Rats are seen in many different ways all over the United States, often negatively. The domestic dumbo rat's ancestors have come a long way before they became the cute little house pets we know today.
All rodents are thought to have originally originated in Asia. Through the course of history they have found ways, such as hiding on boats, to travel the entire world. The black rat reached the New World in the 16th century but the Norway rat (brown rat) didn't reach the New World till 1755. These two rats have coexisted but the Norway rat has almost completely over populated over the black rat, which is now rare to be seen. The Norway rat goes by name names from sewer rat, street rat or simply the common rat.
The rat was always seen as a pest and vermin. During mid to late fourteenth century, there was a second outbreak of the bubonic plague. The plague was caused by the the flea that attached it's self mainly to small rodents, namely the rat. Many falsely believed that it was the rat who actually caused the plague and not the parasitic flea that feeds off of it.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth century, in Europe, they started to catch and cage rats. During times of extreme famine Norway rats were captured for food due to their extreme quantity and ability to reproduce. During these times poverty was also a serve issues among people in Europe and people searched for ways to make money off of the seemingly endless supply of rats. Rat-catchers were often hired to exterminate and capture live ones. Once these rats were captured they would use them for rat fights, rat coursing, and rat pits.
During rat fight the rats would fight other, bigger, rats in a small arena for entertainment and betting. Rat coursing is where they take a large animal, such as a dog, and pin it up against a rat and see how long it takes the rat to be captured and killed by the animal. A rat pit is similar to both but they would place a large number of rats in a pit and place a dog, usually a terrier in the pit to see how long it takes it to kill all the rats. Each of these are barbaric uses of rats but no one cared about the simple pest that they were.
Rat-catchers often would house wild rats in cages. During this time they would breed with each other in the cages and you would often see naturally occurring albino, black and hooded Norway rats. These became the preferred captured rat and were often selected from the litters of captive rats due to their distinctive qualities. As this continued the temperament and colors started to change in the rats. The more tame rats were more desirable due to the fact that they were easier to handle without being bitten and they are less likely to attempt to escape. After a while the black coats or those with white patches in their fur were often associated with calm and docile rats. Which in effect have increased the occurrence of black and hooded rats in the domestic rat population.
Although this is when domestic pet rats started to occur, it is not the end of the rats journey by human use. The albino rats were brought into laboratories for physiological studies as early as 1828 due to their rare qualities. Scientist started to do experimental breeding in the 1870s and 1880s to increase the chances of albino coloring in rats. Soon European white rats were brought to America shortly after and became the base of most all the rats used by the scientific community.
These rats were being heavily inbred and it not only caused unfortunate medical issues but also created more breeds of rat. Which is how the black hooded came to be in 1856. In 1988 a the inbred rats started to strain into different breeds.
With these different strains came the fancy rat. The hooded rat is an early form of today's fancy rat. A fancy rat is simply a black or white rat with opposite colored spots in it's fur. The dumbo rat didn't come around till the 1990s and they didn't reach Europe till 1999. They are very recent in the world of rats but have been bread to be appealing and resemble less of their original ancestors than their fancy cousins.
Dumbo rats are unique in their breed due to their large ears on the sides of their heads instead of small ones on the top of their head like most other breeds of rats. They usually comes in whites, black and silvers but can be bred into fancy colors.
The domestic pet rat is very difficult to feed properly. They can eat almost anything but they require specific nutrients. Over time stores have started to sell compressed pellet or block that have all of their nutrients packed together for simple feeding. The mixed store brand rat foods become difficult due to the rats spoiled personalities. They have their own personal tastes and interests and will simply pick out what they don't want to eat. If they are not fed till they eat all of their food they will be crafty and hide the food in order to get what they want. Fresh foods are often recommended for their diet due to the high nutritional value and they taste better for the rats.
The special due to their incredible intelligence and can form the strongest of bond. You can teach your pets a number of interesting trick just as you can a dog but their bonds to their owners are amazing. If you were to give it away, there is a chance that they will go into an extreme depression. But over all the dumbo rat is one of the best pets a person can have, especially if you don't have the time of day as required for a dog.
