Fancy rats as feeders?

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

Short answer YES

Among my breeders I have several Albinos (considered your traditional feeders) but I also have Blue, Dumbo Blue, Blue Hooded, Blue Hooded Dumbo, Black Hooded, Black Hooded Dumbo, Beige Hooded, Beige Hooded Dumbo, Agouti Hooded, Dumbo Agouti Hooded, Hooded Mink.

My snakes don't discriminate when it comes to dinner ;)

i have breed and feed off many fancys i thought the same as you but sold very few and most i sold was to a local small mom and pop pet store while i was in florida ... but may get back in to breeding rats due to the price of rats here is inscane!!

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Short answer YES

Among my breeders I have several Albinos (considered your traditional feeders) but I also have Blue, Dumbo Blue, Blue Hooded, Blue Hooded Dumbo, Black Hooded, Black Hooded Dumbo, Beige Hooded, Beige Hooded Dumbo, Agouti Hooded, Dumbo Agouti Hooded, Hooded Mink.

My snakes don't discriminate when it comes to dinner ;)

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See, what I eventually want are Blue, Dumbo Blue, Blue Hooded, Blue Hooded Dumbo, Beige, beige dumbo, beige hooded, and beige hooded dumbo. I have found a breeder who sells the blue dumbos for 35 each. Is that too expensive? It sounds like a lot to me. But she is a reputable breeder and takes good care of her rats.

Could you explain the genetics of dumbo and hooded as well? I understand the coloring but how would I make a beige hooded dumbo if I originally buy a Beige "self".

Thanks so much,
SC

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I have found a breeder who sells the blue dumbos for 35 each.

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Yes it is expensive pet store will sell fancy for around $7, I started my stock with a few different colors bought from Petco (not ideal but at the time I did not know anyone breeding rats), later on the Dumbo gene came from a friend.

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Could you explain the genetics of dumbo and hooded as well? I understand the coloring but how would I make a beige hooded dumbo if I originally buy a Beige "self"

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Not sure about the genetics of hooded rats I know they are present in every colors, they are what is called marked rats which includes hooded, cape etc

Dumbo and Blue are both recessive which mean to produce a blue or a dumbo both parents need to carry the gene for that trait. In the case of Blue Dumbo it's a double recessive so both parents need to carry both genes.

Here are 3 great sources for rats http://www.afrma.org/fancyrm.htm, http://ratguide.com/ and http://www.ratbehavior.org/

I breed fancy rats for food and pets. Primarily food.
I love my rats, so they're my side hobby.

Hooded or any marking is also recessive.

When I was working at the pet store, we had a blue dumbo male surrendered to us, and shortly afterwards a hairless female. I took them both for food and pet breeding. Now there's a litter of dumbo babies there that I'm seriously considering picking up to reconfigure my colonies, because my other 4 breeder rats are boring hooded agouti. I plan to raise them to weaning, culling as I need to feed my collection, and once they're off of their mother sending a few to the pet store I used to work at on loan. If the owner sells them as pets I'll split the profit with him, if they don't sell before they get about medium-sized, I'll take them back as food for my larger snakes and figure I saved on housing costs for that time period. Even if I never sell any and the store owner changes his mind about the deal, I figure if I'm going to have to clean up after them I might as well enjoy them.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Yes it is expensive pet store will sell fancy for around $7, I started my stock with a few different colors bought from Petco (not ideal but at the time I did not know anyone breeding rats), later on the Dumbo gene came from a friend.


Not sure about the genetics of hooded rats I know they are present in every colors, they are what is called marked rats which includes hooded, cape etc

Dumbo and Blue are both recessive which mean to produce a blue or a dumbo both parents need to carry the gene for that trait. In the case of Blue Dumbo it's a double recessive so both parents need to carry both genes.

Here are 3 great sources for rats http://www.afrma.org/fancyrm.htm, http://ratguide.com/ and http://www.ratbehavior.org/

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The Petco near me does not sell fancy rats (or I haven't ever seen them) an they only sell males... I guess they don't want to responsible for irresponsible breeders using them to breed. Whatever. I have found a few breeders around where I live but apparently this lady has a waiting period for her dumbo blues. There are 5 ppl ahead of me for females and 1 for a male. She never has any problem selling them for 35. And it'll probably be worth it if I can turn around and sell the offspring of the two for about 20-25. I know there's gotta be a demand for them in my area because there's only a petsmart and Petco in my suburb and neither sell anything other than feeders. I will basically be the third source of rats in my town.

Where should I look to find the fancy rats that cost $7 that you were talking about? I could buy way more to start off of I did that.

