I have a ruby-eyed albino rat and my teacher (of my Zoology class where i got her) said that she was born on May 28th 2006. I was wondering how long will she live? Just Wondering. . .

Pet shop and/or rescue rats on average live about 26 months, but every month after 2 years is to be totally treasured.     Unfortunately some die younger and then there's the longer lived furkids that last 3 years and more.

Babies are usually weaned at 4 weeks old...do you know how old your little one is?

Do you mean your rat was born in a lab and raised by people, and never came into contact with it's mother?

Ask him if by "lab raised" if the babies were born with a c-section and the mother was sacrificed?  Rats born this way do not have mycoplasma and they are used to test on.

Info on mycoplasma:

http://ratguide.com/health/bacteria/mycoplasma_mycoplasmosis.php

Watch for the discharge from her eyes or nose, keep her on proper bedding, clean cage, observe how she behaves.  For the most part I would say rats are very rewarding interactive pets, but at one point or another they all tend to need some vet care that costs a bit, be it antibiotics, tumor removals, spay/neuter, or PTS. 

It is usually a good idea to know of a local exotic vet that has experience with rats, and also put away an emergency vet fund - a hundred dollars at the very least.

Guess i will be the one to say it....you REALLY should do research on rats BEFORE you get one 

Yes, my rats name is Ivory.   

So does that mean that my rat is gonna die? Should i not keep her at the end of 3 weeks? Or should i keep her? ( I really like her  ) But does she have a disease? or do all rats have that disease dormant in their body, and it can just 'flare up' at any time when she doesnt have the proper care?

I say keep her and another one or two of your classmates girls, if you have the money and energy and motivation to research the hell out of owning rats to do them right.   I'm guessing these rats will be euthanized after class, if no one adopts them as pets.

Myco typically lies dormant unless the rat is under stress or has a weak immune system.  Good husbandry goes a LONG way in preventing (or at least minimizing) flareups.  

I'd love to have a long talk with your teacher.  Sounds like a real idiot passing out live animals like party favors.  This is not a jab against you AT ALL, but you're obviously very naive about rats and I think the teacher is doing rats a huge disservice by not giving more information before he brings the animals into his curriculum.  

You obviously love little Ivory and I am SO glad you're here!!

Here are some sites I found extremely helpful when I first became interested in rats as pets.

This page was created especially for newbie rat owners.    http://members.aol.com/juliesrats/e4nindex.html

http://www.ratbehavior.org/  (a more sciency site, not about general rat care, but very fascinating)
http://www.spoiledratten.com/care.html   (a highly respected breeder's pages on fundamentals of rat care)
http://www.afrma.org/rmindex.htm  (a nice page of links)

Keep reading and asking questions.  Rats deserve the very best!  

Robin

No, i think that he has been doing the classes for a long time now, and keeps 2 rats from every class he does.  So he has been doing the rat thing for a long time now.

But what if i cant get her a friend? Because alot of people in my class want other people's rats that they cant keep, but i also was going to try to get a friend for Ivory, but what if they are all 'taken'?

But doesnt the rescue rat (if i get one) have to be a REW? and doesnt it have to be a female of the same age?