Scientific name: Rattus Norvegicus - Brown (or Norway) Rat, common pet
                                Rattus rattus -  Black (or ship) Rat 
Background:
   Rats have been around for an extremely long time, and different varieties can be found almost everywhere in the world. Rats have often been thought of as pests because they have found advantages in living with people. People have always provided a good source of food for rats in their houses, buildings, and ships. The Brown Rat, which is the most common pet rat, traveled by ship to different countries across the globe. It gained prominence in the United States in the 1760's when there were large numbers of European immigrants. 
   In the European Middle Ages, rats carried the deadly plagues (such as bubonic plague) which killed hundreds of thousands of people. In other places they were seen as different signs, such as a good luck symbol to ancient Romans and the Japanese saw rats as a messenger of the gods.
   In today's world, many rats are domesticated and bred to display many different fur types and colors. They are also bred and used extensively in research laboratories to study heredity, and the effects of drugs and foods. One reason for this is that they can reproduce fairly quickly. 

Description:
   Rats can vary in size, but normal pet rats average about 14 to 18 inches long including the tail, with an average weight of approximately half a pound. If well taken care of they can live from 2 to 3 years.
   There are several varieties of rats, some well-known ones include kangaroo rats, packrats, bushy-tailed woodrats, African giant rats, and spiny rats. The disease-carrying rats of the Middle Ages and the most common pests are the black and brown rats.
   Pet rats can come in many different colors, including black, brown, beige, albino (white with red eyes), and many combinations of colors. Most rats are commonly a solid color or hooded. Hooded rats have one color covering their head with usually a stripe coming down their backs, with the rest of their bodies a different color.

Environment:
   When considering what type of cage to buy or build, make sure there at a minimum, it is 16" x 10" x 10". Glass aquariums, or metal cages with small holes are usually ideal, because they rat can't chew through them or squeeze through the holes. The cage can be kept inside or outside as long as it does not drop below 40 degrees and as long as it is not kept in a direct draft. 
   Provide a good soft bedding that is clean, non-toxic, absorbent, relatively dust free and easily acquired. Shredded paper or tissue, processed corn cob, wood shavings, or a prepared litter are preferred bedding. Avoid cedar or chlorophyll impregnated shavings as they have been associated with respiratory and liver disease. They love to burrow so make sure to give them a good layer, at least 1" thick. Cages with removable trays may be a consideration, since they can help make cleaning easier.
   Put in a cardboard house or logs for the rat so that he has a place to go when he is tired. Consider different toys also, such as wheels for young rats, mirrors, logs and ladders.
   Clean the cage thoroughly with hot water at least once a week.

Care and feeding:
   A rat's diet is a major factor in keeping your pet healthy. It needs to be well balanced and nutritrious, based on protein with some vegetables and fruits.    The best way to obtain this is to buy pre-mixed rat foods at pet stores, which have all the nutrition requirements in the right amounts. Otherwise, good protein sources are dog food, fish flakes, some grains, and other freeze-dried fish foods (like brine shrimp and plankton). Fruits and vegetables are important because they provide necessary vitamins and minerals. Good sources of these would be apples, carrots, lettuce, bananas, etc.
   Since rats are sometimes prone to vitamin deficiencies, you may want to consider getting a vitamin supplement to add to the food, which can be found in pet stores.
   In general, rats should be fed once a day, usually at night since that is when they are most active. Make sure and remove any non-eaten fresh greens at the end of the day. Food should be put in heavy china or pottery dishes (making it harder for them to spill the contents) and should be thoroughly washed with hot water at least twice a week. They may also be given treats such as table scraps, soup, potatoes, meat, insects (mealworms, grasshoppers, moths), or treats found at pet stores.
   Rats teeth are also constantly growing, so you should provide them with objects to gnaw on, such as rawhide bones, nuts, or wood pieces. This will help keep them in good shape.
   Water is a very important thing for rats. They cannot survive without it, so make sure they have a constant supply. Gravity-flow water bottles, which can be found in pet stores, are a good choice, or just a plain dish will work too.