Thanks,
SC

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.

my local petco to have a few hooded or just solid color rats and there 11.99 each i wish i was just paying 7 lol :banana:

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

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...nts/boys02.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

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Originally Posted by stupidcracker00

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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Best as in very selectively bred for many generations before I purchased them.
When my partner and I bought our original group of 14 rats it cost us $440 and every rat came with 5-7 generations of pairings so we knew pretty munch what each rat would produce.
The genetic we got included: All dumbo eared, some velveteen and some rec coats, black eyed Siamese that carried red eye recessives, Russian blue, American blue, black eyed whites, blue agouti, manx, dwarf and a few others.

Would I recommend paying $70 for the average breeder to make feeders, not at all.
I did what I did to make pets to sell to pay for the whole rat breeding operation and it did that and then some selling pet rats 2 for $15.

Last year I decided to bred some of my own rats so I could have fresh pickies available for my hatchling BP's. For my initial breeding stock I choose to spend the extra money for some nice masked Russian Blues from a healthy line. I figured if I was going to go to the trouble of keeping and breeding rats I'd might as well bred interesting looking rats.

Obviously the snakes do not care if their food is a cool color or has Dumbo ears. The only thing I believe that matters with feeders is that they are healthy and not dehydrated or malnourished.

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

Best as in very selectively bred for many generations before I purchased them.
When my partner and I bought our original group of 14 rats it cost us $440 and every rat came with 5-7 generations of pairings so we knew pretty munch what each rat would produce.
The genetic we got included: All dumbo eared, some velveteen and some rec coats, black eyed Siamese that carried red eye recessives, Russian blue, American blue, black eyed whites, blue agouti, manx, dwarf and a few others.

Would I recommend paying $70 for the average breeder to make feeders, not at all.
I did what I did to make pets to sell to pay for the whole rat breeding operation and it did that and then some selling pet rats 2 for $15.

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Ok that's what I thought were saying. That's exactly what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to create pets along with feeders that way it'll pay for itself. I know for a fact that this lady has selectively bred her blue dumbos for many generations along with her other types of rats. She is a high quality breeder, not just some po-dunk rat breeder (like what I will be lol). She knows what she's doing and has been doing it for a long time.

So bottom line, would you recommend just breeding fancy rats as pets and then using them as feeders also? Or should I get a whole different line of feeders like from the pet store?

Thank you for your input,
SC

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Originally Posted by stupidcracker00

So bottom line, would you recommend just breeding fancy rats as pets and then using them as feeders also? Or should I get a whole different line of feeders like from the pet store?

Thank you for your input,
SC

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We don't seel pets anymore and breed the high quality rats for feeders :gj:
If you have the time and a way to sell pet rats it can pay for quite a bit of the rest of the rat breeding operation.

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Originally Posted by Adam Chandler

Last year I decided to bred some of my own rats so I could have fresh pickies available for my hatchling BP's. For my initial breeding stock I choose to spend the extra money for some nice masked Russian Blues from a healthy line. I figured if I was going to go to the trouble of keeping and breeding rats I'd might as well bred interesting looking rats.

Obviously the snakes do not care if their food is a cool color or has Dumbo ears. The only thing I believe that matters with feeders is that they are healthy and not dehydrated or malnourished.

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Ya that was my thought process initially too. I just wanted to make cool lookin rats to feed my snake since I was trying to make cool looking snakes. Now that I've done a TON of research I am really excited about making rats a secondary hobby. Not just for feeding purposes. I feel like that will be more rewarding in the long run than the amount of money I save by not buying feeders. But that's a nice benefit too ;)

Another thing that got me stoked was how much you can actually sell a good-gened pet rat for. When the lady told me 35 I was like, "Are you serious???", but it makes sense now. The genes are the top of the line, the selective breeding has created very tame personalities, it all adds into the cost. Plus the demand for blue dumbos is high right now. I'm sure I could sell each of mine for at least $15. Especially since I will continue to selectively breed for personality and colors. This would really make it worth it.

Thanks for your reply,
SC

Yeah.. the Vivarium doesn't ship live out to places..It would be super expensive and a rat would freak out and they can chew through anything.

just for fun, here is my agouti (wild coat type) dumbo irish girl, hua
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8c44db35.jpg

Shipping live rats is like shipping a puppy. Special container, airfare, health certificate, etc. It's a royal pain unless you're getting a large group of some sort of gene you just really must have and can't find otherwise.

I get all sorts of different fancy rats for feeder prices. I would NOT recommend you expect to get $20+ for a pet rat. I sell the occasional pet rat, usually for $10 at most. But I enjoy my breeders a lot and love to see all the genetics. I have hairless(got the original het hairless by accident in a colony buy), dumbos, blues, blaze-faced, all sorts of colors and possibly black selfs coming. I actually am not certain I have a single regular albino breeder left in the colony now. My snakes eat whatever color I give them, although I do tend to give dark hooded feeders to snakes in shed, hoping the snake can see them better with the contrast.

