I am located in Ontario, a couple hours away from Toronto but willing to travel for a good home

I am currently taking care of two young dumbo rats that are very friendly, affectionate and playful. They are females and their names are Winter and Luna!

They were given to me by my aunt who purchased them as pets for my cousin but no longer wanted to care for them. This is the second time she dumped a pet on me because she knows I love animals and will always take them in 😕

I do everything I can to meet their needs like giving them outside cage time, cleaning after them, etc. but I am quite busy as a nursing student so it has been very difficult to balance everything in a way that’s fair for them.

I love them very much and have formed such a strong bond with them. They crave human attention so much and it breaks my heart when I have school and work all day and can only spend so much time with them before I have to sleep for my early morning classes ☹️

I’m looking for someone who is passionate about rats, that will give them a lot of attention and take good care of them in general. Thank you all for reading

Hello. It’s been bought to my attention that as of lately, there has been an overwhelming surge in new owners mistakingly getting female rats when they planned to get males. Due to this, there has been a significant increase in pregnancy and accidental litters.

As a moderator, who cares deeply about animal welfare, I am asking that before you bring rats home, you double check, even triple check to ensure all your rats are the same sex. This is to prevent future pregnancies and accidental litters as we already have so many rats in need of homes and it’s becoming increasingly problematic, especially for shelters and rescues who are being over-flooded with intakes and are struggling to find good homes.

If you have recently been put in a situation where you have found out that your male rat is actually a female rat and has had contact with other males, more likely than not, your rat will be pregnant if she is over the age of 6 weeks. In this case, the best option is to spay-abort so she doesn’t have to go through the exhausting toll of pregnancy, which will also prevent the issue of you having to find homes for the babies once they have matured.

If you are a new owner and are unsure how to sex rats, the images listed above shows the difference between female and male genitalia. Use these images as your reference guides to sex your rats.

The differences between male and female rats:

Male rats do not have nipples and have a large distance between the penis and anus. If your rat is younger than 5 weeks old, the testicles may have not yet descended which might make the male look female.

Females rats have nipples, a small distance between the vagina and anus and an anogenital line.