Author Topic: Questions Re: Rat Life Expectancy Survey (Read 28440 times)

petunia · « **on:** May 02, 2009, 06:18:27 PM »

hi,
i didn't read this entire thread, because it's just soooooo long, but i was wondering, has anyone added up the totals and come up with an average life span?

would also be interested to know if spayed/neutered rats lived longer.

and i guess it would be interesting to know if pet store rats did not live as long as i would suspect.

i've got my first five rats, three are young- 7 mos and under, and two are older, around 17 mos

i hope the average is more than 2 yrs!! don't want to lose my grumpy ol girls so soon after getting them, although one of them does have a growth that i found a few days ago that she didn't have when i got her early last month

Dearpie · « **Reply #1 on:** May 06, 2009, 11:14:09 AM »

I split this post off from the original topic, as the purpose of the Life Expectancy thread is not to have discussions this post is trying to generate. That thread is pretty much for posting only about the age of death of your rats, no discussions there, please.

Whaturmuva · « **Reply #2 on:** May 21, 2009, 02:50:16 PM »

Quote from: petunia on May 02, 2009, 06:18:27 PM

hi,
i didn't read this entire thread, because it's just soooooo long, but i was wondering, has anyone added up the totals and come up with an average life span?

would also be interested to know if spayed/neutered rats lived longer.

and i guess it would be interesting to know if pet store rats did not live as long as i would suspect.

i've got my first five rats, three are young- 7 mos and under, and two are older, around 17 mos

i hope the average is more than 2 yrs!! don't want to lose my grumpy ol girls so soon after getting them, although one of them does have a growth that i found a few days ago that she didn't have when i got her early last month

I'm sad to say that most rats only live between 2 and 3 years, but some with good genetics and no health problems have lived to 5 years or longer.

scatteredbones · « **Reply #3 on:** May 25, 2009, 08:55:12 AM »

My rat Buddy only lasted 2 years before he got cancer. Male, not neutered.

BackAtTheLab · « **Reply #4 on:** June 25, 2009, 07:28:01 AM »

F-7m
F-20m
F-23m
M-18m
M-30m
M- 22m
M- 4m

Good breeding creates much better stock. Abused rescues, abandonment, oops litters and lab rats don't apparently....

Rattens · « **Reply #5 on:** June 27, 2009, 02:44:53 AM »

My post is probably buried in the thread, but I went through and took a random sampling of 250 rats from the life expectancy thread. The average came out to be approx 20 months of age (This includes both genders, spayed/neutered and not. However, I excluded any rats that died under the age of 1 month.)

ChelleAngel · « **Reply #6 on:** August 24, 2009, 09:22:46 AM »

I was told by the girl at the pet store where I got my two girls who has a great little boy that rats live about 2 1/2 to 4 years. She said that 3 years is about normal and they are considered seniors at 2. I asked her if it's ok to believe that they could live to 3 to 3 1/2 if being taken care of well and she said yes it is but 4 would be pushing it. So that was my answer from the girl I know. It would be interesting to me to find out who lives longer, boys or girls? Or is it about the same? Just my neurosis....

Chelley

diamond_wings · « **Reply #7 on:** August 24, 2009, 11:28:35 AM »

The reason she probably said that is because female rats are prone to mammary tumors which can be fatal. Also, pet store rats tend to have a shorter life span because they generally do not have the best genetics, and there is no way to know what diseases are in their bloodline etc.

Sola · « **Reply #8 on:** September 16, 2009, 04:45:15 PM »

so does anyone know the average lifespan of well bred rats? Do they routinely get to 3 years? Has anyone got or has a rat who've gotten to 4 years? The only one I met was a petshop rat, but is that age reserved for the lucky few?

shayb26 · « **Reply #9 on:** September 18, 2009, 11:52:27 AM »

Quote from: Sola on September 16, 2009, 04:45:15 PM

so does anyone know the average lifespan of well bred rats? Do they routinely get to 3 years? Has anyone got or has a rat who've gotten to 4 years? The only one I met was a petshop rat, but is that age reserved for the lucky few?

I got my first rat templeton when he was about 1 1/2 and i had him for another aprox 3 1/2 so he was about 5 when he had to be put to sleep due to a tumor and hind end paralisis caused by it.

petunia · « **Reply #10 on:** October 17, 2009, 03:09:15 PM »

Quote from: Rattens on June 27, 2009, 02:44:53 AM

My post is probably buried in the thread, but I went through and took a random sampling of 250 rats from the life expectancy thread. The average came out to be approx 20 months of age (This includes both genders, spayed/neutered and not. However, I excluded any rats that died under the age of 1 month.)

thanks so much!! this seems to be about what i would have guessed, not doing the math but just looking at the numbers posted

furbabyfurniture · « **Reply #11 on:** December 06, 2009, 03:01:34 AM »

It's such a shame we lose them so soon...little blessings in precious rattie bodies.

I wish my rattle tats would live the length of my own life span...now wouldn't that be amazing?!

htsr4 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 07, 2010, 05:59:06 PM »

I had two rats that lived 4 1/2 years that just died recently

kittywombat · « **Reply #13 on:** April 29, 2010, 09:00:25 PM »

When I was on the Ratlist I did something similar. I took a survey of around 200 rats. I found the average age to be slightly over 2 years. Most died from either mycoplasma or tumors. This was around like 10 years ago.

erbusbee · « **Reply #14 on:** May 23, 2010, 10:28:24 PM »

I'd love the numbers on spayed/neutered versus not, and also the numbers on breeders vs pet store/rescue rats. I know the breeders have been hard at work improving health in their lines, and it would be interesting to see what the hard numbers are for results.

