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Comment by SlowRobotAhead | Hacker News Reader

“It is the tail,” says Laurinda Williams, who breeds rats on Long Island and sells them as pets. “If it weren’t for the tail, everyone would have rats.”

Definitely true.

The other thing about rat size... man IDK. I was in Panang Malaysia and saw a dead rat in a drain that blew my mind it was so large. It was no doubt in my mind over 2lbs. It was nasiating to see, and I’ve seen rats in DC, NYC, Paris. The articles claim of 1lb 13oz might be correct but it sure seems they must be extremely light for their size.

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Back when I was a student I kept a couple as pets, as they were much more interesting than gerbils, mice, and hamsters. (That's about the size of pets we had space for.)

I do recall a few people were weirded out by their tails, but I never really understood it.

I'd be happy to keep rats again, they're intelligent enough to do interesting things, and learn from their environment. They can also respond to simple verbal commands - recognizing their names - and they're not at all prone to biting children, which is a good thing!

Seconded; I had a pair of rats until recently, and they made awesome pets: affectionate, smart enough to play with, and with distinct personalities while being pretty low maintenance (and willing to eat most of our food scraps). If my partner hadn't developed a skin allergy to them (which made handling them suck for her) we would for sure have acquired more when ours died.

Edit: in retrospect, I'm pretty sure that quote is from the breeder we used! She's doing hamsters and rabbits now as well.

I had some for a while too. I agree that they are really nice animals and a lot of fun but I also agree that the tails are a little freaky.

I still have holes in some bed sheets they chewed in :)

Was it bloated? Things bloat when they die.

Sounds like you saw the Greater Bandicoot Rat in Malaysia. Scary mofos.

I think I took a photo but only to show someone, probably deleted after that because I had trouble with it.

AMAZING food on that island, but then I kept thinking about these beasts running around at night. Didn't ruin the food for me, but I was happy to not think about it.

Those are gnarly rats!

> “It is the tail,” says Laurinda Williams, who breeds rats on Long Island and sells them as pets. “If it weren’t for the tail, everyone would have rats.”

> Definitely true.

Is it, though? ;) There are other rodents with much more pleasant tails, and while I myself had a polecat-ferret when I was a kid, awesome pet, it sure as hell wasn't true everyone had them.

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