Where to get breeders?

[EAC Reptiles]

Hey everyone, I am currently building rat breeding and grow out racks to start breeding my own rats. My question is where does everyone get there breeder rats from? I checked out a few different places and most of them have an adoption process you have to go through and wont sell them to you if you are planning to breed them as feeders. I want to get high quality rats to produce high quality food but this adoption process is a little out there for me. Also some of the prices are ridiculous for breeders, I know that some of them are show quality and what not but I cant spend over $500 for 24 breeders. I am located in southeastern PA if anyone knows of a breeder to get high quality rats from.

[Zombie]

I bought my breeders where I used to buy my feeders. Just ask for specific sexes in the ratios you want.

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[snakesRkewl]

I bought my original group from a guy who bought from a "breeder" that made him sign papers.
He fell on hard times and passed them off to me, I didn't sign papers so I bred them and have been for several years.
The original group of 14 rats cost just over $400 and included genetics to produce blue, Black red and ruby eyed Siamese, dwarfs, and other traits.
They came with paperwork showing 5 to 7 generations back and what they produced, well worth the initial large payment considering the quality of genetics involved.

[KingPythons]

I got mines from the Dumb Friends League. If my Rats died at anytime they would let me pick out a new Rat. They are about the only place that no matter what happen, they wouldnt let me go on with out a furry friend.

[EAC Reptiles]

I bought my original group from a guy who bought from a "breeder" that made him sign papers.
He fell on hard times and passed them off to me, I didn't sign papers so I bred them and have been for several years.
The original group of 14 rats cost just over $400 and included genetics to produce blue, Black red and ruby eyed Siamese, dwarfs, and other traits.
They came with paperwork showing 5 to 7 generations back and what they produced, well worth the initial large payment considering the quality of genetics involved.

I don't mean to sound ignorant but do I really need to worry about getting different rat such as dumbos and rexs when I am only breeding them to be feeders? If it will give me that much better quality feeders then I will do that but I also don't want to sign anything in the way of adoption papers.

[wolfy-hound]

I would go to someone that is selling feeder rats. I was buying my feeders from a place that produces excellent rats, and simply kept any of the feeders that were female. That's normally a low percentage by the way. They tend to sell the males as feeders, but you should have some females in it.

When you buy from a breeder concentrating on color, type, etc... you may NOT be getting high production, hardy when breeding, fast growing rats. When a breeder is more concerned with the markings being great, the rat's conformation being perfect... they are not generally concerned with if it has large litters, whether the babies grow fast, whether the females recover well from pregnancy. It's not a failing, it's just what they look for in a rat is not the ability to mass produce more rats.

Feeder breeders that produce nice quality healthy feeders usually watch for the best qualities in a breeder rat. Get your breeders from a person who is concentrating on the same qualities as you are concerned with.

If you want to produce high quality pet rats, you can try to find breeders of pet/show rats as well. I don't bother with most breeders that want you to sign your life away for a rat. I'm NOT dissing those breeders at all, it's not what I am personally looking for in a breeder. It's their rats, and their right to declare who buys them, and who does not buy them. I'd prefer not to lie to a breeder in order to get one of their rats. I do produce rats mostly to use as feeders. I will be breeding the rat I'm looking to buy. I do own reptiles that eat rodents.

Now I AM looking for a tailless rat in the future for a pet. But I won't be buying it to breed and fibbing in order to get it. I won't intend to breed it because I don't want to deal with all the issues tailless rats can have. But I've heard cool things about them and I think their neat.

[PghBall]

I found my original males on craigslist. I bought my females at Petco, yeah I know...Petco, but at the time I could not find any females anywhere else. Since that time I have added females to add new blood to the mix. If you were closer, I would gladly help you out. I have plenty of surplus males and females and could spare a few 1.3 groups.

[Uncle Festae]

Dont buy adults, you will end up disappointed. Rats have a fairly short "shelf life" as viable breeders, so purchase them at around the medium size.That way it wont be too long before they're producing for you, and ensures you're not getting burned out breeders or poor producers.

Also, buy from people producing rats as feeders, not fancy lines. The difference in litter sizes, growth rates and overall size, are like night and day. (A good feeder breeder will be forever breeding towards increasing these values, fancy rat breeders will not, they want specific looks! not feeder factories lol)

[snakesRkewl]

l

Also, buy from people producing rats as feeders, not fancy lines. The difference in litter sizes, growth rates and overall size, are like night and day.

I'm not sure where you got that information?
I average 12 to 15 babies a litter and have some of the healthiest rats ever produced from my fancy rats.
They grow as fast or faster and chubbier than any crappy genetic feeder breeder rat.
I have had numerous 17 to 19 count litters also, fancy rats are bred for health and conformity and large litters, after all when you charge $20+ per rat you want as many as you can to sell

I don't mean to sound ignorant but do I really need to worry about getting different rat such as dumbos and rexs when I am only breeding them to be feeders?

You don't need to worry about traits too much but you want the highest quality rats you can find.

[wolfy-hound]

l I'm not sure where you got that information?
I average 12 to 15 babies a litter and have some of the healthiest rats ever produced from my fancy rats.
They grow as fast or faster and chubbier than any crappy genetic feeder breeder rat.
I have had numerous 17 to 19 count litters also, fancy rats are bred for health and conformity and large litters, after all when you charge $20+ per rat you want as many as you can to sell


You don't need to worry about traits too much but you want the highest quality rats you can find.

You must be a rare fancy rat breeder. Do you breed for show rats, or just for good pet rats? All the "fancy" rat breeders I see(who go to shows, or at least are affiliated with show rat breeders) show off litters of 6-7 on a regular basis. I've been looking at a lot of rat breeder sites and almost all of the ones breeding their rats for pets(show) and all of them show very small litters of really NICE rats.

None of the breeders I've talked to or read up on have made any mention of wanting large litters at all. They fuss over having a few babies and having long waiting lists for the few litters they breed.

I wish there were more breeders like you, with really awesome healthy rats that are overall great rats, not just great looking but low producers or high producing but crappy rats. It would make life so much easier.