Replies

I own pet rats and yes, they do communicate with various sounds. The loud squeaking you hear in movies is usually a reaction to pain or fear, and if there's anything to it, often progresses to outright squalling that sounds like a crying puppy. They make soft chittering noises like a guinea pig when they're happy, or at the extreme end of happiness, the "rat purr"...hard to describe but easy to recognize when you hear it since it really does sound a bit like a cat's purring. They also have various snorts and huffing noises to indicate displeasure but without anything worse...an example being if they can smell food they want and aren't getting any. It's more mild frustation/attention getting than a true warning or aggression. A truly pissed off rat will lay back its ears and hiss like a cat, or huff very loudly and angrily...it's easy to tell from the "hey, feed me dummy!" noises.

I assume the noises are mostly between rats, other than the pained squeaking/squalling and the hissing, presumably hoping to warn off a threat. I've managed to get the happy noises when petting them and giving them attention, but they also made them when grooming each other. They tended to use a lot of the lesser irritated noises when squabbling over food or minor things like waking each other up...yes, they'd scold furiously over that...but I only heard the more aggressive sounds a few times. Twice with my older female when there were ppl around who shouldn't be (she was very smart and protective), a couple times with the next oldest female when she percieved something we did as threatening her litter, and once in a fight between the 3 young males.

Rats are a lot smarter than most ppl give them credit for. They're very perceptive and if they aren't ruined by bad handling or breeding, become very attached and loyal, not just to their one owner but to the family that owns them. Everyone in my family, including my 89 year old grandmother, can handle the rats and the rats respond with trust and love. They seem to have a very good sense for who genuinely likes them. One of my friends drives up from Atlanta about twice a year and every rat I've ever owned fawned on her just as happily as on us, and she adores them just as much. For an animal with a life span of 2 years and change, that's a long memory, or just plain a trusting, sweet nature,