Fancy rats as feeders?

There is always an add or 2 on craigslist for rats. it's a common impulse buy i think. then they realise all the work involved keeping them clean and lose interest . i just got 2 hooded adults and 17 weanlings for $15 last week from a cl add.

From the start of this hobby I figured out that the best rats made the best snakes, so I set out to get the best I could find, and we have achieved making some pretty awesome rats for several years.
I'm not breeding anymore due to living arrangements, my partner and a friend breed them for me so I don't have the control on the pairings like I used to, but still...
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/PICT3036.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/PICT3033.jpg

At the East Bay vivarium you can buy blue, dumbos, hairless, mink, topaz etc for six bucks a fancy female and 4 bucks a fancy male. But.. they also feed off all these colors as well, i have bought hairless as food several times for the same price as a regular albino small feeder.

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Originally Posted by stupidcracker00

Does anybody breed fancy rats and use them for feeders?

I want to start breeding rats but I want to breed them as a hobby along with being food for my snake. I will be selling the fancy rats to try to compensate for the cost of maintenance and maybe even a little extra for profit.

1) Would I be stupid to feed fancy rats to my snakes instead of trying to sell them?

2) Would I be better off just breeding breeder-specific rats such as regular hooded rats for my snakes and keeping a separate tub or two for my fancy's?

I was thinking I might as well just breed fancy's and then take a couple out each week for my snake. She currently eats 2 smells a week. I will also be euthanising and freezing them and it seems a little stupid for me to freeze a rat that could potentially sell for 20-30 bucks. I'm probably going to have have a couple fancy tubs and a couple feeder tubs but I was just wondering what people on here thought/did.

Thanks in advance,
SC

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Well I can tell you as one that wants to breed both professionally, you will get greef from both sides. Especially from the rat community. Rat people are very particular about who they sell to. If you buy a rat with great genetics and breed it to another rat they will be offended. Also most people with the rats that are you looking for will not sell them as breeders but as pets only. Aside from craigslist most professional breeders will not sell to you. From doing research, if you want a breeder from a professional breeder you need to develope a relationship with them for a couple of years before you can get one, then your looking at a price tag of about $75 plus. It would be a waste of money to pay that much just to feed the babies off, or even a portion of them. Your best bet is to breed pet store rats for feeders. If you want to breed rats for pets you need to keep them in a seprate area away from them, to keep diseases undercontrol.

I recently decided to add some norwegians, figured I might as well have fun with it so went for variety. They still have some growin before I introduce males to females but in the meantime I'm enjoying playtime with the ratty roos.

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...ts/girls03.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...luegirls01.jpg

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Originally Posted by Deborah

I bought them from Petco and that's how much small rats were selling for in 2007 not sure how much they are now.

Your best bet is to find someone local that may breed rat for food, unless you don't have a choice I don't really recommend petco or petsmart to start building a colony, I did because I did not have any other option but it took a while to strengthen my colony.

Getting started with strong stock from the start is always best.

Check CL, http://www.ebayclassifieds.com/ even put an ad on those website chances are someone local will likely have what you look for and if you do buy some stocks buy small rats 5 to 6 weeks do not buy adults as they could already be too old to breed.

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Ok cool. I'll probably check out CL or eBay for some regular dumbos or beiges to mix up the colony a bit and keep the genetics "fresh". I'm really tempted to spend the 35 each for the blue dumbos just so I know I will be getting top of the line genetics to start out with. I forgot to mention she handles them every day and breeds selectively for great personalities along with their colors.

~SC

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Originally Posted by dillan2020

There is always an add or 2 on craigslist for rats. it's a common impulse buy i think. then they realise all the work involved keeping them clean and lose interest . i just got 2 hooded adults and 17 weanlings for $15 last week from a cl add.

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Holy crap that's cheap! Ya I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for deals like that.

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

From the start of this hobby I figured out that the best rats made the best snakes, so I set out to get the best I could find, and we have achieved making some pretty awesome rats for several years.
I'm not breeding anymore due to living arrangements, my partner and a friend breed them for me so I don't have the control on the pairings like I used to, but still...
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/PICT3036.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/PICT3033.jpg

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What do you mean by "best rats"? Like pet store vs. local breeder? Or fancy genetics vs "plain" genetics. (sorry I don't know how else to describe it lol)

So would you recommend spending the $70 for the breeding pair?

Thanks,
SC

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Originally Posted by Capray

At the East Bay vivarium you can buy blue, dumbos, hairless, mink, topaz etc for six bucks a fancy female and 4 bucks a fancy male. But.. they also feed off all these colors as well, i have bought hairless as food several times for the same price as a regular albino small feeder.

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Do they ship? If not, it won't be possible for me to buy from them seeing as I live in TX. Also, they don't have their selection on their website.

Thanks,
SC

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Originally Posted by Zinger333

Well I can tell you as one that wants to breed both professionally, you will get greef from both sides. Especially from the rat community. Rat people are very particular about who they sell to. If you buy a rat with great genetics and breed it to another rat they will be offended. Also most people with the rats that are you looking for will not sell them as breeders but as pets only. Aside from craigslist most professional breeders will not sell to you. From doing research, if you want a breeder from a professional breeder you need to develope a relationship with them for a couple of years before you can get one, then your looking at a price tag of about $75 plus. It would be a waste of money to pay that much just to feed the babies off, or even a portion of them. Your best bet is to breed pet store rats for feeders. If you want to breed rats for pets you need to keep them in a seprate area away from them, to keep diseases undercontrol.

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I won't be breeding my 35 dollar rats to pet store rats if thats what you mean. I already talked to the lady about my future breeding plans and she's been giving me advice and telling me how she does it. She's actually been very helpful. She doesn't have a problem with me breeding.

You mentioned 75 would probably be the asking price from a prefessional breeder so does this mean 35 is a good deal? She also sells other kinds ranging from 15-25.

Thanks,
SC