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Why do people think rats are little sewer critters and are gross2007-11-24 22:19:47

My rats are the cutest beings on earth! My friends think that they are cute, but also very gross. I think is is because of rats reputation. How can I get people to stop believing those rumors?

Answers:

Just let them get to know your rats. I had the same experience when I owned them. People didn't like the bald tails - thought they looked snakelike. My rat was the smartest animal I've ever owned though - he knew his name, he came to me, he figured out how to swing my bookshelf cabinet from my bed to a stack of books to climb down on my floor. He'd then climb the books, swing the cabinet door, and crawl on my bed when he wanted back up. He amazed people that would come over and see him in action. They got to know him and it actually convinced some of my friends to buy them, haha. Most went for the smaller rats - I had the jumbo NY city gutter rat though, haha. gosh, I miss him.

The black plague wasn't carried by rats, necessarily. The black plague was due to the combination of all the horrible conditions they lived in - the people didn't bathe regularly, their waste was recycled in rivers that would then come down stream to where they collected their water, trash was thrown every which way. Continuing research has found that it was transmitted through saliva (coughing and such) OR that it was an ebola-type virus because Iceland was severely inflicted with the black plague, but rats were never introduced to Iceland at that time so there is no way the disease had been transmitted through rats there. So, yes, people who are miseducated or not kept up with continuing research believe that it was rats who caused it.

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Rats are known to carry disease. Thats how the black pleague got started...Fleas from rats.

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A lot of people really don't like their tails and some rats have red I eyes and red I eye some time mean "evil"

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A lot of people think that because of their tails.