How many hours a day do rats sleep?

These would be pet, or fancy, rats. And if you know the average and the minimum, that would be great.How many hours a day do rats sleep?
Rats are not diurnal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diurnal_ani鈥?/a> Nor are they nocturnal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturnal.


Rats are crepuscular http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepuscular鈥?/a> That is, they are most active during the dusky/twilight hours of morning and evening, and they sleep off and on during the day and the night.





This is not a scientific study but an observation by a pet rat keeper:


I am up at 11:00am (+/-) and I go to bed at 2:00am (+/-) taking care of rats later in the evening when they are awake. I allow my rats to sleep by not disturbing them during the day, but if I were to walk into the Rat Room many of them would wake up, eagerly awaiting attention.





On average my rats *appear* to be asleep at 8:00am to 6:00pm, but I don't know what goes on in the Rat Room when I'm not watching them. I'm sure they wake up for short periods of time and then go back to sleep.





Rats will sleep when there is nothing to stimulate them and awaken when there's something to do.





I don't know what the minimum requirement of sleep is for a fancy rat.





Sleep Studies done on rats:


http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=sl鈥?/a>





How much do rats sleep?:


http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=Ho鈥?/a>








spazrats


http://spazrats.tripod.com


Specializing in the health and care of pet rats since 1997How many hours a day do rats sleep?
All of them. Rats are nocturnal.
I have had several rats over the years, and it really depends on the rat. My boys would sleep nearly all the daytime hours (14) and on and off all night (6 more) so that would be about 20 out of 24 hours.





Now, my girls have been much more active. I'd say they sleep about 10 hours during the day and run and play virtually all night long, maybe getting in a couple hour nap here and there (their wheel vibrates the cage). They are probably awake about 12 out of 24 hours.





Now, if you and your pet rat have a designated play time, I noticed that my boys would be up and ready to play when the clock said 4:30 no matter whether it was a workday or a weekend. So I think they get into scheduled just like us. They are always happy to get up and play with their human!