We think your decision on gender matters a great deal! If you're looking for a rat who is more sleepy, laid back, and affectionate, you're looking for a male. If you're looking for more of a spunky, adventurous, and independant personality, you should choose a girl.

 In our experience, our girls tend to enjoy training games, and boys tend to enjoy cuddling and being sung to. Girls do tend to be cleaner, as in you don't have to scrub the metal/plastic as much, but both genders will create an equal amount of smell and require the same cleaning schedule.

As far as smell- Think of when you walk into a clean and well kept home. You can smell the ''home smell'' which is the smell of the people who live there. Even in a clean home, you can smell when a dog/cat lives there too. In a dirty home, the cat/dog smell is yucky and strong. It will be the same with rats.

 When you have rats, your room will smell like there are rats in it. This does not mean that they are dirty or that you are cleaning poorly. The same phenomenon happens to reptile and fish keepers. In a typical home, these smells are not commonly found unless a problem has arisen. Even a very, very slight smell of fish, rodents or reptiles would signal a problem that needs to be solved or cleaned in a typical home. This means that our bodies have learned that those smells give us the information to clean or de-pest our homes. Because of this, when you or a guest is not accustomed to the smell of any exotic pet, you or they may feel like your home smells "dirty" because of the sensory association with those smells.

Girls do tend to be somewhat cleaner. They keep all of their refuse/garbage in one area, and you don't have to scrub the metal/plastic quite as much, but both genders will create an equal amount of smell and require the same cleaning schedule.

As far as smell- Think of when you walk into a clean and well kept home. You can smell the ''home smell'' which is the smell of the people who live there. Even in a clean home, you can smell when a dog/cat lives there too. In a dirty home, the cat/dog smell is yucky and strong. It will be the same with rats.

 When you have rats, your room will smell like there are rats in it. This does not mean that they are dirty or that you are cleaning poorly. The same phenomenon happens to reptile and fish keepers. In a typical home, these smells are not commonly found unless a problem has arisen. Even a very, very slight smell of fish, rodents or reptiles would signal a problem that needs to be solved or cleaned in a typical home. This means that our bodies have learned that those smells give us the information to clean or de-pest our homes. Because of this, when you or a guest is not accustomed to the smell of any exotic pet, you or they may feel like your home smells "dirty" because of the sensory association with those smells.