I'm Rat Crazy!

[*Wistful1*]

Hi everyone : )

I heard about this site from a friend and thought it would be a great place to talk to other people about rats, since most of the people I know sadly cringe at the word.

I got my first rat about four years ago. Since then, I seem to add a new one to my home every month or so. Many of them are reptile store rescues, but I hame many from breeders too. I love them all equally and especially enjoy their unique personalities. I have one who falls asleep on my lap every night. She's the first one I've ever had who hasn't the slightest inclination to go exploring once she's sitting with me.

I don't consider myself a breeder, but when I have a male and female whose personalities I really love, I'll let them breed, keep a baby (or four!) for myself and then very carefully find loving homes for the rest.

Right now I have a very unusual litter! I have a rescued agouti who shows signs of being a rex, but isn't. She mated with a beautiful grey dumbo male. The babies are unbelievable and unlike any litter I've ever had before. I literally think that about 70% of the possible rat population is represented in her litter! All but two of them are rex, but all of them have dumbo ears. I have a hooded blue and white, an all blue, a deep grey, a solid black, a black with a white stomach, a light peach colour, an albino and one I first thought to be albino but who actually has a very pretty cinnamon colour in a patch on her back. Most surprisingly, I have some rex agoutis, which I've personally never seen before. I'm curious if any of you have had such "rainbowy" litters before as this is my tenth litter and nothing remotely close has happened for me before.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Prime654]

I'm not a breeder so cant answer your question but I think I, and most everyone here will want to see pics

And if your looking to place any of them here, I'm sure you might find a few here willing to expand their families

Oh, and I'm curious about the littler's genders myself

 

[*Wistful1*]

Sorry, this is the first forum I've ever been involved in and I'm in the middle of trying to find out how to upload pictures! lol

I usually don't have a problem finding wonderful homes for my babies, but I wouldn't be opposed if anyone here was interested. I just wanted it to be known that that's not my main reason for signing up; especially since I've just read some posts about people being kind of upset when others breed the way I do. In all honesty, when my first female rat died, it darn near broke my heart and I just wished so badly that she had had babies so that I could have carried on her line.

I'm a female from Ontario, Canada. The litter that I have just turned two weeks old yesterday...I'm 99% sure that I have 7 females and 4 males : )

 

[Prime654]

Ill admit ... I was actually being a little selfish when i asked about the pics and gender of the litter . I'm currently ratless, but am looking

 

[*Wistful1*]

If you can help me figure out how to upload pictures, I have some ADORABLE ones that I just took today that I can post : )

 

[Prime654]

I don't think you can upload pictures to the site, you have to upload to another site like http://tinypic.com then you can "link" them here. If you end up using tinyurl.com, they will provide you with the code after you upload each picture should look something like this:

[IMG]http://i21.tinypic.com/1z50shu.jpg[/IMG]

 

[jorats]

Welcome Wistful!

Rats really are wonderful pets aren't they?

I'm sorry to read that you are breeding rats with unknown background and without proper genetic knowledge. There can be so many "bad" traits pop out which can be detrimental to the babies.
what comes out in a litter all depends on what mom and dad carries. It is fun to raise babies but in the end, there really is too much supply and very little demand.

 

[Dahlas]

Welcome Wistful

Your rats sound beautiful....I hope you can upload photos because we would all love to see pictures.
Unfortunately Jo is very right about there being so many homeless rats in the world right now....
It really isn't necessary to bred to get to have babies or to experience raising a litter.....
I rescued a pregnant rat that had a beautiful litter. I kept all the babies except two who went to my best friend. The mother was a small black berk......in that litter I got blues, blacks, beiges, and white.....three out of the 11 were dumbo eared. They are 7 months old now and are my pride and joy.
I would never breed but I have enjoyed this experience very much......

 

[*Wistful1*]

While I respect your opinions, I did not join the forum to be judged or made to feel like a bad person. I thought it would be a nice place to share the wonderful experiences that I've had.

I have rescued a pregnant female as well as virtually newborn babies whose mothers had died and hand raised them.

While I do realize that traits extend far beyond the parents, I am always fully prepared to care for and keep any rats which demonstrate any negative traits, but have yet to have any, other than a bit of shyness. I can only guess that your comment about me lacking proper genetic knowledge is based on my surprise about my current litter. I actually believe that in conjunction with my own reading and discussions with my vet, I do have a decent handle on that. What surprised both my vet and myself was just the eclectic nature of the babies, not the fact that I thought it impossible for a non-rex to have rex babies, etc.. My vet had certainly never seen anything like it and he's been dealing with small animals for more than 10 years now.

I have one to three litters per year, the females are always around 8 months old. I take my rats to the vet for regular checkups but have never had any significant health problems, even with my rescues. My rats are kept in carefresh and in large appropriate cages, fed the best nutrition available supplemented with fruits and vegetables as well as vitamin drops. I really do not think that I am a bad person or doing the wrong thing to want to carry on the family lines of the rats whose personalities I love in addition to rescuing others.

