Please keep in mind that these results don't form a large enough sample to draw any meaningful conclusions, except that our little friends don't live nearly long enough.
| No. of Rats | Av. Lifespan (Months) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | 72 | 23.55 |
| Gender | ||
| Intact Female | 22 | 23.50 |
| Neutered Female | 2 | 20.7 |
| Intact Male | 29 | 22.58 |
| Neutered Male | 19 | 25.38 |
| Origin | ||
| Petshop note 1 | 2 | 25.61 |
| Breeder | 44 | 23.47 |
| Baby Rescue | 13 | 22.46 |
| Older Rescue note 2 | 4 | 23.04 |
| Rehome note 2 | 9 | 25.29 |
| Weight (at 3 months) | ||
| Male average weight = 380g, weight range = 247g to 501g | ||
| Male lower 1/3 percentile of weight | 9 | 24.97 |
| Male mid 1/3 percentile of weight | 10 | 26.65 |
| Male top 1/3 percentile of weight | 9 | 22.10 |
| Female average weight = 294g, weight range = 239g to 369g | ||
| Female lower 1/3 percentile of weight | 7 | 25.52 |
| Female mid 1/3 percentile of weight | 5 | 23.75 |
| Female top 1/3 percentile of weight | 6 | 18.48 |
| Weight (at 12 months) | ||
| Male average weight = 614g, weight range = 385g to 840g | ||
| Male lower 1/3 percentile of weight | 17 | 22.92 |
| Male mid 1/3 percentile of weight | 16 | 24.95 |
| Male top 1/3 percentile of weight | 15 | 23.22 |
| Female average weight = 403g, weight range = 305g to 535g | ||
| Female lower 1/3 percentile of weight | 7 | 24.56 |
| Female mid 1/3 percentile of weight | 8 | 26.66 |
| Female top 1/3 percentile of weight | 7 | 17.56 |
| Ears | ||
| Dumbo | 11 | 23.54 |
| Top Ear | 61 | 23.55 |
| Coat | ||
| Rex note 3 | 9 | 21.00 |
| Smooth | 61 | 23.9 |
| Markings | ||
| Marked | 35 | 24.62 |
| Unmarked | 37 | 22.53 |
| Colour | ||
| Agouti Based | 36 | 22.74 |
| Self Based | 32 | 24.14 |
| White/Himi/Siamese | 4 | 26.05 |
| Year of Birth | ||
| 2001 | 3 | 23.48 |
| 2002 | 5 | 27.34 |
| 2003 | 10 | 24.73 |
| 2004 | 9 | 21.66 |
| 2005 | 5 | 27.62 |
| 2006 | 17 | 20.10 |
| 2007 | 13 | incomplete note 4 27.58 so far (25/Jul/10) |
1. Petshop Rats: One of my petshop rats lived for an estimated 26 months, but underwent numerous treatments during that time and cost me a small fortune. The exact ages of petshop rats are not known, but the two I have owned were obtained as kittens of around 3 months old.
2. Older Rescues and Rehomes: My records on older rescues and rehomes often don't start as early as those for breeder rats, I would never know of early deaths as the rats wouldn't reach me, and I usually only have an estimate of their age. For these reasons the age of these rats is not directly comparable to the breeder and baby rescue rats.
3. Rex Rats: Three of my rex rats came from my 2006 rescue litter who were all short lived, so this distorts the figures for rex rats.
4. Incomplete years: These figures are made up from the lifespan of the rats which have passed on, plus the current ages of those who are still living.
My hope is to raise both the average and the maximum lifespan. The textbooks say that it is more difficult to raise the maximum, but it should be possible to make the graph squarer by raising the average.
Last modified: Monday, 26-Jul-2010 08:18:31 BST
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