Cool Things You
Should Know about Rats
|
|
Some Interesting Facts about Rats - Part 3
By: Huey & Dewey (our pet Guinea Pigs)
31. A Rat can survive being flushed down a toilet (depending
on the toilet...and the rat of course)!
32. There are officially sixty million Rats in the UK alone.
That's just the ones who returned their census forms.
(That's one Rat for every person!)
33. Rats, even wild rats, are scrupulously clean. They spend
hours every day carefully grooming themselves and each
other. Their reputation for being filthy comes from their
lives with humans, as they like to recycle human garbage. If
people were tidier, there would be fewer wild rats.
34. Rats take care of the injured and sick in their groups,
carrying food to those that are unable to forage for
themselves.
35. The Rat is the first symbol of the Chinese Zodiac - and
stands as a symbol of cunning and prosperity.
36. The ancient Mayan civilization used to worship the Rat,
as did the ancient Egyptians. Even today there is a Temple
in India devoted to the rat, where hundreds of thousands of
rats scurry around in safety and harmony with the human
occupants.
37. The herb Valerian is the Ratty equivalent of Catnip. The
Pied Piper is said to have used it in his famous efforts at
rat removal.
38. Around the mid 1300's, the great plague struck in
Europe. The black rat, also known as Rattus Rattus (not a
very unique name) is thought to have been the prime carrier.
The Plague, or Black Death, was caused by infection with a
bacterium, Pasteurella Pestis, which passes part of its
lifecycle in fleas. Rats were plagued by the fleas, and died
of the disease as well. But, since no one knew about
bacteria or viruses in those days, the rats were never
suspected.
39. Rats are very social and normally prefer to live with
other rats. It is possible to group female or male rats
together, though care should be taken when introducing a new
rat.
40. It is estimated there is one rat for each person in the
United States.
41. An adult rat can jump at least three feet (one meter)
straight up and four feet (1.2 meters) out from a standing
position.
42. Rats can climb up the insides of pipes with diameters as
small as one and one half inches (four centimeters).
43. The two most common rat varieties kept as pets are the
black rat and the roof rat.
44. The most common type of rat that is responsible for
residential infestations is the Norway Rat.
45. Rats are breeding mature at only five weeks of age.
Back To:
More Free Info about
Rodents as Pets
Info about All Small & Exotic Pets
Didn't find what you were looking for?
Try doing a search on our site for more cool pet info.
|
