New rattie

Question
Hi,

We have a new rat in our house... She is a rescued lab rat... Very fat and she is very shy.. I was wondering how you can tell how old they are... I can tell how old horses and dogs are by their teeth... Rats I am new at... Any suggestions?

Answer
This is something that can be a challenge. It is not based on teeth or size in all areas. There is a base line to go by, but its a guesstimate at best on your rats true age. The average lifespan of a pet rat is between 2 and 3 years, but dont bank on this either because my Christopher is going on 4 yrs and still going strong it is like anything they can live really long or really short lives.

Weight:
2-3 months old, they weighed around 80-110 grams.

4-6 months old, they weighed around 200-250 grams.

16 months old and she weighs around 400 grams.


I did find a WONDERFUL website that gives pictures and measurements to go by for telling an age of a rat.

http://www.rattyrat.com/guidebook/guidebook_index.html