If you do, when do you start?  And how often do you do it?  Thanks guys!

I only gave my rats a bath once!    When they came home from the pet store stinky!  

But the girls are pretty good at keeping themselves groomed!

I do it OCCASIONALLY.  Not very often.  Sometimes they go through periods where they're peeing all over each other during play time, and they stink to high Heaven even though they groom themselves all the time.

I use baby shampoo on them.

I get the water warm, but not too warm, and then wet the rat.  Then, put a tiny dab of shampoo on her back, and rub.  Then, the rat is rinsed clean, and rubbed with a towel to remove excess water.

All rats are placed in the cage after the bath where they are then allowed to give me dirty looks as they groom themselves.  LOL!

I'd say they get bathed once every 3 or 4 months.  They only get it when they're really stinky.

I have never given a rat or a cat a bath in my life, and they seem just fine without it!

If you really want to , I would suggest starting when they are babies. This might make it easier for them.

I give my rats a bath about once a month   They dont mind it too much I just feel the bath tub up enough so that the deepest end covers them with water except there faces the other end is usually very empty still then I bathe them and let them play in the water in the shallow end

Yes, when they need it.  However, I always make sure that they are plenty warm afterwards.  

When I am getting ready to bathe a rat (or any other rodent), I put 4-5 (clean & dry) towels in the dryer first.  I wait about 10 mins before starting their bath.  That way, when they get out, they are guaranteed a warm, fuzzy place.  When the bath is over, I use one towel to give them a once-over drying, then wrap them in a second towel (throwing the first one back in the dryer).  I unwrap them and wrap them in a third towel (throwing the second towel back) after about 5 minutes.  I continue to rotate towels every 5 minutes until they are dry.  

If your dryer is particularly hot, you will need to adjust times/temperatures.  However, keep in mind that their body temperature is much higher than ours, so something that seems too warm for you may not be too warm for them.  Just stick to cotton (and similar fabric) towels.  Some synthetics can get too hot (like the metal bits on your jeans).

SIDE NOTE:
My first rat (Cricket) actually loved the water, so I would give her "baths" more frequently.  They were actually not baths so much as swimming sessions.  In the summer, I took her down to the creek and let her swim around (under VERY close supervision, of course), then let her sun herself on her favorite island.  When the weather turned cooler, I would put some toys (including a small ball and a boat "island") into the bath, fill it 5-6" with slightly warm water, and let her swim around.  When she was done, she would hop up onto the side of the tub, and be greeted by a warm towel.   She loved it.  

I had to give my rat Tikosyn after she tipped over a bowl of milk and got it all over her.  She didn't like it tho.  Afterwards when I gave her a treat she took the treat, threw it on the floor, and bit me.

haha....not too hard...but enough to let me know not to do THAT again.....

P.S.  I try not to use soap at all (most things will come out with enough water.  When soap is required, I use "Mane and Tale".  It is made for horses, but is approved for human use.  And it makes their coat very soft/shiny.  They don't seem to be interested in eating it, either, which was my problem with the baby shampoo I tried.  

I always wash out the conditioner completely, regardless of the fact that it says you can leave it in - rats lick themselves more than humans or horses.

I had a crew of four brothers and Drew and those guys were filthy rats, would mark each other and get dirty looking tails, etc, they just seemed to neglect grooming their tails.  I would set up a series of buckets of water in the tub, take a rat, dunk it up to its head in the first bucket, take it out, shampoo it with kitten shampoo, dunk it in another bucket to remove most of the shampoo, then gently pour water from the last bucket working from head down to tail, ruffing fur with my fingers to get all the soap out, pop rat into a towel, and hand off to my daughter to love and dry off and hug.  I wore rubber gloves to protect from nails, never had a biter, although I had a squealer.  I have heard of others say the rat may bite at the gloves, but mine never did.

I know I'm not too odd (cos I know other people like it too!) but I just LOVE sniffing my boys!

Even though I know that I'm essentially just sniffing pee, it smells sooooo scrummy! I think it might change as they get older though - my friend's boys most definitely smell pee-y !  

Mine REALLY hate water, so they get a brief rub-down with a washcloth and mild soap once a month or so-only when the piddle smell over rides the arrowroot smell they seem to have-for some reason they are always peeing in the hammock that they sleep in..

Any one ever train rats to water from a young age? I know you need to do that with most cats...

I use Neutrogena shampoo, because it has no dyes or perfumes, and it rinses much better than baby shampoo in my opinion. I use the pet wipes if they step in something or drag their tails through something, but dont otherwise need a bath.

So why is it that when you're trying to wash off the effects of marinating in pee, they hate the water, but when they're pea fishing they'll quite happily sit up to the armpits in it?

i bath my rats like once a week. they are very clean. they have their own special shampoo.. its called "animal science" small animal shampoo..it comes in a green bottle and best of all its tearless and herbal. i would recomend it to anyone with rats or mice. its great.