SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) 27 July 07 Ratatouille expected to make pet rats all the rage - The rodents gain popularity as pets, a trend expected to escalate with the release of movie about Remy the rat. (Kathleen Kernicky)
Rats! They've always had an image problem. Dirty, disease magnets. Sewer-dwelling scavengers. Even their name is shorthand for snitch.
But will Remy, the animated star of the hit summer movie Ratatouille, make pet rats the rage?
"It's little kids who want them as pets. The parents are ... squeamish about it," said Renald Achille, who works at Beverly's Pet Center in Pembroke Pines, where rat sales are on the rise.
"Teenagers come in with their parents" lobbying for pet rats, said Jennifer Mulle, an associate at PetSmart in Boca Raton. "After the third or fourth time, the parents give up."
While there's no rush on rats yet, some pet stores are reporting sales of Ratatouille products, such as rat treats and toys. And veterinarians are bracing for a surge of sick and abandoned rats. (Think Dalmatians after 101 Dalmatians, or clown fish after Nemo).
"I'm waiting for the rats to hit," said Dr. Kristin Sinclair, a veterinarian with about 10 rat patients at Broward Avian and Exotic Animal Hospital in Pompano Beach. "People often go out and get them as an impulse buy. We end up with sick critters."
Sinclair has four rats at home — "Ewww ... is the typical reaction," she said. But, she added, "they're very clean. They're very friendly. When anyone walks by, they'll run to the corner of the cage. It's like, 'Hi, hi, hi, give me cookies.' They love to be held."
Madison Busto, 5, loves Ratatouille because she thinks Remy looks just like Sapphire, one of her two pet rats.
"Sapphire will lick you to death," said Madison's mother, Jeanine Busto of Hollywood. "My daughter can do anything to these rats. ... She dresses them up with hair ties and little bows."
Unlike the common street rat, domesticated rats bred as pets or for medical research are neither dirty nor likely to spread disease. They rarely bite, veterinarians said.
Because of the movie, "I think a lot of kids will ask for a pet rat. I think a lot of parents will say no," said Dr. Greg Rupp, a veterinarian at Extra Care Animal Hospital in Davie. "When we go to schools for career day and we pull out a rat, everyone screams. Afterward, the kids want to come up and pet them. But the adults stay away."
Not everyone. Across the United States and Europe, there are rat clubs and rat shows, even a rat fan club. And it's lucky for Remy, an aspiring chef, that he lives in Paris. At some places in China, the rat is dinner.
Sarah Tingle's rats, Hammy and Mort, were headed for the snake tank when she rescued them from pet stores. Now they live in a spacious cage with bedding, a hammock, an exercise wheel and chew toys.
"They're wonderful pets," said Tingle, 33, of Plantation, who blames the dirty rat myth on "the whole bubonic plague thing. It was the fleas, not the rats, who spread the plague."
Arlene Wilson rarely sees rats at her pet boarding and day care, Pet Nanny Resort in Delray Beach.
"People are still squeamish about them," said Wilson, who loved her pet rat growing up in an apartment in New York. "Rats and snakes are in the same boat."
Busto agreed. "Everybody has hang-ups with rats." However, she added hopefully, "Maybe the movie will help give them a better reputation."
Ratatouille expected to make pet rats all the rage
Reptile & Amphibian Forums
Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.
FL Press: Ratatouille Make Rats the Rage
Replies (3)
Ugh, this is just what we need. A small percentage of the people who buy rats because of the movie will become rat lovers. The rest of the rats will end up neglected after their newness wears off. 
-----
~Rachel~
>>Ugh, this is just what we need. A small percentage of the people who buy rats because of the movie will become rat lovers. The rest of the rats will end up neglected after their newness wears off.
Thank you Rachel, you said exactly what I thought!
-----
PHRatz
Hmmm...ok well I agree that the movie may be bad for impulse buys but just wanted to say I saw Ratatouille and OMG it is so cute!!!!!
God, I can't wait till I can get little fuzzies again 
-----
~Meg~
~~(XX)8:> Have you hugged a rat today?
