a new and unique rat fear

[Jodi]

"WittleWattieWettyphobia "  - the fear of being nocturnally peed upon whilst sleeping -

ROFL!!!  

[Rat-love]

P.S.  Rats don't carry rabies!

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

Or did I misunderstand your statement?

No--you are right!  Any mammal can contract rabies. Thanks to Suebee and her CDC links, I stand corrected.  The head person at our local rodent shelter told me that rats don't carry rabies, verbatim.  I just assumed she was infallible... she might just have been simplifying the facts.  I wasn't entirely doubting of what she said, though, because for the most part you hear of carnivores or bats as rabies carriers, with the rare species of rodent thrown in.  According to the CDC site, this is actually the case (I think it said 0.7% of wild rabies carriers in 2000 were rodents).

Sooo, while I was at it, I took example from Suebee and looked up Hantavirus while I was on the CDC site.  I've been especially curious about whether rats could carry it since it was mentioned as a fear of parents (they would attribute the fall of western civilization to our pets if they could!).  This is because I was in college in the Four Corners area when the outbreak of Hantavirus occurred on the Navajo reservations there, and as a result we studied some scientific papers on Hantavirus; these only listed the deer mouse as a carrier.  Study of the disease has probably progressed since then, and it turns out that (from the CDC site):

"In the United States, deer mice (plus cotton rats and rice rats in the southeastern states and the white-footed mouse in the Northeast) are the rodents carrying hantaviruses that cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.  "

Also, (green is mine),

"No--the hantaviruses that cause HPS in the United States are not known to be transmitted by any types of animals other than certain species of rodents. You cannot get hantavirus from farm animals, such as cows, chickens or sheep, or from insects, such as mosquitoes. Dogs and cats are not known to carry hantavirus.  However, they may bring infected rodents into contact with people if they catch such animals and carry them home. Guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils and other such pets are not known to carry hantavirus."


And, if you want to know more about hantavirus and how to prevent it, here's the link:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/noframes/transmit.htm

Wow!  Lookit me tawkin'!

[MalignStar]

By far, the most common response about my rats is that I am going to get the plague. I've yet to hear stories about getting rabies though. This one guy in my first hour brags about his hamster   and makes fun of my rats all the time and said that if he had 27 rats like me, he'd use them for target practice!   He's so misinforned and so close minded it makes me sick. I hate people like that! He's never even touched a rat before so how can he make judgements?

[Ali]

I've come to the conclusion you've got to convert people when they're young! All the little kids who come to play with my stepson think the rats are sweeties (even if their parents have told them otherwise!). As an over-protective rat mum I have my heart in my mouth everytime they get near my rats or want to hold them or pet them, but I've come across so much negativity from adults that I've decided that as long as they're well supervised and not stressing my boys then they're welcome to fuss them. Hopefully they'll grow up thinking they're as gorgeous as I do!

My niece and nephew (who are 5 and 3) adore my rats (my sister can't touch them!). When they stay over they fight to sleep on the side of the bed nearest the rat cage! And my poor sister even found my niece trying to play with 'big mice (!) like Aunty Ali's' at the bottom of the garden (they were indeed wild rats!)  

[emmamay]

...rats didnt bring in the plage did they?
and i try telling my friend that u know a cat has just about as much a chance (prob more) of giving you a dieases than a rat does esp. a ferral cat to a domesticated rat!!...
u know some people are just so tunnel visioned!
but i have introduced rats to two adults and they had never touched a rat before and they loved them!:)

[Yresim]

No--you are right!  Any mammal can contract rabies. Thanks to Suebee and her CDC links, I stand corrected.  The head person at our local rodent shelter told me that rats don't carry rabies, verbatim.  I just assumed she was infallible... she might just have been simplifying the facts.  I wasn't entirely doubting of what she said, though, because for the most part you hear of carnivores or bats as rabies carriers, with the rare species of rodent thrown in.  According to the CDC site, this is actually the case (I think it said 0.7% of wild rabies carriers in 2000 were rodents).

Actually, as it turns out, there are no reported incidents of people being infected with rabies by a rat.  Apparently, the rats are usually killed in the initial attack and, thus, don't survive long enough to infect anything else.  

It took me a long time to find this particular piece of datum.  You can find it on the bottom of page six in this document:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/Professional/publications/miscellaneous/12_questions_rabies.pdf

Please note that this did not address larger rodents: only smaller rodents, such as rats, mice, and guinea pigs.

Unfortunately, this does not help to assuage irrational fears of the plague.  ::shrug::  

I've told my mother that I'm no longer keeping rats.  I now only keep Norwegian Long-Tailed Gerbils (thanks to another poster for this idea).  For the time being, at least, I don't have to hear "you're going to get the plague" every time I talk to her.  Fortunately, she hasn't seen my gerbils yet.