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I worked at a pet store in college. This mother came in with her daughter and they wanted to get a Pet. They weren’t sure what but definitely not a rat, and definitely not a male anything.

I worked with them for about three hours, and at the end sent them home with a male rat. Both delighted as can be.

He was a very social and playful one that I had been planning on taking home.

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Yes, if you can stand the smell, and keep them active and socially-engaged, rats make excellent pets. They’re more predator than prey, with all that implies.

I know it's been 600 years and I should really move on, but that whole "black death" thing ...

I find their body language pretty hard to read and their interaction to be much closer to prey (a rabbit) than predator (a dog or cat), but perhaps that is a lack of experience on my part.

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