To quote Dash, “It finally happened”. Heheh.
Read about the pet rat craze stirred by Ratatouille over at Upcoming Pixar.
~~=oP
Wow! THat is really cool. I think it could’ve been anticipated, but I never thought it would be such a craze and such a high increase of demand for little rodents for pets. Thanks to Upcoming Pixar for the news.
Awesome I really wanna get one, but I need to find a pet store that sells 'em around here. 
Ick. No thanks. I am not fond of the little rodents.
Lol, it’s true, it was bound to happen! 
I knew this would happen. I’m glad that people see that rats don’t equal dirty rodents scurrying around. If I wasn’t such a die-hard cat person, I would probably get a pet rat or two.
Heh. Yep, it was inevitable. On the one hand, I’m extremely happy that this finally happened! It’s about darn time the cute little fuzzies got some credit! On the down side, I hope people aren’t buying them just because of the film and then dumping them on the streets later on when they “find no use” for them anymore. sigh 
Thanks for the information, Dash/PV! 
– Mitch
Or flushing them down toilets to “set 'em free” like the Nemo clownfish craze. Actually, rats generally survive getting flushed. They could hold their breath for three minutes at a time and they will often swim up though toilets to find new places to live. But a pet Rat wouldn’t last more than a couple of days in the wild.
I read about it in a pet magazine not too long after Ratatouille’s release. It has it’s good and bad points. Lots of people buy things like baby ducks for easter and end up dumping them sooner or later. It’s a fad to them, but they don’t realize- animals have feelings too. The good side could be that people are seeing rats in a different light, which is good. 
This reminds of the time in 2003 when everyone was buying clownfish after Finding Nemo came out, even though the movie was against this. LOL
Rats actually require a lot of dedication, both time-wise and financially, and there’s certainly a lot more to caring for rats (and you really shouldn’t only have one, they need to have company) than most people think. There are NO prepackaged rat diets that are actually anywhere near adequate for their needs - and some of them are downright dangerous. Plus the only way to get an adequately-sized quality cage fortwo or more rats is to mailorder one. Rats are prone to ailments and tumors that most people don’t want to shell out the bucks to treat. When I had rats I prepared their food myself, and made many of their toys myself - in fact I had to sew a few new hammocks for them every week. Cage maintenance took up a good chunk of every Saturday, and speaking of that…the little boogers smell. Not as much as mice, but still.
Rats are awesome, but most people see them as more or less “cheap” pets, and I can assure you I spent more money on (and time cleaning up after) my two rats that I only had about a year than I ever spent on my parrot (who’s 10 now), or my snake, or my tarantulas.
HOWEVER, all that being said, I am positive that the “rat craze” never will reach the heights of the clownfish craze or the dalmatian craze from years ago. Because most parents will refuse to get rats for their kids. No matter what. My parents hated rats so much that I was…let’s just say “punished,” after my dad found out I had been playing with a neighbor’s pet rat. Some people REALLY hate rats and that’s not going to just go away because of a cartoon. While I don’t want people to hate rats, if they do then they won’t be heedlessly buying them for their kids if you know what I mean.
And if you’re still with me and you’re anywhere near the California Bay Area and you need some used rat stuff, let me know, lol. I still have to get rid of it all. Plus I can give you a great rat diet recipe…
Which we can be glad about, I suppose, since while it’s great that Ratatouille is making people see rats differently… well, a movie about a rat who cooks and sounds like the creepy neighbor from The King of Queens still isn’t going to give you a good idea of what they’re like.
Heeey, I had two rats too! One had to be put down because she was vicious and bit anyone who tried to feed her, and the other was nice but died of a tumor – which most of them do, I guess. Anyway, they do make good pets. Ratatouille made me wish I had one again or at least had done more with the ones I used to own. They never learned any tricks. :[
I am, however, assuming that the rats in the Pixar universe have human lifespans and don’t get tumors. I am happier imagining that.
Sparky - First of all, welcome to Pixar Planet!
Secondly, I know what you mean concerning the expenses as far as owning a rat goes. My first rat cost my parents over $400 just for surgeries alone…
As for rat food: Have you ever heard of a specially-made rat diet called “Reggie Rat Food”? It contains all the essential nutrients and my rats love it. Check it out:
Again, welcome to Pixar Planet!
– Mitch
Yes I believe Reggie is the only commercially-available food that comes close to being a complete diet but according to all the rat enthusiasts I know it still isn’t adequate…and as I recall the protein content is a little high for males, who are prone to breaking out in scabs if they get too much protein. Rats are weird. Anyways I’ll probably stick to birds and spiders from now on, lol.
Sparky - Really? Huh. Well, that explains the scabs on my first two boys…
Yeah, it’s hard to find a perfectly acceptable, pre-made package of rat food, but Reggie’s diet seems fair enough, I suppose.
Ha! Birds and spiders… You know, my first two rats once attacked a live spider and ate it alive. The poor spider… I was crackin’ up laughing. (snigger)
But back on-topic…
– Mitch
Seems like now the pet rat craze has hit the UK as well. Saw an news report online about it (sorry I lost the link), sales of pet rats are 50% up since the movie opened there.
Its good that the perspective of rats has changed somewhat with this movie…and that more people are getting rats as pets. But I hope it won’t be a repeat of the Nemo clownfish craze a few years back. Getting a pet is a long term commitment. Certainly the fallout from this is that a certain percentage of people decide after some time to dump their pet rat once the interest dies down, and the RSPCA or something is gonna have their hands full, maybe put down some of them because there are too many. Worse, people might just dump their rats out in the wild, and the poor critters will probably perish, becoming food for predators such as dogs, cats, etc.
Just a random thought on this pet rat craze thing…
Yeah I rescued a rat I found wandering about outside a year or two back. I couldn’t save him, he was too far gone. That was sad. I’m guessing someone just didn’t want him any more and just let him go outdoors.
My brother and I both had our own rat five or six years ago. When my mom bought them for us, she asked the pet shop employee if she could have two girls, but they gave us a girl and a boy by mistake. So the rats ended up having fifteen babies, and we had to give them all to the pet store
I’m not upset that we did, though. I never really liked rats to begin with. I think I prefer hamsters
Garion - Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about, as well. Rats aren’t just fuzzy plushtoys; they’re living, breathing entities that require love and attention. There’s been several instances in which I’ll visit the local petshop in my area only to find that a lone rat will be on sale (or even free) after haviing been unceremoniously dropped off by its previous owner. It’s usually due to the same situation, as well: The thing is cute to begin with…until it grows and becomes too much of a hassle to care for. It’s pretty sad, really.
On the plus side, at least the little rascals are getting some attention now. Heh.
– Mitch