breeding questions

sweet

thanks everyone for being so helpful

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rabernet

Make lots of damage? :confused:

---

well my first attempt on having a colony was with 1.1 and he tried to breed her all day long, she lost a bit of weight and the she started to fight him (real fighting) when he tried to breed her, it ended on her being killed while she was perggy :'(

I have to comment on my failures and successes with pet store bought rats. This was back when I just started and didnt know better.

I bought my first breeders from a mom and pop store, they had their own colony and raised feeders and pets. (although there was no difference between the two) I bought 2 males and 4 females.

In all, these rats were sickly, inbred, heart aches, produce small animals, high white/risk rats. I didnt know a darn thing about rats back then, and I refuse to buy from that store anymore. The conditions they keep the rats (and other animals) in is sickening.

Petco, we got 2 females from. They are large (400 grams) have large litters, very sweet and have no high white markers and produce awesome feeders.

Petsmart, again, we bought one male, he is the kindest male rat, never abuses the girls but still gets the job done.

These may be diamonds in the rough, but our petsmart and petco do take good care of their rats, and it's still best to buy them young. I prefer buying from other rat breeders, but if I must, I will take petsmart and petco over a small petstore any day.

Just my .02 cents

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

I prefer buying from other rat breeders, but if I must, I will take petsmart and petco over a small petstore any day.

---

The thing about buying from a small mom & pop kind of store is each one is different. Yes, some petcos and petsmarts will take better care of their animals than others, but you will see an even wider variation in independent stores. Most petcos will have approximately the same genetics as most other petcos, and the same for petsmarts.

There will be some mom & pop stores that have fantastic breeder colonies. But the problem is knowing which one is which. You can get an idea by seeing what condition the animals are kept in, but no guarantees.

Overall, I agree with Connie. The best place to get rats to use as breeders would be from other breeders.