i have this friend who i've been talking about getting an apartment with. the only problem is that she does not like my rats. at all. she's getting better, though. she touched one the other day. but she is terrified that they will get out of their cage and <drumroll please> pee on her in her sleep. not bite, not scratch, not eat her furniture. pee on her.

Isn't it strange what people are scared of.  I met people who were scared of alpacas, not because they might bite or kick but because they might spit on them!!  If the worst an animal does to you is pee on you then that is a good animal.  Good luck in the quest to over come the rat fear.  I'm sure thier cute little faces will win through eventually.

ROFLMAO!  Why on EARTH would she be worried about that?  Everyone knows that when rats escape in the middle of the night what they TRULY want to do instead is eat our EYEBALLS!  You might want to let her know she's been horribly misinformed, and that she may want to consider sleeping in safety glasses.  LOL!

I have a friend, who when she learned I had rats, said - "OH, don't you have nightmares that they are coming to GET you??"  Duhhh - yes! I always get pets that I am terrified of!

Sometimes the fear of rats peeing is a logical one... sort of... well, okay, the WORRY of rats peeing on you.  See, Ellie never pees on me or my friends, with the one exception of my friend James.  She ALWAYS pees on him, so he doesn't like to hold him anymore.  Perhaps she has decided that he is her "territory."

Tell her that Rattus norvegicus (all domesticated rats are this species) is not a carrier of Bubonic plague.  Rattus rattus, the black rat, carries the fleas that carry the plague.  Or carried, anyway--I don't know if infection has occurred that way since the early 20th century.

My favorite rat fear is the one in which the rats will surely gnaw off the baby's face at night while it's asleep!    Ewwww...

P.S.  Rats don't carry rabies!

Show her this:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/

This page is particularly interesting:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/Epidemiology/Epidemiology.htm

According to the info here, you are more likely to get rabies from a domestic housecat than you are from a WILD rodent, much less a pet rodent.

Basically, there are so few cases of rabies from wild rodents that it's not even a concern -- if a rat is attacked by a rabid animal, it is more likely to die from its injuries before given the chance to develop the disease and pass it on. With a pet rat, it's not even worth thinking about.

I'm living with two roommates next year - one loves rodents and the other HATES rodents and doesn't even particularly like any animal except dogs.

She hates them so much she's already told me they cannot ever come near her - believe me when I say NOTHING will change her mind. She is a very stubborn and headstrong person.

However, the only reason I'm allowed to have my rats is because she knows how important they are to me and that obviously when sharing a room with someone you have to do a little give and take.

Good Luck!

I've found plying my friends with alcohol helps!  

One friend refused to even go in the room and see them in their cage without a couple of glasses of wine first, she was so afraid (I wasn't bugging her to see them, she wanted to get over this fear she had). Once she was suitably lubricated she thought they were quite sweet and even petted one through the cage bars (which was a major achievement- though I don't know how many glasses she'd actually had, cos she started comparing the rat to a rabbit!  ).

I've noticed that lots of scaredy people shy away from Roger (my dark brown boy) but will take a chance petting Fly (my PEW). I can kind of understand that. Roger DOES look much more rodent-y! (which, in my opinion, makes him the most handsome!) He also 'scuttles', whereas Fly just lumbers about.  

What makes you say that?  Where did you hear/read/see that?  I thought rabies could infect any mammal...  

Of course, the liklihood of a caged pet rat getting rabies without the owner knowing about it is slim-to-none.    I'm just wondering what makes you think they can't get it?

Or did I misunderstand your statement?

Thats funny why does pee scare her so much? my rats dont pee outside ther cage but my friends rat pees on him everytime he takes it out

I've been pretty lucky with responses I've gotten about my love of rats.  When I first mentioned the idea to my mom she was a bit worried about them carrying diseases, but I said I didn't think a rat would be any more likely to be carrying a disease then any other domestic animal.  And after doing a little research and explaining things to her, she's now pretty cool with it.  She still doesn't think they're the greatest thing in the world (unlike me) but she's a pretty animal-cool person, so I bet when I finally get some she'll really like them.  She thinks I'm slightly nuts for wanting rats, but then she always thinks I'm slightly nuts, and I am!

This may be too simple, but couldn't your roomate just close her door at night?    

If THAT'S her only problem i suggest making some super strong, secure, "lockdown" device to put on the cage at night.  It doesn't actually have to do anything but as long as it looks like it does it might make her feel better at night.  Or you could actually let her make the lock, that way she'll feel better knowing that she made it so they can't get out and come pee on her (hehe), and maybe that would let her interact with them and get over her fear.