Early 2022 I got my first two boys (soon to be a year old, yay!) and obviously, utterly fell in love with them (as is inevitable). Like most of you, I think they’re just the loveliest, most handsome boys of all and I can’t help thinking that with a nice female, they would make such lovely babies! My boys are incredibly sweet and docile, never bitten anyone, very social and love being handled even by strangers and kids, everyone totally falls in love with them even if they were initially grossed out by rats. My dilemma comes with the fact that both of my boys have had recurring cysts on their necks, never anything serious but not exactly nice. My boy Billy has had four in his little lifespan and Stu recently had two just a month apart, leading me to think that they’re just genetically predisposed to developing abscesses. None of their vets could find any issue with their teeth that could cause them and they always went away with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, and it never really affected their temperament or appetite. I’m a little torn between looking for some females for them in the future and letting them fulfill their manly duties to have some lovely babies, or just not bother. Is it that letting them breed could also lead the babies to have issues with cysts, or are cysts already just an inevitable, unavoidable risk that all rats are vulnerable to? 😬 Don’t want to breed ratties that are likely to have health issues if that’s a possibility!
To breed or not to breed?
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Cysts can be a genetic predisposition, more information on the topic can be found here.
The only way to know if they are more likely to have health issues is if you have information on the family lines going back. Unfortunately, theres no way to prevent any illness whatsoever, but lines of rats that are selectively bred for health are less likely to come down with major medical issues.
My opinion, as much as you love your boys, I don't agree with the idea of breeding if your interest is just for your boy to be a boy. Theres so many rats (including other animals) that need homes due to careless breeding, adoption would be a more ideal option.
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Breeding won't make copies of your beloved boys but rats are wonderful so even if their babies have wildly different personalities from their parents, they're still lovable.
If this is something you're seriously considering, make sure you have homes lined up for up to 12-15 babies of yet-to-be-determined sexes. Also be prepared for a potentially small litter with only females. You never know. If you end up stuck with females, would you be prepared to have either gender desexed so they can all live together or would you keep separate cages of males and females?
Persistent cysts isn't normal and maybe not a trait you want to breed. That's a totally reasonable concern.
Personally, I'd recommend revisiting the idea of breeding after you've had a little more experience with multiple sets of rats.
If this is something you're seriously considering, make sure you have homes lined up for up to 12-15 babies of yet-to-be-determined sexes. Also be prepared for a potentially small litter with only females. You never know. If you end up stuck with females, would you be prepared to have either gender desexed so they can all live together or would you keep separate cages of males and females?
Persistent cysts isn't normal and maybe not a trait you want to breed. That's a totally reasonable concern.
Personally, I'd recommend revisiting the idea of breeding after you've had a little more experience with multiple sets of rats.
Or 18 babies. My rat apparently came from a litter of 18 😯
The babies will need homes when they are ready to be weaned from mom. If you plan to keep all the babies, you'll need to get additional cages for all of them and separate the males from the females. Neutering male rats is possible but expensive. I had a male gerbil neutered years ago and I think it was close to $500.
Poor reason to breed any animal IMO.
I suggest checking out the UK's National Fancy Rat Society's web site https://www.nfrs.org/ Check out some upcoming rat shows and talk to breeders there to get an idea of how they got started and why. Many breeders aren't breeding for cuteness and other trivial things.
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I agree with the other replies.
I have two reasons for discouraging backyard breeding.
One is that to do it properly it is very costly, as you will need to buy extra cages to separate genders, extra bedding/substrate and the babies will eat a lot of food.
The other reason is that there are so many rats needing loving homes already, in rescue shelters and on Craigslist. And you're not guaranteed to find homes for possibly over a dozen babies.
My opinion comes from experience. After a mistaken gender situation, both our females became pregnant. They had 28 babies between them, and they all survived to adulthood. We loved them all dearly, but it was very expensive and a lot of work. We needed extra cages, extra bedding, and during a growth period the babies got through 2kg of rat food every 5 days!
We didn't end up finding homes for all 28 of them, especially a few with health problems which we didn't feel right about rehoming. But as a rat breeder once said to me, if you can't find homes for all of them you might need to look after them. They are your rats. Very true words .