Most of the "breeders" I've found are ridiculously anal about selling their rats to anyone who might even consider ever breeding a rat. If you have found a good one who doesn't mind you breeding, especially for feeders, than I'd definitely build a good relationship with her. I personally wouldn't spend $30 for a single rat, unless it was a very rare, very desirable trait. Blue dumbos are fairly common, at least around here.

Also, the most healthy, robust, glossy friendly rats I've ever seen were from Rodents on the Road, who essentially breed and sell feeders. I used to buy all my feeders live directly from one of the breeding facilities. They were calm and fat healthy animals. I've seen some "high quality breeders" with show rats that didn't have such healthy looking animals.

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

Shipping live rats is like shipping a puppy. Special container, airfare, health certificate, etc. It's a royal pain unless you're getting a large group of some sort of gene you just really must have and can't find otherwise.

I get all sorts of different fancy rats for feeder prices. I would NOT recommend you expect to get $20+ for a pet rat. I sell the occasional pet rat, usually for $10 at most. But I enjoy my breeders a lot and love to see all the genetics. I have hairless(got the original het hairless by accident in a colony buy), dumbos, blues, blaze-faced, all sorts of colors and possibly black selfs coming. I actually am not certain I have a single regular albino breeder left in the colony now. My snakes eat whatever color I give them, although I do tend to give dark hooded feeders to snakes in shed, hoping the snake can see them better with the contrast.

Most of the "breeders" I've found are ridiculously anal about selling their rats to anyone who might even consider ever breeding a rat. If you have found a good one who doesn't mind you breeding, especially for feeders, than I'd definitely build a good relationship with her. I personally wouldn't spend $30 for a single rat, unless it was a very rare, very desirable trait. Blue dumbos are fairly common, at least around here.

Also, the most healthy, robust, glossy friendly rats I've ever seen were from Rodents on the Road, who essentially breed and sell feeders. I used to buy all my feeders live directly from one of the breeding facilities. They were calm and fat healthy animals. I've seen some "high quality breeders" with show rats that didn't have such healthy looking animals.

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Well this lady is literally the only person in a 30 mile radius (at least), that sells fancy rats, especially the blue dumbos. There's another lady who put an ad on Craigslist with some baby tan albino looking weanlings for sale. I contacted her and she said she was going to breed a blue to one of those litter mates because they had the blue gene as well. He said she would contact me when he's ready to sell them. If she sells them to me, I'll be getting 2 females for 30. That, I can manage :) but this is the reason why I convinced myself to house and breed rats in my house. There has got to be so many people around my area that go to petsmart or Petco and blow 4 bucks a rat...FROZEN! They are the only two pet stores in my suburb so I know there isnt a lot of diversity already. I'll be selling to a fresh market in desperate need of snake food and/or healthy pets. Every feeder will be treated as a pet no matter what their future entails. I believe that even tho their lives could be pretty short, they should be comfortable during the time they have.

Thanks,
SC

'Tan albino'? I am guessing you mean it has red eyes. I only have 'fancy' rats, most people call any rat that is not albino fancy. I have gotten all my rats from pet stores. I got a black dumbo that carried the blue gene from Petsmart. Now I have a combination of dumbo, top ear, black eye, ruby eye, odd eye, manx, blue (russian and american), black, beige, cinnamon, agouti, blaze, berkshire, hooded, variegated and irish. And probably others I am forgetting right now. There is nothing wrong with getting pet store rats to breed, and you can end up with some really cool looking rats. Just make sure to check them out and make sure they are healthy and not nippy before buying any rat. I just picked up a silvery blue blaze berkshire male from a pet store a few weeks ago to mate with a self russian blue dumbo female. Can't wait to see what they throw.

Have you checked any places that would be selling rodent food? Sometimes you'd be amazed at how many rat producers are in an area. I knew of one, and it turns out that now I know of over a dozen within 25 miles. It's just hard to find them. If you ask around at feed stores, you may find there's someone buying food for a colony and get in touch.

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Originally Posted by stupidcracker00

The Petco near me does not sell fancy rats (or I haven't ever seen them) an they only sell males... I guess they don't want to responsible for irresponsible breeders using them to breed. Whatever. I have found a few breeders around where I live but apparently this lady has a waiting period for her dumbo blues. There are 5 ppl ahead of me for females and 1 for a male. She never has any problem selling them for 35. And it'll probably be worth it if I can turn around and sell the offspring of the two for about 20-25. I know there's gotta be a demand for them in my area because there's only a petsmart and Petco in my suburb and neither sell anything other than feeders. I will basically be the third source of rats in my town.

Where should I look to find the fancy rats that cost $7 that you were talking about? I could buy way more to start off of I did that.

