“Where can I buy a Pouched Rat?”
This is the most frequently asked question that comes in to this site. Pouched Rats are not usual pets so it is not possible to walk into any high street pet shop and buy one. It is getting easier to find Pouched Rats for sale in the UK however there are only a few breeders and supply is intermittent. Prospective owners usually have to search for a few months before they find any and they may have to travel quite a distance to meet the rat before deciding to buy.
The suggestions in this guide should help anyone looking for Pouched Rats. However before buying any exotic animal a prospective owner must find out exactly what it will take to look after the animal properly and how much it it will cost to keep. A lot of research is needed.
Search the internet
Regularly search the internet for news of Pouched Rats, join relevant online forums and subscribe to their message boards. Jaali came from a contact made through the internet. He was already very tame when I got him at four weeks old. I was able to form a special bond with him by bottle feeding him until he was fully weaned. This is the ideal was to begin socialising a Pouched Rat.
Many Pouched Rat breeders and owners are members specialist online forums so when any babies are available details are often posted here first. Details of relevant forums are on the links page.
Specialist pet trade suppliers
Ambaa and Babu came from Simon's Rodents. This company supplies the pet trade. They sell the babies at about 6-8 weeks old, which in my experience is too old to fully tame and socialise them. Ambaa is a great character but she is not friendly and affectionate in the same way as Jaali is and she requires careful handling. I would now only consider babies at four weeks old – just as they are weaning.
Pet shops
There are some pet shops, such as. Aqua spectacular, a pet shop in the high street, Chatham, Kent, that occasionally sells Pouched Rats. There are ethical issues about selling exotic animals in pet shops and any prospective owner would need to be comfortable with this practice. Pouched Rats are essentially wild animals and can be very challenging to keep