Rats can chew through steel. If you've ever been bitten by one (I have three times) you'll know why this cat is running. I use to have them as pets as a kid and into my 20's, that is until pet shops started selling them as food for snakes, which had become more popular pets.

Rats raised as food are a completely different temperament than those raised for pets at shops. They're raised in a single container, one on top of the other constantly having to fight for their food since birth. When someone purchases them as a pet, the shop owners rarely inform the purchaser that the rat was raised in this way and when the person gets home and tries to handle the "pet" rat, well it bites - HARD - and to the bone! Trust me, you DON'T want to be bitten by a rat. =/