The babies are all over 2 years old now, we have ended up with 5 babies and one mother. Thankfully they can all share one enclosure now, which is easier, but we did have to pay for some neuters to make that possible.
Why anyone would want to go through that deliberately is beyond me.😆LOL.
We love our ratties, but no more babies for us.
I have two reasons for discouraging backyard breeding.
One is that to do it properly it is very costly, as you will need to buy extra cages to separate genders, extra bedding/substrate and the babies will eat a lot of food.
The other reason is that there are so many rats needing loving homes already, in rescue shelters and on Craigslist. And you're not guaranteed to find homes for possibly over a dozen babies.
My opinion comes from experience. After a mistaken gender situation, both our females became pregnant. They had 28 babies between them, and they all survived to adulthood. We loved them all dearly, but it was very expensive and a lot of work. We needed extra cages, extra bedding, and during a growth period the babies got through 2kg of rat food every 5 days!
We didn't end up finding homes for all 28 of them, especially a few with health problems which we didn't feel right about rehoming. But as a rat breeder once said to me, if you can't find homes for all of them you might need to look after them. They are your rats. Very true words .
The babies are all over 2 years old now, we have ended up with 5 babies and one mother. Thankfully they can all share one enclosure now, which is easier, but we did have to pay for some neuters to make that possible.
Why anyone would want to go through that deliberately is beyond me.😆LOL.
We love our ratties, but no more babies for us.
@Rattieval All I needed was the subject line “To breed or not to breed?” I knew my answer right away: definitely NOT to breed.
I come at this from the point of view of someone who works closely with a small animal rescue. When it comes to rats, its not about your boys and their offspring, it’s about the potential for all the offspring you don’t keep and THEIR potential progeny, and how many end up in poor circumstances unwanted, abused, neglected, abandoned, “set free” to fend for themselves (a death sentence that happens surprisingly often when people get tired of their rats), or living in a cage “in sanctuary” with no chance at being adopted because there are simply too many people breeding rats and not enough good homes for them to go to. And that’s if you tried to find homes for most of the offspring.
Even if you kept all the offspring, the jump from caring for two boys to potentially 20-30+ rats of both sexes, being able to give them proper attention and time, having enough cages to house them all while keeping males and females separate, keeping everything clean, dealing with inevitable issues with fights/aggression between the rats, feeding them properly and telling so many rats apart, taking care of all their veterinary needs and the issues of that many rats going through illness, aging and dying all within the same amount of time (since they’d be born from two litters and be the same age), integrating rats into the different mischiefs as other rats died so the ones left wouldn’t be alone… It’s not workable if the entire idea is replacing two older, sweet boys with another set of sweet rats. It’s going way overboard.
If you can find a rescue and adopt, that’s a wonderful option. Adding to the rat population, though, is just not a good idea, and really not fair to all the rats who already need loving homes like yours.
I come at this from the point of view of someone who works closely with a small animal rescue. When it comes to rats, its not about your boys and their offspring, it’s about the potential for all the offspring you don’t keep and THEIR potential progeny, and how many end up in poor circumstances unwanted, abused, neglected, abandoned, “set free” to fend for themselves (a death sentence that happens surprisingly often when people get tired of their rats), or living in a cage “in sanctuary” with no chance at being adopted because there are simply too many people breeding rats and not enough good homes for them to go to. And that’s if you tried to find homes for most of the offspring.
Even if you kept all the offspring, the jump from caring for two boys to potentially 20-30+ rats of both sexes, being able to give them proper attention and time, having enough cages to house them all while keeping males and females separate, keeping everything clean, dealing with inevitable issues with fights/aggression between the rats, feeding them properly and telling so many rats apart, taking care of all their veterinary needs and the issues of that many rats going through illness, aging and dying all within the same amount of time (since they’d be born from two litters and be the same age), integrating rats into the different mischiefs as other rats died so the ones left wouldn’t be alone… It’s not workable if the entire idea is replacing two older, sweet boys with another set of sweet rats. It’s going way overboard.
If you can find a rescue and adopt, that’s a wonderful option. Adding to the rat population, though, is just not a good idea, and really not fair to all the rats who already need loving homes like yours.
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