its the tail that lots of people dont like about rats lol and funnily enough thats my favourite bit they use their tails to balance and to kind of guide them, very clever little things

i love rats, they make much better pets than hamsters and the like, but they are not everyones cup of tea,, my mum us terrified of them

Hope the Rest of you Day improves :smt049 Only two weeks Left

I used to have a lot of contact with laboratory rats (we used to use them to run mazes for behavioural research), so I'll happily go with the distinction between "domesticated" rats and wild ones!

The wild ones are definitely to be looked out for, as they are the disease carriers (lepto, or "Weill's Disease" being the most common: it attacks the liver and looks like jaundice). They are not nearly as well-tempered as pet or lab rats - in fact, near me, wild rats actually killed a group of ferrets which had been bought in to kill them!

My neighbour's cat (a big moggy!) got so badly bitten, one night, that he refused to go out after dark ever again!

If the TZBCs are out for a walk, free, and encounter a rat, they will team up on it until either they kill it or I call them off. I call them off when I can, because I don't want them getting bitten and possibly getting lepto (despite their maintained injections).

Pet/lab rats, fine. Wild ones, no thanks.

Snorri

Wild rats can carry leptospirosis - but then so do MANY other wild creatures - insects most commonly actually. Rats also die of lepto - they don't simply carry it - it does as much harm to them as to us. Lepto is reasonably rare in the UK at this stage - and the chances of catching it are slim. That said it is a vicious disease - and a friend of mine in ireland lost a cousin to it only a few years ago.

rat bites have a risk of getting infected and causing endocarditis - but this can occur with many other animal bites also - it's basically a badly infected wound which can occur in heart failure if left unattended.

I would not think for 2 seconds that wild rats are dangerous - they simply aren't, provided you execute a fair caution around them. They are no more dangerous than hedghogs, foxes or rabbits. No - they are not in the slightest bit like our pet rats which we so love - but nor are they an animal to fear or witchhunt - as seems to be all to often the idea sadly.

a beautiful and noble little animal.

xx