Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im really interested in raising rats for pets and for specific traits as well as feeders.But Im finding it impossible to get any info from breeders.Ive gotten very hostile answers from a few ratteries in the past when I wanted a buy a blue rat.They want me to fill out this huge form just to buy a rat and when they find out I want to breed they either ignore me or tell me no.Im careful not to mention my snakes Im sure then Id really catch it(but if I pay big money for a rat its not going to be a feeder anyway)..I gave up for awhile but Ive come back to it and find I still want to do this.
How does one get started?
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Well, if you want to get started with "rattery" breeder rats, you have to jump through their hoops and "mentor" yourself with a reputable breeder. do all kinds of research and who knows what else before they trust you with a breeding pair. Then any litters have to be adopted out using the same ridiculous adoption contracts, etc.

If you are dead set on the rats from one of these breeders, you would basically have to adopt one as a pet and lie. Lie about everything including your name and address. You'll have to do this twice with different breeders because they won't adopt out a male-female pair.

Or you could find a feeder breeder that has the rat types you want, or buy from a pet store and take your chances with any possible negative traits. Petsmart has blues and dumbos and rexes and other more rare types on occasion.

I went through the same thing at first, wanting the "breeder" rats but their contracts were ridiculous and I just bought from Petsmart and bred them. I now have blues I've bred myself and am outcrossing them with a dumbo to eventually get blue dumbos. I keep a bunch of the rats as pets and breed them occasionaly. The pups make the best pets because I am able to handle them and socialize them from birth. The surplus pups get euthanized and frozen for snake food.

The only real problem with buying from a pet shop or feeder breeder is if they have respiratory infections when you get them. They can easily infect the rest of your rats, so it's best to get them all at once or if you do get them separately you need to quarantine them for at least 3 weeks in a different location.

The RIs in pet store rodents tend to be from mycoplasmosis. Mycoplasmosis is found in almost all rodents (just like mononeucleosis is found in almost all humans), but only affects those with a poor immune system. Pet store rodents are often inbred, so, bad genes are spread around.
So, normally, the RIs in pet stores aren't really contagious to your rodents. But, if you breed an animal that suffers from myco, most likely its offspring will inherit the poor immune system.
There is always a chance that your collection/pets has a poor immune system, and that they DON'T have myco, but it's supposed to be pretty rare.
I discovered myco when I bought a double rex hairless. I found out from a rattery that it's pretty common in double rexes, and it's rare that you find one that doesn't suffer from it.
I introduced that hairless before I knew he had myco, and he bred with one of my females. The babies suffered from myco, but none of the other animals in my collection caught RIs from them.

And here's another kicker- a lot of pet store animals that AREN'T suffering from myco have RIs as well, because they're kept in crowded cages where ammonia builds up bad in poorly ventilated cages, and they're often kept on pine bedding. A new rat sneezing may not have mycoplasmosis at all. So, it's kind of a crapshoot! Quarantine animals until you're sure it's just a curable RI, or sure it IS myco before deciding to breed or not breed new rats.

I know about myco, and in my experience with pet store rats they did not have myco infections, but some other type of URI that WAS transferred to my other rats at the time. Since they were treated and fought it off I have since kept my colony of rats "closed" and have had no other outbreaks of any respiratory infections.

>>Im really interested in raising rats for pets and for specific traits as well as feeders.But Im finding it impossible to get any info from breeders.Ive gotten very hostile answers from a few ratteries in the past when I wanted a buy a blue rat.They want me to fill out this huge form just to buy a rat and when they find out I want to breed they either ignore me or tell me no.Im careful not to mention my snakes Im sure then Id really catch it(but if I pay big money for a rat its not going to be a feeder anyway)..I gave up for awhile but Ive come back to it and find I still want to do this.
>>How does one get started?
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Keep an ear to the ground in the better local pet stores. I see dumbo's, rexes, hairless, pointed, badger, blues...you name it. I even had a line of tailess (but they were a super pain and not healthy....like a manx cat line only worse for infant death...anyway) all are pet store animals over the years and none from snobby ratteries.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

I did happen to buy this new male dumbo from petsmart and it is sneezing already but seriously I dont think Ive ever gotten a rat from a petstore that didnt sneeze and wheeze the first week..Ive had pretty good success just feeding them lots of fresh greens and veges.
I really like the dumbos(all colors) so Im thinking this is the way I will go.Thanks for the encouragement.
My son in Denver is going to see if any local petstores there have dumbos,we just cant get them around here..
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Well if you can't find any dumbos, just breed to a standard ear rat and then breed one of the offspring back to the dumbo. 1/2 of the next litter will be dumbos.