Customer Reviews

Fancy Rats (Barron's Complete Pet Owner's Manuals)

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3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
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I will first list the good things about this book.

#1 The description of the life of wild rats in their colonies. #2 The pictures : They are by far the best pictures of pet rats I've seen in a book, (so far) #3 It has some OK to Good info on caring for rats but there are other books with much better information like Debbie Ducommuns Rats! #4 The book stresses the need to have more than just one rat. Thats important.

The problems with this book are: #1 The author makes blanket statements against any breeding of rats totally not taking into account the fact that there are people who are responsible breeders out there. The author also doesn't explain what needs to be done to responsibly breed, such as before you even think of breeding make sure that you can place all the babies in loving homes, things like that.

#2 The author recommends pine bedding, which is well known to have ill effects on rats just like cedar does.

#3 On page 36, her logic as to why the life expectency of rats probably can't be increased is muddled and odd. She also states that previously the natural life expectency of rats was thought to be six to seven years. When did anyone think the life expectency of rats was that long? , I've read most books on rats and they all say the average life expectency of rats are two to three years, while some may live to four or five.

Anyway this book should be bought with caution, there is alot of good info mixed with bad in this book. For the best book on rats there is, I would recommend Debbie Ducommuns Rats! : For Today's Pet Owner.

This book is a mix of bad and good rat advice. I will first list the good things about this book. #1 The description of the life of wild rats in their colonies. It's accurate. #2 The pictures : They are by far the best pictures of pet rats I've seen in a book, (so far) #3 It has some OK to Good info on caring for rats but there are other books with much better information like Debbie Ducommuns Rats! #4 The book stresses the need to have more than just one rat. Thats important. The problems with this book are: #1 The author makes blanket statements against any breeding of rats totally not taking into account the fact that there are people who are responsible breeders out there. The author also doesn't explain what needs to be done to responsibly breed, such as before you even think of breeding make sure that you can place all the babies in loving homes, things like that. #2 The author recommends pine bedding, which is well known to have ill effects on rats just like cedar does. #3 On page 36, her logic as to why the life expectency of rats probably can't be increased is muddled and odd. She also states that previously the natural life expectency of rats was thought to be six to seven years. When did anyone think the life expectency of rats was that long? , I've read most books on rats and they all say the average life expectency of rats are two to three years, while some may live to four or five. Anyway this book should be bought with caution, there is alot of good info mixed with bad in this book

The inaccurate info in this book is enough to cancel out it's value almost altogether, in my opinion. The fact that it includes information which I know to be false(both from my own experience and from the multitude of other resources which contradict it) made it difficult to determine whether or not to believe any info in it that I had not previously heard or read. And the book isn't even that old! It should have much better info than it does!
For instance on one page it says cat and dog food can be given as treats to rats, yet on a different page it lists them both as "harmful foods". The previous reviewer covers most of the other inaccuracies. The only thing I really found valuable in the book was the descriptions of how rats live in the wild and what colony life is like. But I haven't read the same info anywhere else, so I have no way of verifying whether it is accurate or not.
Bottom line: buy a different rat guide, this one is NOT worth the money or the risk of following bad/inaccurate advice!