Lately I've noticed an uprising of rat back yard breeders posting on Craigslist, although one seems to have stopped posting or even breeding (hopefully, they were selling rats too young and only breeding for color/money). Of course I flag them. But that got me to wondering, so I did a search on google for rat breeders in Washington state and Oregon just out of curiosity. It seems all the ones breeding for health and temperament are either all gone (websites taken down completely), are no longer breeding, or have moved to another state completely. I also hardly ever notice rats in shelters around here anymore; once in a great while the Oregon Humane Society or Seattle Humane Society will get a few, and there's only one rescue I see here on Petfinder in the Pacific Northwest that has numerous rats for adoption (that have been there for quite some time now). But that rescue does not seem to keep in contact well with potential adopters (I emailed them twice, a month apart, when looking for a friend for Helios, but never got a response back, and it's been around 10 months now since I emailed them last). I'm not looking for any rats right now (although if a female or neutered male that would be compatible with our girls needing rescue came along I wouldn't say no). I'm just curious why all the reputable rat breeders around here have stopped breeding or left, and why there hardly seem to be any shelters or rescues (not that that's necessarily a bad thing if it means rats are in good homes) right now.