What do you look for in holdbacks?

I am holding back my more robust, solid or Berk rats. I do not breed high-white blood in my colony anymore because of the risk of Megacolon. After reseaching it, I just feel that this is better for the rats, me, and my snakes. I have one more-white female that I can trace back to my original breeders years ago and I am confident that she is not a carrier of megacolon, but I am only breeding her to Berk males (the only ones I have to begin with) to be safe.
I wanted to thank Becky (SatanicIntention) for bringing this whole issue to light. I agree with her, that because of the risk of megacolon and also because they are feeders and not bred for looks; that more solid rats are preferable.
That said; I tend to hold back more females. I never seem to have enough and will be buying a few more Berk girls soon because of this. Once or twice a year I will hold back a male for breeding to replace the males as they get older. My washed-up breeders are eaten by my BCI who does a great job at disposing of them. :)

I breed mostly albino's (I feel worse feeding the colored ones for some reason)so I usually just pick the biggest fastest growers. I will admit though I have a few colored breeders right now that I picked just because I thought they were cool looking. For some reason my albino's actually seem to grow faster and produce better, larger litters than my colored rats. Has anyone else noticed this?

What is the difference between berkshire and banded? The bandeds, I've read, are susceptable to megacolon as well. I know that they ARE different, but I have a hard time really spotting the difference.

I was looking at a poor picture of a berkshire. Scratch that last question. Is it because the bandeds have the blaze on the forehead that leads to increased incidents of megacolon?

Yep there is something apparently related to the blazed faced rats that can increase the megacolon possibilities. Berkies can have blazes as well btw.

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Originally Posted by pfan151

For some reason my albino's actually seem to grow faster and produce better, larger litters than my colored rats. Has anyone else noticed this?

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Most of my Albinos seem to do better than the others. And usually have larger litters too.

I have an albino that was just bred so im hoping she makes us a nice big litter.. this is our test run we have two females and one male, although we are breeding to sell pets so our hairless (possible double rex) male is with one albino and one hooded satin female ill be interested to see what they produce

Hairless to normal will produce all normal-coated rats that carry the hairless gene.

Pink-Eyed Whites (PEW) are not all that easy to adopt out, so unless you're going to quickly use them as Ball Python food, you'll probably be keeping them. Alot of people don't like their red eyes, for some reason.

Also, if you're breeding for pets, do you know the backgrounds of those rats? Pet store rats generally don't live very long lives and they have alot of hereditary problems such as cancer, poor immune systems, predisposition to strokes, pituitary tumors, ear infections and other maladies. I have only ever bred ONE pet store rat, and all of her offspring died within the year from compromised immune systems. She also died around the same time, from the same thing.

If I'm breeding for quality pets, I want to know that line's history at least 5-7 generations back.

For example, right now I have a 4 week old agouti berkshire harley rex dumbo male that has a retained testicle. It's normal sized, but just can't get through the inguinal canal. So he'll be neutered and go to a pet only home. Cryptorchidism is hereditary, so if he were to be bred, that line would be predisposed to that trait, and the offspring could potentially get cancer from that problem(same with dogs and cats).

Personally, I've gone through enough of cancer with my rats. Pet store rats are very predisposed to cancer, and it is usually malignant, rather than benign(squamous cell carcinoma versus benign mammary tumor). Cancer is not fun to deal with at all, and if I can keep it out of my lines and have healthy, long lived rats, then by all means. Some breeders have lines that live in upwards of 4 years and don't have health problems. These are the types of rats you want to be breeding as pets.

I only have one, MAYBE two litters per year, but each litter is going to be registered and pedigreed with the NARR(North American Rat Registry), so I can keep up with their health as they age. Other people will have access to this information as well, so they will know what my lines carry or if the line has any specific health problems associated with it.

Also, albinos have very large litters, possibly in upwards of 20. Are you prepared to have over 30 rats in your house at once? They can't be weaned until they are 4.5-5 weeks old, and then they can be sent out to their respective homes, if they are adopted. You have to be prepared to keep every last one in case adopters fall through or flake out on you.

Becky, how are you able to breed these pedigreed rats when (correct me if I'm wrong) you also breed for feeders? I would think no one in the rat community would accept you or sell to you for that very reason? Or do you not breed for feeders as well?

I don't think I've ever said I breed my rats for feeders. I do breed mice for the snakes.

It's hard enough to get accepted in the rat community as an up and coming new breeder, even if you have great lines with awesome rats. It's very clique-y(I hate that aspect of it and steer clear of those people).