Anyone got a few free hours and an Excel spreadsheet? lol

EchoAndWillow · « **Reply #15 on:** July 11, 2010, 12:59:04 AM »

I've heard the average life span is about 3 years, and hamsters live to about 2 years. so far all of my rats have live to at least 3, and my oldest girl (putting her to sleep on monday

)is 4 and a half

Gypsyrags · « **Reply #16 on:** July 20, 2010, 08:02:01 AM »

ive only had my rattins live to about 2 1/2 years

wish it were longer though

Cyove · « **Reply #17 on:** August 19, 2010, 04:21:30 AM »

I've had a few rats live to 4, 5, and 6 years (only one for that long, and to be honest I probably should have had him humanely euthanized far before that due to his quality of life being diminished), but the majority lived a lot less; some of them didn't even make it to a year before medical/health issues struck them down.

RattyFase · « **Reply #18 on:** August 21, 2010, 04:09:20 PM »

Ive had hairless rats for 6 years. The only issue they had were eye problems. They were a family so i believe that was the reasaon they lived so long. The more attention and love you give your rats the longer they live. Health issues of course are what reallly make the rats live a shorter span.

erbusbee · « **Reply #19 on:** October 27, 2010, 09:27:38 PM »

Sooo...600+ answers to the survey, and no stats yet? That's frustrating. Sorta defeats the purpose of doing the survey if the data aren't going to be put to any useful analysis. I'm sure I'm not alone in wondering whether good breeding really helps, and/or spay/neuter.

Angelwoutwings · « **Reply #20 on:** December 07, 2010, 04:09:09 PM »

I have heard two things that are supposed to prolong ratty lives. This was only through word of mouth and I have not done any personal research on it. The first is having a soy free diet. I think my friend found this from the Rat Fan Club, but not sure. She said rats that were on soy free diets lived to 4 or 5. The other thing is having them live in a non-metal cage. Don't ask me what else they could possible live in?! I know lab rats live in little plastic bins, but I could never do that to my babies! I would think a big plastic bin they could chew through and it would stink?? Just wanted to share in case anyone wanted to do their own research on it!

Rzrwyre · « **Reply #21 on:** January 09, 2011, 09:58:44 PM »

Honestly, about spaying/neutering...I have gotten some very mixed feedback from the actual vets who do it. Most agree that females probably do better spayed. But when it comes to the boys, I've gotten the idea that their overall cancer risk might be a lot lower than females and they tend to want to hold back unless there is a behavioral or cage mate (say boy with girl or aggression) issues. Wondering if anyone else found this? Some surgeons simply want to cut, and I have friends on all levels of the veterinary profession who pretty much agree. I have to admit, with getting new rat friends in my more than immediate future, I'm faced again with those choices about possibly spaying/neutering. So, I'm wondering what y'all think. (I usually just have a two rats at a time and have had some spayed females, some unaltered, and a couple of intact males, though I sought neutering, the vets recommended against it).

Best,

Raaz.

Rzrwyre · « **Reply #22 on:** January 10, 2011, 11:24:42 AM »

I won't go back too far, so just the last few that are fresh in my mind:

Male, 19 months. (Intact, cardiac arrest following lung cancer...had pneumonia previously as complication)

Female, about 28 months. (Spayed due to early uterine issues/bleeding. Congestive heart failure.)

Female, about 16 months. (Not spayed. This is a very sad one...she went completely insane when her sister died and became horrifically aggressive, self-injurious, and almost totally stopped eating. Sadly, I had her euthanized because...well...she CLEARLY wasn't happy and nothing I could do seemed to help. She'd been really weird and high strung before, but cagemate was her saving grace.)

Female, about 24 months. (Not spayed. Very, very rapid tumor growth. Surgery probably wouldn't have given her much more time. Spent some nice days together than then euthanized for her comfort considerations.

Female, about 9 months. (Not spayed. Sudden death with no symptoms of any sort. Didn't do a necropsy).

Male, 26 months. (Intact. Pervasive metastatic breast cancer. Did alternative homeopathic therapy which seemed to greatly slow spread and make him feel a LOT better...euthanized about 6 months after diagnosis when he seemed less comfortable).

Female, 26 months. (Unspayed...She had slow decline after a bad bout of pnemonia, even though it was successfully treated. She passed away quietly during the night without obvious signs of pulmonary distress).

Rzrwyre · « **Reply #23 on:** January 11, 2011, 01:46:55 AM »

When people ask me how long rats live, I tell them that at two years, I feel like if they pass on, well, I didn't do anything drastically wrong! I tell them 2-3 is a pretty good lifespan but some go sooner, esp. due to their tendency to have cancer or flare ups of myco, etc., but that most rats I've known did well to get to 2 1/2 years. I've known of a good number to be 3 or close to...but after 3, they tend to be kind of extraordinary.

I had one friend who had her "old man rat," a little dumbo boy with these HUGE, floppy ears. He was narcoleptic and he'd sit on top of his cage and doze off, and with his little chin tipped over the edge of the cage, his big ol' ears would totally droop down to the sides of his head. It was very endearing. (He was still plenty active, too...but he certainly took his share of naps). I don't know how long he made it, but I think he was nearing 5 1/2 when I met him. Still had good body mass, etc.

rat patrol · « **Reply #24 on:** January 11, 2011, 05:34:53 PM »

new to the forum...
I had a rat from my highschool science room i took home at the end of the year..1982....
he lived 8 years and finally died per the vet from a stroke. he was huge, name was " dad rat". my father did not like the name...
after almost 30 years just bought 2 hoody's,,, male.... here we go.. great forum.
rat patrol

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Author Topic: Questions Re: Rat Life Expectancy Survey (Read 28440 times)