Customer Reviews

Rats: All About Selection, Husbandry, Nutrition, Breeding and Diseases, With a Special Chapter on Understanding Rats (Pet Owners Manuals)

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2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I recieved this book as a gift. I read it and immediately threw it out. It is a horribly misleading book that should not be sold at all. It states that rats will not come when called by name or that will not bond to you. Tell this to my 12 rats that do exactly that. The author knows NOTHING about rat temperament. Other statements about what you can teach your rats are just plain wrong. The trifling details that are given about rat care are not enough to fill a thimble. Any current ir prospective owner should get Debbie Ducommun's books, Rat health Care, and Rats for Today's Pet Owner (this is available here). Debbie is the "rat lady" and her books should be considered rat owners bibles.
Just because a book is written by a vet does not mean it should be taken at face value. I give this book no stars because it deserves none. (no stars was not a valid choice, so I am telling you)

This book said that multiple rats would fight and did not recommend getting more than one. I thought that this was a really incorrect recommendation, rats are social animals. Unless a person can spend alot of time with a rat I feel that it is cruel to only have one and there are alot of rat lovers that agree with me. I have 5 male rats at one point, they got along really well. At one point some of them did start to fight, I tried natural remedies-which can definately work in some cases-but they continued to fight so I had the trouble makers nuetured and then everyone got along great! If you have rats that fight check out rat web pages for solutions, alittle bit of bickering is to be expected.

This book said that multiple rats would fight and did not recommend getting more than one. I thought that this was a really incorrect recommendation, rats are social animals. Unless a person can spend alot of time with a rat I feel that it is cruel to only have one and there are alot of rat lovers that agree with me. I have 5 male rats at one point, they got along really well. At one point some of them did start to fight, I tried natural remedies-which can definately work in some cases-but they continued to fight so I had the trouble makers nuetured and then everyone got along great! If you have rats that fight check out rat web pages for solutions, alittle bit of bickering is to be expected.

This book is written by veterinarian Himsel,who is probably not a ratowner herself.It's pretty clinical written with her background in mind.That is why the biggest part of the book is about nutrition,feeding,sickness and health.That is what makes this a good book.Unfortunatly it's very brief about colorvariations,rattoys and shows. A.Brosi,Rataholics Anonymous

When I first got my very first rat, this book was really helpful and informative. Then, I got a second female rat that happened to be pregnant and I found that the book didn't have as much information in it as I would have liked to have known. I would reccommend this to anyone who is just starting out with their first rat. But, if you are planning on continuing breeding or keeping rats as pets, I suggest getting something more detailed.

I've had this book for a while, and while it is helpful, it is not the best book out there on rats as pets. It's not a bad price, though, and I have never heard anyone say that anything in it is flat-out wrong, so it may not be a bad supplement to the rat library. I wouldn't use it as my sole source of information.