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breeding your own rats

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Post by bikerwitch Wed Jan 04, 2012 2:04 am

Hi I was thinking of Breeding my Ratties, but i want to make sure that do it right i dont want to go straight into breeding unless i know what i am doing can you send some links to me that might be helpful Smile
thanks
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Post by redrach Wed Jan 04, 2012 7:07 am

Breeding is not recommended unless you know the history of your rats, going back at least 3 or 4 generations. Otherwise you are likely to end up with sickly rats that will die young. You also need to ensure you have space to keep them all incase you can't home them. I'm also fairly sure you won't be able to advertise them on this forum as you are not a reputable breeder. You will have to do extensive reading on breeding technique and caring for mum and babies. You also need to be prepared for loss, it is not uncommon for mum and any number of babies to die during pregnancy or childbirth.

Don't mean to sound harsh, but breeding any animal is not something you should cjoose to do lightly or without extensive research and perhaps before being mentored for some time by a reputable breeder.
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Post by Zoundz Wed Jan 04, 2012 7:12 am

I completely agree with the above. You should be starting with well bred rats from known lines, not petshop rats. The rats you have now really are not breeding standard. Of course, nobody can stop you doing what you want to do - but seriously think about the outcome of a planned mating between unsuitable rats when you have little/no knowledge of breeding to further health, temperament and type. Please also consider the cost, it's far from cheap to breed rats, and can cost very large sums of money, especially if things go wrong. Also of course, if you're breeding for all the right reasons, and with the right rats, you could be looking at keeping between 30 and 50 rats at any one time Wink You should never breed just to home to pet owners/sell through a petshop (hell, in my personal opinion, you should never breed for petshops anyway!), but only to further a line and to work towards a goal of increased longevity, health and temperament - then variety after that.

There are many articles out there for you to read, to enable you to go about things the right way, however, if you do have any litters from the rats you have now, you will not be allowed to advertise them on here.

xx
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Post by Catz Wed Jan 04, 2012 8:22 am

I just want to echo what everyone has already said. Breeding is not something to be taken lightly and definitely not from shop bought rats. I have raised one litter that were born from pet shop parents when my first rats were miss sexed. The parents (sheldon and socrates) had great temprements and seemed healthy so I was hopeful that the kits would be ok. They had 6 but 2 died in the first night. We kept all 4 and they seemed to be lovely, healthy kits untill they turned about 6 months. All have developed cataracts and their teeth started to grow in odd directions which need clipping often. Sheldon and Riloh have since past from health issues and they rest remain sickly and require huge amounts of vet care. Raising the kits was a great experience but it has caused so much heart break for me and Dave in the end.
If you are serious about breeding healthy rats then start reading up about genetics, talk to breeders, get over to a few shows and when you feel you are ready (could take 2 or 3 years) then get foundation rats from a reputable breeder. You will regret it if you dont do it right trust me!
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Post by Zoundz Wed Jan 04, 2012 11:09 am

Well said Catz! It's not difficult to get into it if you go about it in the right way - but go about it in the wrong way and you just might screw things up for a very very long time, as 99% of good breeders won't touch you!

xx
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Post by bikerwitch Thu Jan 05, 2012 2:25 am

Thanks for all the replies.

This is why i posted this is i wanted to get opinions from actual breeders before getting into something that i might not be able to do. I really hope in the future that i will have enough knowledge to breed rats. I really want to know what i am doing before doing this. Dont worry if i do breed my ratties i would never sell them to pet shops i am planning to keep the litter.

Could you be able to tell me how i go about in getting a breeders licence?
is there any books that you could recomend for me?

sorry for all the questions.
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Post by Zoundz Thu Jan 05, 2012 3:04 am

There are no really good books at the moment about rat breeding - though Roy Robinson's 'Genetics of the Norway Rat' is a pretty good start and can be interesting and useful. It's not easy to get though.

There's no such thing as a breeder's license.

I just hope you take heed and do not irresponsibly breed from your pet shop rats - it is not a good idea, and you are opening a whole world of potential heartbreak.

xx
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Post by bikerwitch Thu Jan 05, 2012 5:03 am

thank you very much for all your help. i'm not going to breed my guys. But breeding rats in the future will be my aim (when i know more about breeding) Smile

thanks for all the advice.
Sabrina Smile
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Post by Zoundz Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:33 am

Then I strongly suggest you spend some time researching varieties, and working out which variety you want to work on. Join the NFRS and register on their forum. Chat to other good breeders, find out more about the varieties you want to work with, and try and source some really good foundation rats to breed from.

xx
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Post by Catz Thu Jan 05, 2012 10:15 am

If you are going to keep the whole litter keep in mind that you could end up with 14 or even 16 babies. Thats a lot of cages, food, toys, hammocks and space. You will have to deal with many deaths all very close together and a lot of vets bills as your litter become oldies all at the same time. I got lucky with a small litter of 4 but I dont know how I would of coped if it had been any more. I would hate to listen to other owners heartbreaking stories if I'd had more and rehomed them. Knowing their sick ratties were all my fault would eat me up inside.
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Post by Zoundz Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:05 am

