Curious and doing some research

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stina3246

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2010
Messages
15
Location
Florida
I was wondering how you become a reputable breeder? What exactly is it you would breed for? I know that you want to improve the species but what are we improving on? I know one is temperment, also for health but I'm guessing you don't just find 2 super sweet healthy rats and breed them.....
I am interested in becoming a breeder but I want to go about it the right way and not just throw rats together because I can....there for....research! :D
Your thoughts?
 
You would have to find a very very good, reputable and ethical breeder that will mentor you so you can guarantee the information and advice you are getting is 100% acurate. Then you will have to aquire your rats, which will probably be from said breeder, where you will know the lines of each rat back a few generations.
A lot of people in england breed for specific colours, along with longevity and keeping healthy rats in the system.

Hopefully Sorraia will see this and can give a bit more advice. Her website is http://www.blackwolfrattery.com/ which will give you an insight into the amount of work that goes in to breeding (especially if you look at Information and Links > Health Tracking)
 
YEARS and YEARS of research. Literally. You need YEARS of research into very specific rat genetics, etc. Then you need to find a reputable breeder (there are VERY few out there) who will mentor you. You need to have a passion for it, as well as TONS of space, time, money, etc. And don't expect to make ANY money, decent breeders are "in the red", so to speak, constantly. You never recoup the money lost from doing proper, ethical breeding.

I know nothing of the area in Florida, but I would check first about the rescue rat situation, and maybe think about starting a rescue instead, if your area is very overrun with rats. But like I said, I don't know your area, and I don't know the rat situation there. For all I know there's no rats in dire need of new homes! (Wouldn't that be wonderful?)
 
xxchelle said:
YEARS and YEARS of research. Literally. You need YEARS of research into very specific rat genetics, etc. Then you need to find a reputable breeder (there are VERY few out there) who will mentor you. You need to have a passion for it, as well as TONS of space, time, money, etc. And don't expect to make ANY money, decent breeders are "in the red", so to speak, constantly. You never recoup the money lost from doing proper, ethical breeding.

I know nothing of the area in Florida, but I would check first about the rescue rat situation, and maybe think about starting a rescue instead, if your area is very overrun with rats. But like I said, I don't know your area, and I don't know the rat situation there. For all I know there's no rats in dire need of new homes! (Wouldn't that be wonderful?)
Click to expand...

There are rats available for purchase but 90% of those are considered "feeders" You can buy them as pets from Craig's list usually from people who have gotten tired of them or had oops litters. (I got 4 WONDERFUL girls this way.) or from petco or pet smart but they are usually from rat mills with no thought towards improving the breed. I don't know of any breeders here that breed for anything other then feeder rats. That's not to say there aren't, I just haven't seen any. As far as rescues.....none of the shelters keep very many small animals at all. A few gerbils, a guinea pig or 2, once in a while a rat but I don't know of any actual rat rescues. I'm not planning on doing it (if I do at all) to make money....I just really love my ratties.
 
To speak to some Florida rat owners, you may want to join the Florida rat list. Bellaratta is one who is supposed to be very good and she's heavily involved on that forum, and one of the creators of ratguide.
 
stina3246 said:
As far as rescues.....none of the shelters keep very many small animals at all. A few gerbils, a guinea pig or 2, once in a while a rat but I don't know of any actual rat rescues. I'm not planning on doing it (if I do at all) to make money....I just really love my ratties.
Click to expand...

Why not look into becoming a rescue instead then? :D

I agree with Moon, join Florida Rat List and poke around on there for a while.
 
I love the science of this conversation. I am very interested in learning how to lengthen the life span of rats. And all the science behind why they get so sick.
 
Rat Guide has a couple articles on genetics, you can start there for learning the basics. Genetics (of any animal) are pretty darn fascinating.
 
xxchelle said:
stina3246 said:
As far as rescues.....none of the shelters keep very many small animals at all. A few gerbils, a guinea pig or 2, once in a while a rat but I don't know of any actual rat rescues. I'm not planning on doing it (if I do at all) to make money....I just really love my ratties.
Click to expand...

Why not look into becoming a rescue instead then? :D

I agree with Moon, join Florida Rat List and poke around on there for a while.
Click to expand...
I'm considering that (being a rescue) I'll definitely join FRL though. Are there any rat shows here?
 
Rat shows are a ticking time bomb for disease spread. I would never bring my rats to one. All it takes is one sick rat at the rat show, to infect your rat, which you then bring home and infect your whole colony.
 
Does anyone know the science behind dwarf rats? Like how they come about or what happens to make them that way?
 
Just selective breeding Ewa, same way we got Chiwees.

I wanted to breed once upon at time. I wanted to have big 5pound rats that lived 5 years on average, but I gave up on that idea years ago...
 
sausage4ever said:
Just selective breeding Ewa, same way we got Chiwees.

I wanted to breed once upon at time. I wanted to have big 5pound rats that lived 5 years on average, but I gave up on that idea years ago...
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I think they have those in africa? :shock: hehe But the dwarf rats , what if it wasn't intended? Like the mom and dad were just normal?
Also , what is a " chiwee"?
 
Sorry me and my breed slang Chiwee = Chihuahua.
I'm pretty sure it was intended and if it was a fluke, someone liked it enough to keep breeding it...

I know all about Gambians ( :heart: ) but I wanted 5lbs pet rats!!
 
I thought those gambians were so sweet :D
So , with dwarf rats , any difference than average size? Like life expectancy , medical , temperament?
 
The link to the Florida Rat Forum is http://floridarat.com

We do have breeders here and we work very closely with breeders is GA and in TX. The Florida group is not anti-breeder. However they do expect new breeders to take their time, do their "homework" and be mentored.

We do not show or allow rats at our events. We do not want to expose them to pathogens.

We do not have an actual "rescue". However everyone helps out as they can by quarantining, fostering, or giving rats in need good homes (if they have the room and the resources).

Rescue and breeding should never be done in the same home. It simply is not safe.

Rescuing can only be done safely if the rescuer has a separate place (not in the same home) to quarantine new animals. That being said, even a good quarantine will not weed out many bacterial pathogens.
Bottom line is that the more rats that you have from different sources the more likely you are to have illnesses within the colony.

So our members tend to keep their numbers fairly low and incoming rats at a minimum. Here in the states we deal with a lot more viral illness than in Canada (where most of the rescues on this forum seem to be located).

Bella
 
Ewa said:
Does anyone know the science behind dwarf rats? Like how they come about or what happens to make them that way?
Click to expand...

The dwarf gene is a recessive gene that came to be via spontaneous mutation. It is not from downsizing by selective breeding. There are rats that are small- that is different than being a dwarf genetically. Just like not all rats that are white with pink eyes are genetically albino.

Every characteristic that is not "wild type" came about due to spontaneous mutation!
Other examples are: rex, blue, dumbo, dalmatians, minks, satin, hooded, Siamese, etc, etc, etc.

Bella
 
Bellaratta said:
Ewa said:
Does anyone know the science behind dwarf rats? Like how they come about or what happens to make them that way?
Click to expand...

The dwarf gene is a recessive gene that came to be via spontaneous mutation. It is not from downsizing by selective breeding. There are rats that are small- that is different than being a dwarf genetically. Just like not all rats that are white with pink eyes are genetically albino.

Every characteristic that is not "wild type" came about due to spontaneous mutation!
Other examples are: rex, blue, dumbo, dalmatians, minks, satin, hooded, Siamese, etc, etc, etc.

Bella
Click to expand...


What is the way to tell if a rat is dwarf or just super small?
 

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