h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A520642

I hope it's ok to plug my own article here. I notice there was an article about getting rid of rats, but nothing about keeping them. Rats are becoming very popular as pets and more people are getting interested in the hobby.

This article covers reasons why rats make good pets, popular breed varieties, and what you need to know to keep your rats healthy and happy.

Arhuaine

Don't worry. It's perfectly okay to post your own articles here in Peer Review. And this is definitely a good article to post in Peer Review. It's informative and nicely written. I don't think it has any real problems that would bar it from entry into the guide and it probably serves as a nice counterpoint of sorts to the Discouraging Rats entry (http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A418592)

Yours,
Jake

Coo... thanks Jake! I read the Discouraging Rats entry before I wrote mine; it was actually that one which gave me the idea to show an alternate view of rats.

Thanks for your recommendation. You'll be glad to know that we think this
entry is great, and it has now gone into the Editorial Process for future
inclusion in the Edited Guide. When it does get into the Edited Guide, we
will email to let you know, but please bear in mind it can take a while for
entries to go through the sub-editing system. Thanks for writing for the guide!

Coo, that was quick. Ah well, better late than never. It's a really good entry. I love rats. Please have a look at the thread hanging off the "Rats - Ways to Discourage Them" article. The thread is about how rats laugh when you tickle them. Little darlings. It's here if you haven't read it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F51651?thread=96155&latest=1 Tell me a thing though, Arhuaine, do you know whether wild rats can be tamed? Not that I would want to. I'd rather leave wild animals to be wild but if you did happen to know, I'd be interested. I just wondered if, like dogs, many generations of domestication had made their natures slightly different - tamer. Sal :)

That article about giggling rats is fascinating. I'd love to be able to record that and slow it down so I can hear it. As for taming wild rats, yes I think it could be done if the young were taken from the nest at 3-4 weeks old. Any younger and they wouldn't survive without mum. Any later, and they would be unaccustomed to human handling. Pet rats, if not handled at all when young, will also be wild. I have a book at home which says that rat-keeping became popular in the 18th century. Rat-catchers would keep very young rats as pets instead of killing them. I wouldn't like to touch a wild rat though, I can't even begin to imagine what pests and diseases it would be carrying.

I heard the giggling rats on a documentary. They sound like kids when you tickle them, but of course, you need special equipment.

That's interesting about the rat catchers keeping pet rats. It seems as though rats are a bit like cats - tame if handled when young. I know people who've had feral kittens but, apparently, they weren't quite young enough. If they don't become accustomed to human contact in a very specific window of time, they'll always be a bit wild and will dislike being handled.

It's a shame rats have such a bad image, isn't it? Presumably, if we can get diseases from them (and, of course, we can), then they can also get diseases from us. It must be possible to clean them up and keep them nice I suppose. I know what you mean though. I don't much care for the idea of touching a rat fresh out of the sewer.

Sal

Diseases come from fleas on rats, not from rats.

Plague: "Disease of over one-hundred animals, including rats and humans. Infection occurs from flea bites and can go from people to rats, people to people, or rats to rats."

The flea may be the vector but it's a bit misleading to say the diseases actually "come from fleas". Where does the flea get the disease from? The answer is, over a hundred species of animal, including rats and humans. That doesn't make rats or humans bad or blame-worthy. It's just a fact of life.

Plague: "Disease of over one-hundred animals, including rats and humans. Infection occurs from flea bites and can go from people to rats, people to people, or rats to rats."

The flea may be the vector but it's a bit misleading to say the diseases actually "come from fleas". Where does the flea get the disease from? The answer is, over a hundred species of animal, including rats and humans. That doesn't make rats or humans bad or blame-worthy. It's just a fact of life.

Editorial Note: This thread has been moved out of the Peer Review forum because this entry has now been recommended for the Edited Guide.

If they have not been along already, the Scout who recommended your entry will post here soon, to let you know what happens next. Meanwhile you can find out what will happen to your entry here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/SubEditors-Process

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