Customer Reviews

The Guide to Owning a Rat

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is full of bad advice. She recommends using Pine which is almost as bad for rats as Cedar is! And some of the pictures in the book are of mice, not rats. ...

This book is full of information but unfortunately gives some very poor advice for any rat owner. Pine and cedar will both cause respiratory problems in rats, which can lead to ill health and secondary infections. Also, many of the pictures in this book are of mice.

If you buy this book, please keep in mind - no pine or cedar bedding for rats! Much better is The Rat (An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet) by Ginger Cardinal (Howell Book House) or Rats! (A Fun & Care Book) by Debbie Ducommun (Bowtie Press) .

This book contains lots of excellent, easy-to-read information on history, nutrition, housing, health, breeding, and travel and vaction; but the sections that make this book stand out are the ones on Taming and Training. There is lots of wonderful advice on getting to know your new rat and taming it so that it gets used to you. The section on training also gives ideas for playing games, teaching tricks and making mazes. One of the other books by Susan Fox, Rats, is similar but this book is superior with fabulous, glossy pictures and excellent information. The pictures of the author with her own pet rat shows that the book is written through personal experience, which makes me more comfortable about accepting her advice. Excellent for beginners.

The author knows what she is talking about. You can tell that she has had a lot of experience with her own rats, has done the necessary research, has talked with other experts in the care and breeding of rats, and presents the information so that everyone can understand it. For the reviewer who commented on the "suggestion" that pine shavings be used, it should be understood that there is a lot of controversy about the use of cedar/pine shavings and when the book was published in 1996, the "experts" were still having their discussions about the subject. As far as the few photos of mice, it is unfortunate that the publishers did include them but that does not lessen the impact of the valuable information in the book. I learned a lot about rats from this book, which has more information in it than many other books on the subject. It's a great book, and people just starting out with pet rats will find it to be a great reference, one they will refer to many times.

I found this great for me when I got my rats since i knew little or nothing about them. Now that i have had them a few years and have gone online for info. I can tell you, it's a great guide for NEWBIES but I also found there to be as much info online.
If i read it now, i would say tell me something I dont know. But, if you have never owned one of the cutties..this is the bible of rats

If you know nothing about owning a rattie then this is the book for you. I knew essentially nothing so this was a great book. I must say, If you already have read up on owning a rat on the internet then you already know everything in this book.
I feel the internet had as much if not more info.
But the price was right and incase my computer goes down, it's helpful

This book deserves a high rating -- it has so much information about how to care for a pet rat that it left none of my questions unanswered. I think it's great.