Social Behaviors:
   Most rats get along together, however there are some things to take into consideration. Occasionally, males will fight with each other, especially in the presence of females. Also, whenever adding a new rat to a cage, watch to make sure the new one is not picked on. Newcomers are sometimes not welcome, and there is always a pecking order established.
   Rats are great companions for children, and it's okay to have only one as long as it is given a lot of attention. They should be kept away from other household pets unless they are well acquainted with each other. Sometimes rats can become good friends with dogs or cats.
   Never house rats with other rodents though, such as mice, hamsters, or gerbils, because they will usually kill them. 

Handling and Training:
 

The black rat (Rattus rattus) is the closest relative to the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) who we know as our fancy rats

The Bubonic Plague of 1900
The Bubonic Plague hit Sydney in January 1900. Spreading from the waterfront, the rats carried the plague throughout the city. Within eight months 303 cases were reported and 103 people were dead.

Quarantine areas were established. These stretched from Millers Point east to George Street, along Argyle, Upper Fort, and Essex Streets then south to Chippendale, covering the area between Darling Harbour and Kent Streets, west to Cowper Street, Glebe, along City Road to the area bounded by Abercrombie, Ivy, Cleveland Streets, and the railway. The area east from George Street enclosed by Riley, Liverpool, Elizabeth and Goulburn Streets, Gipps, Campbell and George Streets were also quarantined, as were certain areas in Woolloomooloo, Paddington, Redfern and Manly.

Cleansing and disinfecting operations in the quarantine areas lasted from 24 March to 17 July and included the demolition of 'slum' buildings. Photographs were taken of buildings before demolition and inspectors took notes of other property destroyed. The photographs also include the interior and exterior of houses, stores, warehouses and wharves, and surrounding streets, lanes and yards, thus providing a fairly clear indication of the state of the city during and immediately after the Plague.

Local residents were employed to undertake the cleansing, disinfecting, burning and demolition of the infected areas, including their own homes. Shovels, brooms, mattocks, hoses, buckets, and watering cans, were tools used to clear, clean, lime wash and disinfect. Not only buildings and dwellings were subjected to the cleansing operations but also wharves and docks were cleared of silt and sewerage.

Cleansing agents used during the cleansing operations included: solid disinfectant (chloride of lime); liquid disinfectant (carbolic water: miscible carbolic, 3/4 pint water, 1 gallon); sulphuric acid water (sulphuric acid, 1/2 pint water, 1 gallon); carbolic lime white (miscible carbolic 1/2 pint to the gallon).

Rat catchers were employed and the rats burned in a special rat incinerator. Over 44,000 rats were officially killed in the cleansing operations.

In 1901 the Sydney Harbour Trust resumed hundreds of properties in The Rocks and Millers Point. While public health was a convenient excuse for resumptions, the need for a harbour bridge may also have motivated the authorities. Green Bans in the 1970s on the redevelopment of The Rocks helped preserve this historic area which is now a major tourist attraction. The Rocks area has been under the control of the Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority since 1970 and the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority since 1999.
 
 

Rats and Sound Scientific Research

The federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) sets minimum standards of animal care for experimental laboratories, animal dealers, and others. In 1970, the AWA was specifically amended to protect all “warm-blooded animals” used in research, but regulations promulgated excluded rats, mice and birds. Now, the vast majority of scientists and laypersons agree that it is time to include experimental rats, mice and birds in the regulations for enforcement of the Act.

In 1966 and again in 1985, Congress contemplated and rejected the utilization of either accreditation or NIH policies as a means to ensure compliance with the Animal Welfare Act. Both NIH and the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, International (AAALAC) have repeatedly stated that they are not enforcement agencies. USDA is the only federal agency with the sole responsibility of enforcing legally mandated animal care requirements at registered research facilities. USDA’s track record for the species it currently covers far exceeds that of either NIH or AAALAC. In addition, since hundreds of laboratories that use rats, mice and birds fall outside of NIH or AAALAC purview, the care and treatment of animals is unknown.
 
