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Giant rats on the horizon 01 September 2009 ~ 17:15 In a couple of years, when our little rats and the big bunny have gone, I�m planning on getting me a GIANT GAMBIAN POUCHED RAT. See picture of a mother Gambian rat with babies.These rats are BIG, 3 feet in length (the tail is about half the length) and they have special needs different to fancy rats. They need to be kept warmer, and special attention needs to be paid to their diet. They eat a lot of fruit. And of course they need a big cage and lots of free range time. They can be quite destructive compared to fancy rats, largely due to their size and insatiable appetite for gnawing. One advantage they have over their smaller cousins however, is that they have the capacity to live for 7 or 8 years compared to fancy rats who usually live only 2 years. I say �capacity� as keepers of pouched rats have not had as much success with longevity as they would like, because the pouched rat fancy is in its infancy and there is still a lot we do not know about �pouchies� as they are called.. I have joined a pouched rat group and over the next two years I plan to learn all I can about pouchies. In the meantime, I�m going to enjoy the little rats as much as I can and hope they live as long as possible.
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