What is a Gambian Giant Pouched Rat and Why Are These Rodents Banned in the U.S?

You may not have ever heard of this large rat, but if you are thinking of adopting one as a pet there are several things you should know before looking for one.

The Gambian Giant Pouched Rat is larger than most rats that we regularly see as pets. These rats can weigh in excess of 4 pounds and be anywhere from 25-30 inches from the tips of its cute little nose to the end of its tail.

The average life span of a Gambian Giant Pouched Rat is anywhere between 8-12 years, which is more than triple that of a fancy rat. Anyone thinking of getting a Gambian Giant Pouched Rat should consider these rats are a lot bigger and will need a lot more space, meaning they will need a much larger cage than a normal fancy rat would need.

Most Gambian Giant Pouched Rats are very sweet and gentle, especially if they are raised from the time they are very young, but even though they seem like they are just bigger rats, they have not been domesticated and therefore still have some wild tendencies inherited in them. It's not know why some Gambian Giant Pouched Rats are sweet and gentle while others are a bit more like their wild brethren, meaning they may bite from time to time and I can only imagine how much that would hurt.

The amount of personal time you spend with a wild animal is always going to have a lot to do with how well the animal will be tamed. So spending a lot of quality time outside the cage is a must. This will insure that you bond with your rat and your rat sees you as a friend and not someone to be afraid of.

Much like their domesticated cousins, Gambian Giant Pouched Rats love to be petted, played with and have time outside their cages to jump, run and sniff out their surroundings. There's nothing more fun to do in my opinion than to watch a rat play with different toys. Running here and there, rolling around on the floor and rushing up to you to get a pet or belly rub only to run off again and rush right back over to you so they can jump over your legs almost as if they are saying, come and catch me.

The best cage to get a Gambian Giant Pouched Rat is going to be a large bird or ferret cage that you can put levels in if it doesn't already have it. Everything in the cage should be made of coated metal because ladders or levels made of wood will be chewed to pieces in a very short amount of time. These animals have big teeth and love to chew on things. Toys made of wood should be put in their cages for them to chew on though.

Gambian Giant Pouched Rats will eat just about the same things a fancy rat will eat, so if you are used to feeding a pet rat you already know what they will eat....everything. They will need a variety of foods in their diets to keep them healthy and happy. Fresh fruits, dried fruits, nuts, vegetables, and on occasional scrambled eggs, cooked chicken, preferable not fried.

Like any other animal your pouched rat may not like everything you feed him, so a variety is essential.

Adopting a Gambian Giant Pouched Rat in the United States is going to be hard to do since they are banned here. According to About.com Gambian Giant Pouched Rats were banned from being imported to the U.S. after an outbreak of Monkeypox in 2003. It is thought that the Gambian Giant Pouched Rats were the carries of MonkeyPox.

One of the rats in the 2003 movie, Willard was a Gambian Giant Pouched Rat. According to imbd the rat named Ben was played by a Gambian Giant Pouched Rat. Because the rat that played Ben in the movie was so big, some people didn't believe he was an actual rat, but imbd wrote on its trivia page for the movie that Ben was played by a Gambian Giant Pouched Rat and that's why he was so big.