 

“Rats, mice, and birds account for about 90% of all laboratory animals in the United States.  And yet these animals—upon whom we rely so heavily in our biomedical research and product safety testing—are not covered by regulations designed to enforce the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), the principal law governing the care and treatment of research animals in this country.  The Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) finds this situation untenable….The CAAT Board sees no scientific or ethical basis for this exclusion.” —Statement dated December 4, 2001 from the CAAT Advisory Board [G Adam-Rodwell, PhD (Mary Kay Holding Co.), LS Andrews, PhD (Rohm & Haas Co.), AE Auletta*, PhD (US Environmental Protection Agency), FW Baker, PhD (Procter & Gamble Co.), MO Barker, PhD (Mary Kay Holding Co.), R Bascom, MD, MPH (Penn State University), JL Butenhoff, PhD (3M), WE Dressler, PhD (Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.), J Foster (Charles River Breeding Laboratories, Inc.), JJ Freeman, PhD (ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences, Inc.), AJ Gandolfi, PhD (University of AZ), AM Goldberg, PhD, DScHc (Johns Hopkins University), AW Hayes, PhD (The Gillette Co.), H Koeter, DrTox (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), R Main, MS, MPH (Alberto-Culver Co.), JP McCulley, MD (University of TX), KS Ramos, PhD (TX A & M University), B Robaire, PhD (McGill University), NR Rose, MD, PhD (Johns Hopkins University), AN Rowan, DPhil (Humane Society of the US), DN Sauder, MD, FRCPC (Johns Hopkins University), LM Schechtman*, PhD (US Food & Drug Administration), SA Shaya, PhD (Johnson & Johnson), WS Stokes*, DVM (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences), GI Tennekoon, MBBA, LRCP (University of PA), EL Thompson (Bernice Barbour Foundation, Inc.), and JD Yager, PhD (Johns Hopkins University)]  *Ex officio

* “As a matter of principle, DPC [Dupont Pharmaceutical Co.] does not oppose including research rats, mice and/or birds in the AWA [Animal Welfare Act] regulatory definition of animals.” —David Martin, VMD, Senior Director, Animal Resources, Dupont Pharmaceutical Co., Wilmington, DE, May 24, 1999

* “At TARC [Torsten Almen Research Center], laboratory-bred rats and mice comprise over 90% of the species used in our biomedical research and development animal studies.  The future use of laboratory-bred rats and mice will escalate especially in the fields of molecular biology, transgenic animal models, gene mapping, radiation oncology, targeting and imaging.  The coverage of laboratory-bred rats and mice under the USDA regulations is appropriate and proper.” —John Ventre, MS, Chair, Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee, Torsten Almen Research Center, Nycomed Amersham Imaging, Wayne, PA, May 26, 1999

Mice 

Mice have always been stereotyped as scheming, sneaky lovable vagabonds
in American cartoons.

Mouse is the common name for any small member of three families of rodents; large species of one of the families to which mice belong are known as rats (see RAT). The word mouse has no exact meaning in classification systems. Mice are numerous throughout most of the world, but for convenience they are often grouped as the Eurasian mice and the American mice. Fields and human habitations serve as homes for these animals. Mice, like rats, consume and damage large quantities of food and spread diseases.

The common house mouse is the most frequently observed species and is the ancestor of the white mice that are raised for scientific experimentation. In its wild state the house mouse is slightly less than 17 cm (less than 6.5 in) long including the tail, which is slightly more than 8 cm (more than 3 in) long; domestic mice, because of better nutrition, are often considerably larger. The house mouse is yellowish-gray above, sometimes streaked with black, and lighter gray beneath. It breeds every 10 to 17 weeks throughout the year, producing five to ten young in a litter.

There are many species of common American wood mice. The deer mouse, slightly larger than the house mouse, is a common American outdoor mouse. Prevalent in the southern United States is the cotton mouse. Dark brown with grayish feet, it is injurious to cotton plants. The grasshopper, or scorpion, mice inhabit western North America and differ from typical mice in feeding primarily on insects and other arthropods. The common wood mouse inhabits Europe. Harvest mice are common in America and Europe. The so-called field, or meadow, mouse is classed as a vole. The name mouse is applied also to the pocket mouse, to jumping mice, and to the dormouse and its relatives.

Mice belong to the families Muridae, Cricetidae, and Platacanthomyidae of the order Rodentia. The common house mouse is classified as Mus musculus, the deer mouse as Peromyscus maniculatus, and the cotton mouse as Peromyscus gossypinus. Grasshopper mice make up the genus Onychomys. The common wood mouse of Europe is classified as Apodemus sylvaticus. American harvest mice make up the genus Reithrodontomys. The harvest mouse of Europe is classified as Micromys minutus.