Thanks,
SC

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Death co has boys and girls but the store will only have one kind in my area one has girls the other store has boys.

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Originally Posted by Annageckos

'Tan albino'? I am guessing you mean it has red eyes. I only have 'fancy' rats, most people call any rat that is not albino fancy. I have gotten all my rats from pet stores. I got a black dumbo that carried the blue gene from Petsmart. Now I have a combination of dumbo, top ear, black eye, ruby eye, odd eye, manx, blue (russian and american), black, beige, cinnamon, agouti, blaze, berkshire, hooded, variegated and irish. And probably others I am forgetting right now. There is nothing wrong with getting pet store rats to breed, and you can end up with some really cool looking rats. Just make sure to check them out and make sure they are healthy and not nippy before buying any rat. I just picked up a silvery blue blaze berkshire male from a pet store a few weeks ago to mate with a self russian blue dumbo female. Can't wait to see what they throw.

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Idk... The lady told me the parents were albino show rats (but the pictures showed them with tan hoods) and the grandparents were blues. Idk how rat genetics work but that's what she told me.

Where did you get all those genetics???? I'm so jealous! I want to have colonies like that soon :) but I gotta start somewhere... Which is why I'm choosing American blue dumbos. I'll probably toy around with beige also and try to make some cool lookin rats.

Can you show me a pic of your silvery blue blaze berkshire? It sounds really neat.

Thanks in advance,
SC

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

Have you checked any places that would be selling rodent food? Sometimes you'd be amazed at how many rat producers are in an area. I knew of one, and it turns out that now I know of over a dozen within 25 miles. It's just hard to find them. If you ask around at feed stores, you may find there's someone buying food for a colony and get in touch.

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That's actually a really good idea. I should have thought of that. I'll head up to my local feed store and see if they could point me in the right direction :)

Thanks,
SC

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Originally Posted by fishdip

Death co has boys and girls but the store will only have one kind in my area one has girls the other store has boys.

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Sounds warm and cozie lol. Where are they located?

Thanks,
SC

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Originally Posted by stupidcracker00

Idk... The lady told me the parents were albino show rats (but the pictures showed them with tan hoods) and the grandparents were blues. Idk how rat genetics work but that's what she told me.

Where did you get all those genetics???? I'm so jealous! I want to have colonies like that soon :) but I gotta start somewhere... Which is why I'm choosing American blue dumbos. I'll probably toy around with beige also and try to make some cool lookin rats.

Can you show me a pic of your silvery blue blaze berkshire? It sounds really neat.

Thanks in advance,
SC

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Next time I clean the tubs I will try to get a photo of him. Like I said, all my rats came from pet stores. You can find some pretty cool things sometimes. I have also done a bit of line breeding when a trait I liked popped up. I use to have a line of Himalayans that came from a black pair of pet store rats. As for the breeder with the 'albinos' I would take what she says with a grain of salt. Tan hooded rats with red eyes are not albino, it sounds like beige (or maybe champagne) to me. Albino gene is the lack of all pigment. I know a lot of people call anything with red eyes albino, but a breeder should know better.

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Originally Posted by Annageckos

Next time I clean the tubs I will try to get a photo of him. Like I said, all my rats came from pet stores. You can find some pretty cool things sometimes. I have also done a bit of line breeding when a trait I liked popped up. I use to have a line of Himalayans that came from a black pair of pet store rats. As for the breeder with the 'albinos' I would take what she says with a grain of salt. Tan hooded rats with red eyes are not albino, it sounds like beige (or maybe champagne) to me. Albino gene is the lack of all pigment. I know a lot of people call anything with red eyes albino, but a breeder should know better.

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Ya the color threw me off when she said albino. But I thought I just didnt know what I was talkin about since I'm new to all this. And by pet stores do you mean Petco and Petsmart? Or local small chain pet sores?

Thanks again,
SC

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Originally Posted by stupidcracker00

Sounds warm and cozie lol. Where are they located?

Thanks,
SC

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In co :P

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Originally Posted by stupidcracker00

And by pet stores do you mean Petco and Petsmart? Or local small chain pet sores?

Thanks again,
SC

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Both, I got a dumbo black female from petsmart, and have picked up other colors at independent and smaller local chain stores too. I like to go around to all the pet stores in the area from time to time. Petco around here rarely carries colored rats, but the petsmart does.

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Originally Posted by Annageckos

Both, I got a dumbo black female from petsmart, and have picked up other colors at independent and smaller local chain stores too. I like to go around to all the pet stores in the area from time to time. Petco around here rarely carries colored rats, but the petsmart does.

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Ok cool. I'll have to go check my petsmart. Thanks :)

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Originally Posted by Steve Works

Still waiting for that photo. Any luck with the rats?
____________________________
Steve Works
champagne rosé
champagne blanc de blanc

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I can second that.