Catz - I would say there is no worse feeling. Even when you do your absolute best to breed only the best rats you can get hold of, things go wrong and illnesses occur. We are thankfully now seeing the back of a nasty bout of CK we had go through our rats... it wiped out some of our best breeding rats (alongside a virus that happened around the same time independently) and worse than that affected a lot of our friends, other breeders and pet owners. It got to the point where just about every time I saw an e-mail from a rat owner, I'd panic about it being a death notice. It's horrendous -and I came *this* close to giving up.

xx
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Post by Catz Thu Jan 05, 2012 2:38 pm

Oh laura I cant even imagin how difficult that was for you Sad Its a side of breeding thats very rarely talked about isn't it? Even when you try your best things can go wrong.
That being said I'm so glad you continued to breed. Your rats are just stunning and we finelly have a breeder in Ireland that puts all they have into breeding healthy pets. Smile
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Post by Zoundz Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:17 pm

Thank you Embarrassed Love there have been some very hard times, and it's not like we breed a variety that is free from problems. You see our initial goal when we started breeding was to improve Russian Silvers, which have had no end of trouble in the past. We never really thought about the Irish pet market because we were in the UK. If I'd known then that I would be starting an Irish rat fancy, then I'd probably have taken up something much simpler and more suitable for novice owners - rather than a variety with so many health troubles and poor longevity. Having said that, we have made progress with them, and quite a number of our rats are now making a reasonable age, even if not a good old age. Hopefully we will be founding a separate line soon as well, which will be more suitable for people who can't cope with the heartbreak of the Silvers.

xx
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Post by bikerwitch Fri Jan 06, 2012 3:18 am

Laura you are probally the only Rat breeder in the country Big Grin I love your new litter they look so adorable. Maybe in the future i will buy a few of ratties off your litter.
As for breeding Ratties i Will have to Wait till I have a bigger place to house them all and i will make sure i will do everything right. This of course will probally take a few years for me to do but i want to learn everything i can about Rat Breeding before i put any rat through it. This is why i really like this forum everyone here is very open and honest. I would hope to meet up with some of yous in the future you could probally teach me a thing or two Smile I know i am still a novice when it comes to rats but i want to learn more so i can be a prefect Rat owner and hopefully some day a good Breeder Smile

Many thanks
Sabrina Smile
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Post by Zoundz Fri Jan 06, 2012 5:47 am

I far prefer to hear things like that! ;D I never want to discourage people from breeding, it's a rewarding hobby when it's done properly - but I cannot abide the thought of people endangering any animals because they *want to breed* without any thought.

xx
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Post by Catz Fri Jan 06, 2012 6:33 am

New varieties laura? How exciting Big Grin Have you any particular ones in mind? Thats if you dont mind saying of course Wink
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Post by Zoundz Fri Jan 06, 2012 6:35 am

Really don't know what'll happen yet - but at the moment the doe in question is an agouti, carrying possibly nothing - and the buck in question is a black carrying a fair bit - so we'll just have to see what the future holds - I have nothing in mind, it's more just to make healthy happy pets in any variety Smile

xx
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Post by Francois Fri Jan 06, 2012 10:32 pm

Just out of interest, I read a lot of breeding certain varieties, has there been any specific breeding done in regards of temperament? Which variety would be known for being soppy cuddle fur-buts?

I know when I visited Laura (almost 2 years ago) I was impressed mostly about the high grade cuddlyness of the bongo furies, just love rats like that Love

I am a bit partial to hooded rats (as most hoodies I had were the kindest fuzzbuts I ever seen. Our boy Jack is somewhat of a mismarked hoody, but he seems to be the calmest of the lot

If I ever would go into breeding, I would go for health, longetivity and maximum soppieness & lickieness Tongue

Just wondering if anyone has been breeding down that line or if there is a certain variety that is known for those qualities.

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Post by Zoundz Fri Jan 06, 2012 10:49 pm

All good breeders breed with that sort of temperament in mind - though some prefer them to be not quite so laid back as this has been known to go hand in hand with fertility issues.

All varieties are just that, varieties - there is no variety that is friendlier than any other, that's about selection.

xx
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Post by GillianK Tue Jan 10, 2012 9:23 am

Can you see yourself breeding dumbos in the future Laura or have you already bred dumbos?
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Post by Zoundz Tue Jan 10, 2012 10:35 am

I have bred dumbos in the past, and still very occasionally get them out - but it's not something I breed for, and usually I'm actively trying not to! Smile

xx
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Post by smokierat Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:49 am

This different variety sounds interesting Laurs Cool
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Post by Zoundz Wed Jan 11, 2012 7:07 am

As I say - don't know what I'll focus on yet - it may be that I just stick to black and agouti and anything else that comes out, comes out! Buuut... they will hopefully be really good healthy pets. That's the theory anyway!

xx
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Post by katherine Wed Jan 11, 2012 8:02 am

As long as they have the bongo fury temprament I can't see anyone being disappointed. I'm very excited to hear about new lines being set up Shocked Grin
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Post by smokierat Wed Jan 11, 2012 8:48 am

When are you hoping to start thinking about that?
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