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Is there any conflict within Torah law that wouldn't allow keeping a rat (or rather a few of them) in a cage in your room as a pet?

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    Have you done any research which would lead you to believe that there is a problem? animalsinhalacha.wordpress.com/category/pets – rosends Oct 15 '18 at 19:44
  • Admittetly, I have not. It was somewhat of a preventive question but apparently there is no problem whatsoever to have any animal as a pet. As long as you don't eat it, even a pig could be hold as a pet (granted you purify yourself in water after every touch) – Ilja Oct 15 '18 at 20:29
  • About pigs, see in Talmud Bava Qama 82b – yO_ Oct 15 '18 at 20:37
  • @Anonymous you should wash your hands for sanitary reasons after touching any animal, but that has nothing to do with purification and there's nothing special about pigs. – Heshy Oct 15 '18 at 20:47
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    I don't know much about rat feces. But, there's a general rule that one may not recite certain prayers where there is a foul odor, esp. from feces. I don't recommend that you let your rats race around your house. They leave loads of droppings, and you'll be the loser in the rat race. – DanF Oct 16 '18 at 1:43
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Although there are halachic considerations for owning pets - like the limitation on certain kinds of dangerous animals, feeding them, shabbos, etc enumerated here, the straightforward answer to whether you may have a pet rat is that it is permitted. However, you mentioned that you are in a student dormitory, so you want to ensure owning a pet doesn't break any of the institution's rules which would pose a choshen mishpat question.

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  • I am not sure the OP mentioned a dorm – mbloch Oct 16 '18 at 6:42
  • @mbloch I did - as a comment though. And for some strange reason my comment was deleted. Anyways, thanks for the answer. Concerning Shabbos - preparing a larger quantity of food than usual beforehand should solve the problem. I'm not sure whether it is permitted by the administration of the dormitary, though. Obviously, a dog is entire different case. But a rat as a pet stays in the room. – Ilja Oct 16 '18 at 8:13

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