Honestly, the short lifespan is the main disadvantage. It's made worse by how intelligent and sweet they are.
My daughter's rats hurled themselves at the sides of their cage when she woke up each morning, sticking their tiny hands out through the bars to clutch at her. When she did let them out they would run up her arms and sit on her shoulders licking her cheeks like tiny dogs.
Cedric died at the expected age of a little over two years. Bosco lived unusually long, dying at about five years of age.
You might want to consider what you know of your daughter's personality and how much of a trauma the rat's death is likely to be. My daughter was okay, but she was a young teen by the time Bosco died.
One potential downside, depending on how fastidious you are: they constantly leave scent marks everywhere, by depositing tiny drops of urine and rubbing fatty secretions from their sides on things. The amounts are truly tiny, maybe too small for you to even notice, but probably better to know about it in advance in case it icks you out. I don't think I or my daughter ever noticed them at all, though I did know about them.
My daughter's rats hurled themselves at the sides of their cage when she woke up each morning, sticking their tiny hands out through the bars to clutch at her. When she did let them out they would run up her arms and sit on her shoulders licking her cheeks like tiny dogs.
Cedric died at the expected age of a little over two years. Bosco lived unusually long, dying at about five years of age.
You might want to consider what you know of your daughter's personality and how much of a trauma the rat's death is likely to be. My daughter was okay, but she was a young teen by the time Bosco died.
One potential downside, depending on how fastidious you are: they constantly leave scent marks everywhere, by depositing tiny drops of urine and rubbing fatty secretions from their sides on things. The amounts are truly tiny, maybe too small for you to even notice, but probably better to know about it in advance in case it icks you out. I don't think I or my daughter ever noticed them at all, though I did know about them.