You walk out your front door in the morning and there it is. A dead rat, laid out right on your doorstep like some kind of unwanted gift. Your cat is sitting nearby looking pleased with itself. This situation is confusing and kind of gross, especially if it happens regularly. Your cat has access to … Read more

Walking outside and spotting a rat darting across your lawn or disappearing under your deck can be pretty alarming. Most people don’t expect to see rats in their yard, especially if they keep things relatively clean. But rats in residential yards are actually more common than you might think. If you’re dealing with this problem, … Read more

If you’ve ever watched a rat closely, you might have caught it in the middle of a big yawn. They open their mouth really wide, sometimes showing all their teeth, and it looks just like when a person or dog yawns. It’s actually pretty cute and funny to see such a tiny animal doing something … Read more

If you’ve ever gotten a close look at a rat’s teeth, you probably noticed something surprising. Instead of being white like human teeth, rat teeth are bright yellow or orange. At first, you might think the rat has really poor dental hygiene or something is wrong. But actually, those yellow teeth are completely normal and … Read more

Most people picture rats as brown or gray animals scurrying around in alleys or sewers. But if you’ve spent any time in pet stores or science labs, you’ve probably seen rats that are completely white with pink or red eyes. These white rats look totally different from the wild rats most people are familiar with. … Read more

One of the first things you’ll notice if you spend any time around rats is how much they clean themselves. Whether it’s a pet rat in a cage or a wild rat you spot outside, they’re constantly grooming and washing. It’s actually pretty cute to watch as they scrub their faces with their tiny paws … Read more

Rat tails are one of their most distinctive features. Long, pink, scaly, and surprisingly strong, these tails do way more than you might think. If you watch your rats closely, you’ll notice they wrap their tails around things, around themselves, and sometimes around you. This behavior is both functional and communicative. But why do rats … Read more

Most people think of tail wagging as a dog behavior. When a dog wags their tail, everyone knows it means they’re happy and excited. But rats also wag their tails, and it can mean completely different things depending on the situation. If you’ve seen your rat’s tail moving back and forth and wondered what it … Read more

Rats have a pretty terrible reputation. Most people think of them as dirty, disease-carrying pests that live in sewers and garbage dumps. If you mention you have pet rats, you’ve probably seen people make disgusted faces or ask “aren’t those gross?” This negative view of rats is deeply rooted in our culture and history. But … Read more

If you’ve ever accidentally stepped on your rat’s tail or given them medicine they didn’t like, you might have noticed some interesting behavior afterward. Maybe they avoided you for a while, nipped at you, or seemed to “punish” you in some way. This has led many rat owners to wonder if their pets are actually … Read more