Rats for sale at shows?

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Originally Posted by Marrissa

Sadly there are none. To get my male I had to go to the East Bay Vivarium (about an hour away). If I can't find some at the show we'll have to stop there on the way back.

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LA is a pretty big show, I know they usually have rats at the San Diego show, so LA shouldn't be a problem.

I'm sure LLL will be there. Maybe pm Jen and see if she can help arrange something?

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Originally Posted by Annarose15

F/T rats were alive once. ;) That's why I suggested emailing/calling them in advance to "special order" what you need.

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Sent them an email. Thank you for the idea. I need to get more rat tubs built as soon as I get back.

I went to one of the LA super shows last year and did see rats for sale. If you are going to be in the area and still need rats, send me a message now and we might be able to set something up. I'll have to wait until I get home to see how old my babies actually are versus what you need right now.

I've seen Layne Labs sell live rats at the Anaheim show. It was some of their 'prettier' stuff.

You could also contact Wes(Wilomn). He has a little shop in LA called Ratamatic. He may have some nice breeding rodents.

You're an hour from EBV?


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Yes I am. I live in Vacaville. :) 'm hoping to add some different stuff to my group. Like blues, dumbos, pearl, etc. Right now I have a cream male, a black hooded female, and a black dumbo female with some kind of white.

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Originally Posted by Marrissa

Yes I am. I live in Vacaville. :) 'm hoping to add some different stuff to my group. Like blues, dumbos, pearl, etc. Right now I have a cream male, a black hooded female, and a black dumbo female with some kind of white.

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I'm in Davis. I just PMed you.

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Originally Posted by patientz3ro

Ok, this might be a dumb question, but why not just hit up a pet store? I had rats in high school, and rats is rats, right?

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Because often times pet stores don't care about their rats. I've seen many that keep their rats on pine, and rarely ever clean the cages. You don't want to start bringing in a sick rat into your breeding population. So no, rats are not rats. You should do some more researching before posting on this. If you don't know what you're talking about then the best thing to do is in fact not post on a certain thread.

People who breed rats for pets will most likely have the cleanest rats, because the government is very strict on selling rats as pets. They can come in at any time and inspect. Rats have to have certain amount of water, food and space at all times.

People who breed rats as breeders will most likely be the second cleanest, especially versus a pet store. The one exception maybe like PetSmart or Petco because of the corporate setting they may have their employees stay on top of stuff.

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Originally Posted by Neal

Because often times pet stores don't care about their rats. I've seen many that keep their rats on pine, and rarely ever clean the cages. You don't want to start bringing in a sick rat into your breeding population. So no, rats are not rats. You should do some more researching before posting on this. If you don't know what you're talking about then the best thing to do is in fact not post on a certain thread.

People who breed rats for pets will most likely have the cleanest rats, because the government is very strict on selling rats as pets. They can come in at any time and inspect. Rats have to have certain amount of water, food and space at all times.

People who breed rats as breeders will most likely be the second cleanest, especially versus a pet store. The one exception maybe like PetSmart or Petco because of the corporate setting they may have their employees stay on top of stuff.

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Seriously? I'm sorry you're upset because I called you out in another thread, but you really need to learn a little self control. I asked a question to gain a little knowledge of my own. I'm really sorry that you can't grasp the concept of asking questions instead of blindly accepting. In the future, feel free to keep your opinions on my posts to yourself.

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Originally Posted by patientz3ro

Ok, this might be a dumb question, but why not just hit up a pet store? I had rats in high school, and rats is rats, right?

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Petstores over charge for rats of equal or lesser quality than ones from other private feeder breeders. Most pet store rats are from feeder lines anyway, so why not get one from some one who has a lower asking price and more variety to choose from. Not to mention, many private breeders have records and know what genetics their rats carry and have special coat colors/patterns/dumbo ears/rex coats/etc etc.

In my experience, most pet stores (especially Petco/Petsmart) mostly have black and white hooded or albino stuff. Maybe the occasional beige or siamese. But overall, not much variety.

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Originally Posted by Neal

Because often times pet stores don't care about their rats. I've seen many that keep their rats on pine, and rarely ever clean the cages.

People who breed rats for pets will most likely have the cleanest rats, because the government is very strict on selling rats as pets. They can come in at any time and inspect. Rats have to have certain amount of water, food and space at all times.

People who breed rats as breeders will most likely be the second cleanest, especially versus a pet store. The one exception maybe like PetSmart or Petco because of the corporate setting they may have their employees stay on top of stuff.

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Rats on kiln dried pine is fine. Raw pine is toxic, but most animal bedding is kiln dried.
The majority of people here put their rats on pine with no ill effect, myself included.

In general, show breeders will probably have the 'cleanest' rats. Small scale and private feeder breeders will have nice clean colonies in general as well. Large scale and commercial feeder breeders who need to mass produce are probably one of the worst operations in regards to rat breeding.Their rats do not live as long or healthy as a other small scale/private breeders. And most big boxstore petstore rats come from these commercial/large scale feeder breeders.

So what you see in Petco/Petsmart come from feeder stock and bloodlines.
Private petstores usually get their rats from local back yard breeders or small scale feeder breeders who breed for the more 'fancy' colors/coats.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Petstores over charge for rats of equal or lesser quality than ones from other private feeder breeders. Most pet store rats are from feeder lines anyway, so why not get one from some one who has a lower asking price and more variety to choose from. Not to mention, many private breeders have records and know what genetics their rats carry and have special coat colors/patterns/dumbo ears/rex coats/etc etc.

In my experience, most pet stores (especially Petco/Petsmart) mostly have black and white hooded or albino stuff. Maybe the occasional beige or siamese. But overall, not much variety.





Rats on kiln dried pine is fine. Raw pine is toxic, but most animal bedding is kiln dried.
The majority of people here put their rats on pine with no ill effect, myself included.

In general, show breeders will probably have the 'cleanest' rats. Small scale and private feeder breeders will have nice clean colonies in general as well. Large scale and commercial feeder breeders who need to mass produce are probably one of the worst operations in regards to rat breeding.Their rats do not live as long or healthy as a other small scale/private breeders. And most big boxstore petstore rats come from these commercial/large scale feeder breeders.

So what you see in Petco/Petsmart come from feeder stock and bloodlines.
Private petstores usually get their rats from local back yard breeders or small scale feeder breeders who breed for the more 'fancy' colors/coats.

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I had no idea there were such things as "show rats." That's pretty interesting. I suppose I was lucky with mine. I had a small shop nearby, and they had a pretty extensive range in terms of color, sex, etc.

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