All rodents are thought to have originally originated in Asia. Through the course of history they have found ways, such as hiding on boats, to travel the entire world. The black rat reached the New World in the 16th century but the Norway rat (brown rat) didn't reach the New World till 1755. These two rats have coexisted but the Norway rat has almost completely over populated over the black rat, which is now rare to be seen. The Norway rat goes by name names from sewer rat, street rat or simply the common rat.
The rat was always seen as a pest and vermin. During mid to late fourteenth century, there was a second outbreak of the bubonic plague. The plague was caused by the the flea that attached it's self mainly to small rodents, namely the rat. Many falsely believed that it was the rat who actually caused the plague and not the parasitic flea that feeds off of it.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth century, in Europe, they started to catch and cage rats. During times of extreme famine Norway rats were captured for food due to their extreme quantity and ability to reproduce. During these times poverty was also a serve issues among people in Europe and people searched for ways to make money off of the seemingly endless supply of rats. Rat-catchers were often hired to exterminate and capture live ones. Once these rats were captured they would use them for rat fights, rat coursing, and rat pits.
During rat fight the rats would fight other, bigger, rats in a small arena for entertainment and betting. Rat coursing is where they take a large animal, such as a dog, and pin it up against a rat and see how long it takes the rat to be captured and killed by the animal. A rat pit is similar to both but they would place a large number of rats in a pit and place a dog, usually a terrier in the pit to see how long it takes it to kill all the rats. Each of these are barbaric uses of rats but no one cared about the simple pest that they were.
Rat-catchers often would house wild rats in cages. During this time they would breed with each other in the cages and you would often see naturally occurring albino, black and hooded Norway rats. These became the preferred captured rat and were often selected from the litters of captive rats due to their distinctive qualities. As this continued the temperament and colors started to change in the rats. The more tame rats were more desirable due to the fact that they were easier to handle without being bitten and they are less likely to attempt to escape. After a while the black coats or those with white patches in their fur were often associated with calm and docile rats. Which in effect have increased the occurrence of black and hooded rats in the domestic rat population.
Although this is when domestic pet rats started to occur, it is not the end of the rats journey by human use. The albino rats were brought into laboratories for physiological studies as early as 1828 due to their rare qualities. Scientist started to do experimental breeding in the 1870s and 1880s to increase the chances of albino coloring in rats. Soon European white rats were brought to America shortly after and became the base of most all the rats used by the scientific community.
These rats were being heavily inbred and it not only caused unfortunate medical issues but also created more breeds of rat. Which is how the black hooded came to be in 1856. In 1988 a the inbred rats started to strain into different breeds.
With these different strains came the fancy rat. The hooded rat is an early form of today's fancy rat. A fancy rat is simply a black or white rat with opposite colored spots in it's fur. The dumbo rat didn't come around till the 1990s and they didn't reach Europe till 1999. They are very recent in the world of rats but have been bread to be appealing and resemble less of their original ancestors than their fancy cousins.
Dumbo rats are unique in their breed due to their large ears on the sides of their heads instead of small ones on the top of their head like most other breeds of rats. They usually comes in whites, black and silvers but can be bred into fancy colors.
The domestic pet rat is very difficult to feed properly. They can eat almost anything but they require specific nutrients. Over time stores have started to sell compressed pellet or block that have all of their nutrients packed together for simple feeding. The mixed store brand rat foods become difficult due to the rats spoiled personalities. They have their own personal tastes and interests and will simply pick out what they don't want to eat. If they are not fed till they eat all of their food they will be crafty and hide the food in order to get what they want. Fresh foods are often recommended for their diet due to the high nutritional value and they taste better for the rats.
The special due to their incredible intelligence and can form the strongest of bond. You can teach your pets a number of interesting trick just as you can a dog but their bonds to their owners are amazing. If you were to give it away, there is a chance that they will go into an extreme depression. But over all the dumbo rat is one of the best pets a person can have, especially if you don't have the time of day as required for a dog.