[Taru]

Hi everyone, my name is Emy...I am currently working on getting my first pair of rats! I'm working closely with a breeder and hopefully in a month or two I will have two nice boys! Joined this forum to find some more information out about what types of housing, feeding, care, etc I should be getting for my boys! This place is realy great and I look forward to sharing pics of my boys once I get them!

Emy

 

[Forensic]

Welcome!

 

[Inesita]

Hi there! Welcome

 

[DonnaK]

Welcome to the forums, Emy

 

[Berks]

Hi Emy, welcome to the forum!

 

[Taru]

Thanks everyone! I talked with the breeder today, and the litter should be arriving around the 25th of this month, I am soo excited! I've ordered my cage now, and reserved two males from the breeder, and now I'm just anxiously waiting for the lovlies to get here! LOL!

Emy

 

[Nazarath]

welcome! do you know what kind of boys you'll be getting? dumbo? berkys? hooded? blues? hehe I'm all excited now and I'm not even getting them lol.

 

[Taru]

Well the mother is a beautiful PEW, and the father is a blue berk, so we are hoping for a mix of berks and selfs in blacks, and blues, but this is the first litter of both of these rats, so it's going to be a big suprise! Really, I'll be happy for any coloring, but a blue berk would be PERFECT! The mom is a dumbo, and the father shows standard, but there's a small chance for dumbo with these little ones...again it's going to be a grand suprise!

 

[Nazarath]

hehe sounds like fun!! does the breeder know the rats genetics and just doesn't want to know what will come out or is she/he not sure ?? *super excited *

 

[Taru]

The breeder got them as babies from another breeder who had very poor record keeping about her rats, and because my breeder has no clue what these babies will look like they are kinda the establishing litter. She had been breeding about five years ago, but then her rats started getting old, and she stopped breeding until recently. This is the third litter so far, but the first two were accidental from rescue rats who were pregnant before she got them. This will be the first purposeful litter, hoping to establish some nice blues and berks for future breeding...

She got back into breeding after saving three rats that were used as bait in a Terrier competition. Those three really lucked out I would have gotten two from those litters, but the males sold really fast, and because I'm still at school right now I can't really take any rats yet, so this litter is like perfect timing!

Emy

 

[Forensic]

Someone who's breeding rescues? Is that even considered a 'breeder'?

 

[Taru]

She's not breeding the rescues, they are just the mothers of the first two litters she has, and they are lovely colors. She's buying other rats from breeders to start some new lines for herself, but the rescues just happened to be pregnant when she got them. The two paretns of the litter were I will be getting my boys from are bought from another breeder.

ETA: She has told me she will not be breeding the rescues ever, they are strictly pets from now on.

 

[Forensic]

Another breeder with undocumented litters? Sorry, just sounds a bit off to me. :?

 

[Taru]

Well I've spoken to her on the phone, and she's sent me great pictures of her rats as well, and I'm going to be visiting in about two weeks, so I guess things will be cleared up then. Breeders have to start somewhere, and because she didn't keep any of the other rats from her original stock, she's having to start over again. There are not very many breeders in my area who will work closely with someone who has very little, to no experience with rats, and finding this person was really lucky.

She said that the person who had hte rats before said she was a breeder, but didn't reall do a good job with it at all, and so when she got the rats, a lot of specifics were lacking. She does know that the female possibly carries blue and siamese, however the person she bought them from didn't really know what she was doing.

Again, there are few people in my area who breed rats who aren't going to charge $50 for a pair of rats, and while I love these guys, this seemed like the best option for reasonably priced rats that were kept in excellent condition. My only other options included going more then 50 miles for rats, buying them from a petstore or paying $50 for a pair.

 

[Forensic]

My biggest qualm is that the breeder prior to your breeder sounds very... unorganized and possibly a bit shady, especially when you're breeding ratties when no established bloodlines. Yes, I suppose people do have to start somewhere, but she'll have to establish her lines to know what she has.

50 bucks for a pair of reputable breeder rats doesn't sound terribly bad, I'd thought...

 

[Taru]

The main reason I've not wanted to work with the breeder that is charging $50 is because they have been very snobby with me about me not owing rats before. The earliest they can even consider letting me get on a waiting list is six months. I understand that they have a high demand, but they seem to not want to do a lot of dealing with people who have not owned rats before. It's not that they are concerned that I don't know what I'm doing, all the e-mail responses I've gotten from them (and they have only responded to two of my 5 e-mails) are terse and not very friendly. I understand they want the best for their rats, but I don't think it should be held against a person that they haven't owned rats in the past. I've done my homework, and a lot more then most people do, and I feel that just because these will be my first rats doesn't mean I'm not going to be a good owner.

Emy

 

[Forensic]

Well, if you don't think you can have a good relationship with the other breeders I completely understand.