You're right, it is fun to raise babies, but that is not why I do it. I have never once had a problem finding great homes for my babies and often have people begging me to breed again because the babies they have already adopted are so wonderful (I do not do this because I never breed the same female more than once). After the first litter, I certainly would never have done it again if I had not been able to find homes. I would have kept them all and moved on. I have the time and resources to keep an entire litter should the need arise, but as I said, that has not happened.

While I realize this isn't the case with every person who does what I do, I feel it is unfair to box everyone into a single category and pass judgment. I can appreciate the fact that you have had rats for a lot longer than I have and have likely seen a lot of sad things when it comes to people who do not properly care for their animals, not everyone is like that. I find it kind of ironic that "rat" people of all people who are already used to being stereotyped would make such comments without even getting to know more about me and what I do.

I'm not trying to be disrespectful, I was just very surprised and hurt by your comments.

 

[jorats]

, but I wouldn't be opposed if anyone here was interested.

It would be wonderful to find a good ethical breeder in Ontario.
But please know that only rescue rats can be "promoted for adoption" at the Rat Shack. We have other breeders on this forum and they respect that rule. Now, that's not to mean you can't share pics and stories with us, cause we all love a good rat tale or cuddly rattie pics. :thumbup:

 

[SQ]

Welcome ....

You mentioned that you had read a thread about breeding and people being upset about breeders you said were like you.
So, if you don't fit the criteria in the post on how to recognize a good breeder
- and from what you have written, you don't,
then I'm sure you can understand why people would be upset at your practices.

Since you said you adopt rescues, you will have a lot in common with many people on this forum. Many people on here have done and continue to do what they can to help rescue ratties.

 

[mamarat]

Welcome to the shack.

 

[Dahlas]

Sorry if you felt hurt by any of my comments. I only wanted to confirm what Jo had said about so many homeless rats. I work at a shelter and deal with that everyday. I certainly didn't mean to sound like I was judging you just giving you my opinion on breeding....
Your rats do sound beautiful and we would love to see them.

 

:welcome: to The Rat Shack. Which member did you find out about the shack from? Just curious. :wink2: Private Message me if you have any question is general about rats, or the boards. If you need a friend, you've got one right here! Enjoy and welcome.

 

[lilspaz68]

:welcome: to The Rat Shack. Which member did you find out about the shack from? Just curious. :wink2: Private Message me if you have any question is general about rats, or the boards. If you need a friend, you've got one right here! Enjoy and welcome.

Catherine stop telling people to PM you, you are not the local expert on RS.

 

Thanks for the advice, She. I do happen to know alot about rats though. I am in a special class to learn about them and I have been studying them since I was two. But I will obey you anyways, since you are the moderator. :wink2:

 

[Jherek]

I think the point is that it's a rat forum with many people more thoroughly experienced, and the point of a forum is to post and discuss things publicly... it's better to get advice from a variety of people rather than take one person's advice as fact... even among the longtime members here, people who have done years of research and have years of experience, there can be different views and it's important to get as many opinions as possible before making a decision that involves a little life you're responsible for. I'm sure you know a lot about rats, but so do others here. It gives you the chance to learn even more when things are discussed openly, right?

They have "special rat classes"? And in grade school? XD lol What joo talkin' 'bout?

 

[SQ]

I have been studying them since I was two. . :wink2:

Hi Catherine,
very glad you are a member here. You sound like a very articulate 11 year old.
I assume that you mean that you have grown up with pet rats and therefore know a bit about them.

 

[Dahlas]

I think the point is that it's a rat forum with many people more thoroughly experienced, and the point of a forum is to post and discuss things publicly... it's better to get advice from a variety of people rather than take one person's advice as fact... even among the longtime members here, people who have done years of research and have years of experience, there can be different views and it's important to get as many opinions as possible before making a decision that involves a little life you're responsible for. I'm sure you know a lot about rats, but so do others here. It gives you the chance to learn even more when things are discussed openly, right?

I couldn't agree more........ :nod:

 

Both my parents are rat breeders. My mother is a veteranarian (which I will be too someday) and my father is an animal biologist. My parents have been tutoring me medical help with animals such as rats, and many other different kinds of rodents and animals. I have had these tutoring-lessons from my parents since I was two. My paretns began to give me some of the rats they breed since I was four. If I tell you all the rats my family has in all, there would be quite a few.
Boogie - White Albino (Female)
Cha-Chi - White Albino (Father of Eskimo who was given to m from my parents but died when she was but a week old :cry3: )
Spices - Mixed (Female)
Suki - Cream Hooded Dumbo (Female)
Georgia - Black Satin (Female)
Stellone - Black Hooded (Father to Stella the rat I currently have)
Crabcake - Black Satin (Male)
Madison - Blue Russian Dumbo (Female)
Jewlz - Black Hooded (Sister of Stella)
Java - Chocolate Hooded (Sister of Boogie)
Luna - Black Satin Dumbo (Mother of Stella)
Myria - blue Hooded (Female)
Amber - Cream Hooded Dumbo (Sister of Eskimo)

My parents and I are very expierienced. If you would like to ask them any personal questions, email them at [email protected].