Pardon my ignorance!

[MikeM75]

After seeing a dwarf rat on here, I went to Craigslist to see if there were any out there because how cute I thought it was. I got an email from someone saying how it is UN-ethical and IF I do get any I should NOT breed them because it is UN-ethical.

I do not know anything about their origin, I figured it was some sort of small rat or possible rat hybrid type thing, but someone please let me know what is up with them. I consider myself very ethical BUT, I don't know why these are UN-ethical.

Pardon my ignorance, I just love to learn.

Thank you.

[bsash]

Um, I see no reason, why, or how, they could be un- ethical. Sorry, guess I'm not much of a help.

[coolballsdave]

It's not unethical. Little poodles were selective bred from wolves and so was every other breed of dog. I am guessing they fear a new more fit subspecies of rat will get released into the wild and thrive causing the world to go into utter chaos. Highly unlikely! Anyhow, I personally don't think its any more unethical than selective breeding genes in snakes.

[jcoylesr76]

LOL the things i could share that people have said to me about liking snakes, and breeding them, blow it off and move on, get you your rat(s) and be happy. just make sure you do your research on them and know how to properly care for them. unethical to me would be to get them and not know how to care for them to watch them slowly die.

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

It's a regular ol Norway fancy rat. They just have a genetic abnormality that causes them to be smaller. It's a genetic trait that can be bred for. Nothing unethical about it. At some point someone bred their rats and had one or two that were smaller. They bred those and produced more. So on and so on. What's wrong with that??

The ignorance of some people always baffles me. You'd think I'd be use to it by now with as long as I've been keeping reptiles, but it never does cease to amaze me.


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*Factoid: "There are no such things as Hogg Island or Columbian boas"

[wolfy-hound]

As far as I know, some of the dwarf rats were unhealthy. But now there's a ton of lines of dwarf rat that seem perfectly healthy, just smaller.

It's probably someone who also thinks breeding dachunds is UNethical because they have short legs.

[satomi325]

I think breeding dwarfs are fine. It's just a recessive gene of the Norway Rat like dumbo. It makes them a little smaller than normal rats. Even professional show breeders breed dwarfs and sell them as pets.... It's not that uncommon.