Should I report this feeder breeder...nor not?

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fallblossom

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2013
Messages
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Location
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I went to a backyard feeder breeder to buy a hairless rat. He had twenty of them. Four or five were mothers and the rest were pinkies up to rats that were three weeks old. Although I fell in love with a three week old, I didn't buy her because I told him it best that she nurses for a week longer to be weaned properly. Now a week has passed, he has not contacted me about her.

The rat's living conditions are as follows:

- habitat is a long aquarium (he didn't know ammonia builds up from rat urine)
- bedding is pine (he didn't know pine was a no-no)
- fed strictly a mixed seed diet
- water bottle literally had 1/4" water left (I told him they need more)
- no huts to hide or sleep in and no hammocks
- no enrichment such as toys to chew on

The rat breeder has furred rats too, but he didn't show me them since I was interested in hairless. I am sure they're living in identical housing. Should I report this breeder?

The problem with reporting him is he will know it is me. One of his rat's had respiratory issues and I told him she needed meds. He seemed all interested and I emailed him a long message on what she would require and told him I'd compound the meds myself - for $1. I never heard back.

These rats are living in horrible conditions. He stated he never handles them. I think they just exist as food for snakes, not for pets since my initial phone call to him was answered with, "What size do you need?".

I had a nightmare last night about the rats and that he sold the girl I wanted for snake food.

ETA: Whew! I called the breeder to ask if the girl I want is weaned. He told me he hasn't checked in a while and said he'd call me later. Really, what's the point of breeding rats for $3 each? Is there any money in this? For the twenty rats he'd receive $60. Not much of a supplemental income, is it?
 
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I would report it! It will make you feel better about the situation and hopefully help out the rats! with him being a feeder breeder I'm sure he has lots of traffic through there and it could have been several ppl that complained. Contact 310-SPCA and they will dispatch an agent/inspector.
 
I would report it! It will make you feel better about the situation and hopefully help out the rats! with him being a feeder breeder I'm sure he has lots of traffic through there and it could have been several ppl that complained. Contact 310-SPCA and they will dispatch an agent/inspector.

What would happen to all of the rats? There are lots of pinkies. Would they be fostered somewhere or euthanized because there are too many? He has african soft furs, dumbos, standard eared, and hairless.

How fast would he be investigated?
 
Depending on the history with the person it wouldn't necessarily be a removal first. Typically the first time dealing with a person they would be given orders to provide adequate bedding that was safe for the rats, adequate water housing etc and be given a time line to get it all done, then if they didn't comply the animals would be removed and they could be charged. No typically animals are only euthanized if they are terminally ill/suffering or have extreme behaviour issues. Outside of the local shelters we do have larger off the grid 'warehouse' types buildings fully staffed for large removals, so no worries there!
 
Are far as how fast he would be investigated, I cant say for sure as it is up to the local agent/inspectors and they're case load as they will have to prioritize their calls and go from there. I typically get to all my calls within a couple days, a week tops, urgent calls are the same day.
 
Are far as how fast he would be investigated, I cant say for sure as it is up to the local agent/inspectors and they're case load as they will have to prioritize their calls and go from there. I typically get to all my calls within a couple days, a week tops, urgent calls are the same day.

I better get that girl I want then. lol

He will totally know it's me ratting him out. I showed such interest in his rats as well as concern and am probably the only person whom has done so. Others are their to buy live food for their snakes (what a horrible ending they have).
 
Yeah you probably want to get her first! Lol!

What meds do you compound?

Per Debbie D's recommendations, when a rat has a myco flare up amoxicillin is the first go-to antimicrobial. After that doxy and enro. Of course I would weigh his rat on my scale beforehand to know her weight.
 
I would report him ... for the sake of the rats

btw, baby boys are separated from mom and sisters at 5 weeks. It is best for baby girls to stay with mom for at least 6 weeks.
It isn't healthy for rats to rehomed before 5 weeks of age and best to wait until at least 6 weeks
......... although babies from pet stores or feeder breeders are often separated from mom at about 4 weeks
 
Sadly, I don't think much will be done unless he's breaking some by-laws. My local SPCA investigator told me there is next to nothing they can do for rodents, especially since so many can be sold as food. They would require much worse conditions than what you described. But if you do report it, please keep us updated. I think they let you know of what happens.
 
If there are ammonia issues or unsanitary conditions it would certainly be addressed! As would the bedding issues and any rats requiring veterinary care! Being sold as food or not, same rules apply!
 
The SPCA investigator in Sudbury Ontario told me they need to see carcasses in the cages/tanks and inches of feces before they will even think of removing rodents. This was quite a few years ago so maybe they've decided to step up with their standards of care for small animals. We were discussing a mass seizure of a bad breeder in North Bay at the time.
 
Report it.
Hopefully they will do something, especially if several people report the breeder.
but even if they don't, at least you did something ... and perhaps the authorities will become more aware if people keep making complaints
 
Well I hope that person is no longer there! I have done the job for 8 years now and that truly is not the case. Hope things have changed in the north :(
 
Vicki, you are an SPCA investigator? Do they have different rules? I wonder why it would be different in the north? There must be one set of protocols for all SPCA officers? I sure hope it has changed for us. I was really frustrated back then.
If I can pick your brains... if a city has a by law on a certain number of allowed rats/small animals per household, wouldn't all breeders in that town be disallowed?

Well I hope that person is no longer there! I have done the job for 8 years now and that truly is not the case. Hope things have changed in the north :(
 
I reported a similar person recently to the local SPCA and they did nothing, despite telling me they'd send someone out to check; the person still has their feeder ad up on Kijijii and the SPCA has not taken in a single rat for adoption. I found them to be useless; this person had almost 100 rats; I'm assuming the SPCA didn't want to have to take on a pile or rats, so they ignored the request to investigate. Pathetic. But you can try in your area - hopefully, you'll have better luck than I did.
 
As explained above removing the animals is not the first course of action, just because they weren't taken away or the add is still up doesn't mean it wasn't investigated. We have done several large removals of small animals and we never ignore a situation because we don't want to have to deal with large numbers... if you're that concerned that nothing was done did you call back/speak to the investigator instead of assuming? They won't be able to release all the details but could confirm attendance.
 
Vicki, you are an SPCA investigator? Do they have different rules? I wonder why it would be different in the north? There must be one set of protocols for all SPCA officers? I sure hope it has changed for us. I was really frustrated back then.
If I can pick your brains... if a city has a by law on a certain number of allowed rats/small animals per household, wouldn't all breeders in that town be disallowed?

Sorry, not sure why I missed this post until now! Yes, I do work as an agent for the ospca! We all enforce the same standards of care that need to be provided for all animals... Essentially looking for distress and using orders and or removals to relieve that distress. Distress described in the ospca act is..“distress” means the state of being in need of proper care, water, food or shelter or being injured, sick or in pain or suffering or being abused or subject to undue or unnecessary hardship, privation or neglect; (“détresse”) obviously there is more to it than that but too much to get into here:) unfortunately, we don't have any enforcement powers when it comes to town bylaws it would have to be local bylaw officers/animal control officers but I would hope the rules would apply to everyone!
 
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