Honestly this seems a little excessive, BUT there is one important thing you can do to prolong your rats life and that is to always have two or three. Sorry if you already know all this, but just in case: Rats are very social and help each other’s physical and mental health; we might think we can provide enough social contact for them, but they just need at least one other rat in their life to be happy. IMO It’s best to just start with 3 from the same litter (in case one dies on the younger side).

This is the real cost IMO, as you need a decent sized cage to be able to give them some room to move around, as well as lining, toys and food. This should usually be the majority of the cost of ownership.

Truthfully most rats are fairly resilient, the hardest thing to deal with its that their lifespan just doesn’t compare to other types of pets. 3 years is really the max you’re looking at and we’ve had many barely make it to 2, so really you need to plan for end of life care and burial or cremation costs and the occasional vet visit, which very a lot by region.

If you have a VCA or a local vet who specializes in rodents (cause trust me, we’ve had bad vets who accidentally did more harm than good) you should be able to get an idea of costs for a tumor removal should one occur, unless you just want to put them down once it starts hurting their quality of life. This is much easier said than done because they are such sweet animals.

For us in central MA, for our least healthy rat is around $800 for a tumor removal (which has already come back about 6 months later, so another $800 upcoming), and end of life stuff usually is around $200-250. I hope this helps!

$200 to $300 a month? No, of course not. If your rat gets sick, a vet visit can cost that much but it’s not going to be a monthly thing. Most rats won’t need that much spent on medical care over the course of their whole lives.

They definitely don’t get sick “all the time”. Even the rats that are bred as food don’t get sick that often.

200 a month set aside for a year would cover some fairly big procedures, that’s 2400 bucks. Now, anything big at a vet is going to devour a grand in one move, that’s true. But it’s also true that because of their size, rats tend to be a bit limited in what all they can have done.

Most of the time, the big stuff is end of life. They are prone to tumors, and as they age it gets more likely. Some of those can be treated, and 2400 isn’t an impossible bill for such things, over time. But the last rattie I knew of that had one done a year or two ago, the surgery and post-op care game out to about 600, on top of the office visits, tests, etc. So a grand per tumor isn’t unrealistic as a possibility as the economy shifts

More frequently, you’re going to run into things like mites and fleas. They’re kinda hard to avoid because it doesn’t matter how clean you keep things, those kind of parasites can hitch a ride to get to your rats. That’s a hundred bucks or so to get cleared up.

Respiratory stuff ends up running into the 500 range, depending on exactly what’s wrong.

So, I’d say budgeting in a saving of 100 a month is probably not horrible as an idea, but it also isn’t a guaranteed necessary amount. The last two rats I had, never had any health problems that couldn’t be resolved at home, no tumors, no big health stuff, just two outbreaks of mites. They each lived a few years and died peacefully in their sleep. Vet bill wise, their entire life for both stayed under 500.

But I’ve seen rats have all kinds of problems too. And when they have big problems, you may end up having to have them euthanized, so you need to have access to that cost for each rat saved up and ready, or a line of credit available. You’d need to ask your vet what they charge and plan ahead because you don’t want to see them suffering and not be able to help them go out peaceful.

There’s no such thing as a zero maintenance pet, but rats are about as low as it gets. However, they age fast, so it can end up compressed into a shorter time than longer lived animals.

They’re worth it though. They are amazing companions. In most ways, as good as cats and dogs. You’ll never lack for love with rats for sure. They’re easy to train, entertaining, cuddly (most of them, they have very diverse personalities), and easy to care for.

If you budget in 100 a month, put it into a savings account (or kept aside as cash, depending on your needs), then even if you end up not needing it, or only needing part; as they age and eventually die, the money is still there. You don’t lose the money by saving it. If they make it 4 years (not impossible), that’s enough that no matter what you run into at the end, it’s covered. And you don’t necessarily need to have that for every rat, but the more you have, the more you want to add in, just in case. Say, another twenty each.

If you’re extra strapped for income, you can go lower for sure. I’d say as low as twenty a month, plus 5 for each extra rat is going to be likely to cover end of life emergencies, and most of the usual issues along the way, but you won’t have cushion like you would with bigger amounts. If three or four rats need mite treatment, it’s going to take a bigger chunk than one, and rats shouldn’t be kept alone.

I had rats and they never got sick until they were super old, at which point they both got a little sick, then dramatically worse the next day or so, and then died, so the vet bill was zero. The thing I wish I’d had more money for was a better cage - in hindsight, theirs was just ok, but I was also like 12. If I got some now, I’d give them a way better set up, but I’m somehow on about a 20 year streak of adopting dog breeds bred to hunt rats so no dice.

Seems like a lot of money for an animal with a short lifespan…