocking experience,” said Eric Bengtsson-Korsås. “By the time I got home, the rat was so domesticated that it just sat under the kitchen table.”

The family quickly realized that the rat had actually came in through the basement, chewed through the wood and cement, and then made its way into the kitchen to chew through the pipes under the sink, ultimately causing a flood in the home.

Exterminators were called to kill the monster rat, and a day after putting three giant rat traps down, one of them went off. Shockingly, the rat wasn’t immediately killed. It ran around with the rat trap around its neck for some time before it eventually died.

"In the end we managed to find it dead, it had slowly strangled," said Eric. "Then we felt a bit sorry for it."

  

2-Year-Old Boy Found in Filthy Home with Dozens of Dead and Dying Animals

Gray Court, South Carolina - A 2-year-old boy remains in the hospital in critical condition after he was found unconscious in a filthy home with dozens of dead and dying animals, Laurens County authorities said Wednesday.

Authorities charged Savannah Victoria Morgan, 25, of Gray Court, with three counts of child neglect and one count of child abuse and cruelty to animals, according to arrest warrants.

On Tuesday evening, deputies were called to a home where they noticed “deplorable living conditions and a foul odor within,”  according to an incident report.

Animal Control officers seized nearly 90 animals from the scene Tuesday night. The list of deceased animals included 48 rats, 11 gerbils, 10 python snakes, six tarantula spiders and two bearded dragons.

Warrants allege Morgan exposed a 2-year-old to physical abuse, causing the boy to suffer medical injuries such as bleeding in the brain and bruising to the head, neck and back.

The child was airlifted to Greenville Memorial Hospital, authorities said.

The boy’s mother originally told deputies that he choked on some chips and that she called 911 when she went into his room and saw he wasn’t breathing, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Two other children were taken into emergency protective custody due to suspected physical abuse, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies said they saw soiled diapers, clothing, feces, trash and broken glass on the floor and numerous live and deceased animals kept in plastic bins and cages. Two emaciated dogs were found chained up behind the residence and had no food or water, one report said.

Morgan is being held at the Laurens County Detention Center, where jail officials said her bond was set at $85,000.

Mutilated Animal Carcasses Found Around Sacramento, California

It started when someone left a 120-pound cow head in a park.

At first, investigators in Sacramento wondered if that someone was a hunter, one who had accidentally left something behind. Then another cow head appeared nearby not long after, followed over the next few months by a series of gruesome packages containing dead goats, chickens, rats, fish, lambs and even a tortoise, according to the Sacramento Bee.

In most cases, the carcasses being left around California’s capital city are headless, but strangely blood free, aside from one instance in which a package contained bowls of what was described as “bloody oatmeal,” the Bee reported.

Since the first cow head was discovered in December, authorities have logged at least a dozen instances of mutilated animals being found around the city, often near train tracks, according to NBC affiliate KCRA.

The killings almost always involve livestock, and never cats and dogs, investigators say.

In March, the Humane Society offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the mutilations.

“These animals were mutilated and killed for no apparent reason and discarded as though they were trash,” the Humane Society’s Eric Sakach said at the time. “We are hopeful that this reward will bring forward anyone with information about these disturbing crimes.”

But more than six months after the killings began, authorities say they still don’t know who, or what, they’re dealing with.

Gina Knepp, a spokeswoman for the Sacramento Department of Animal Control, told Reuters that some packages have included bloody dollar bills, oil and seeds that are known to be used in some Afro-Caribbean religions.

And yet, she admits, investigators are stumped.

“It’s bizarre,” Knepp said. “We don’t know if it’s religion; we don’t know if we have a sick individual in our community that simply likes to cut the heads off animals and dump them where people can see them.”

On Monday, the city released surveillance footage that appears to show a woman dropping off bags that included a beheaded goat carcass, as well as red hens, a rat and a catfish.

The woman, who struggled with the weight of the object, can be seen getting out of a white van and dropping off the packages before getting back into the vehicle less than a minute later and driving away.

  

Cuban Couple Keeps Rodents Called Hutias As Pets

Bainoa, Cuba (AP) — Some people keep guinea pigs or hamsters as pets.

But in Cuba, where a larger, more exotic rodent runs wild, Ana Pedraza and her husband prefer the hutia.

With a rope-like tail and long front teeth, the hutia looks like a giant rat, only cuter, some would say. They live in Cuba and other Caribbean islands where they are sometimes hunted for food.

To read more on this story, click here: Cuban Couple Keeps Rodents Called Hutias As Pets

Tiny Thanksgiving for a Tiny Hamster and His Tiny Friends

It's the time of the year to give thanks, and out today is something we're extremely grateful for: another tiny hamster eating tiny foods video. This one is themed for Thanksgiving and features all your Turkey Day favorites.

The food, eaten by one extremely fuzzy bunny, two hamsters and one rat, was all safe for animals to consume, according to the creators of the video.

To see the video, click here: Tiny Thanksgiving for a Tiny Hamster and His Tiny Friends

Role for White Rat: Unexpected Star on Broadway

The Broadway cast was less than thrilled when it found out who one of their fellow performers would be. It made them squeamish — not because of who it was but because of what it was.

They would be sharing the stage, it turned out, with a live rat.

“The idea of a rat was not exactly familiar to me,” said Alex Sharp, an actor who plays the leading role. “It was just a thing you see in the subway that has diseases.”

To read more on this story, click here: Role for White Rat: Unexpected Star on Broadway

New York City's Rats Are Carrying Viruses No One's Seen Before

Everyone who's ever used a New York City subway knows that they're teeming with rats, and that said rats are, almost by definition, disgusting. But no one had quantified just how disgusting they are ... until now.

A team of scientists at Columbia University trapped 133 Norway rats — Rattus norvegicus — from five sites in midtown and lower Manhattan, and used DNA sequencing to catalogue the pathogens they carry.


To read more on this story, click here: New York City's Rats Are Carrying Viruses No One's Seen Before

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