The Cutest Rats You'll Ever See! Look!

OK, so I'm a little bit biased, but a momma's got the right to be biased!

I've been looking at the rats that our PetSmart has every time I run in to pick up dog and cat food and noticed that they had what they called Fancy Blues and I really liked them, but they were a little more than the other rats.

But when thinking of starting breeding, I knew I had to have one as one of my two.

Today was the day I had to get more dog and cat food, so I decided it would also be the day to get my two females and let them grow a bit with me before getting them a boyfriend.

The blue girl is all gray all over, not a bit of white on her. Her cage mate had a white belly and a little on her paws, but I picked this girl since she was solid.

The other girl I picked, because they had some cream hoodies with her too, but she had black eyes, and they had red. I really thought the black eyes were much more endearing.

What worries me is - with such pretty mommas, how will I ever be able to feed off what's bound to be adorable babies! LOL

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../Rats/Rats.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...Rats/Rats4.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...Rats/Rats5.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...Rats/Rats6.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...Rats/Rats7.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...Rats/Rats8.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...ats/Rats10.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...Rats/Rats9.jpg

Oh, I LURVE them!!! Congrats on your rattie-roos, Robin...they really do make excellent pets & can be so much fun!!!

Now you need some Dumbo rats...uber rodent cuteness! :D

Just make sure you get a butt-ugly male to breed them to, so you'll have some not so cute babies to feed off! ;) :devilish:

K~

Robin, I don't know if you are familar with the AFRMA, but when a rat is solid,in color without any white at all, it's called self, and whatever color it is. Ex: your baby is a blue self. Also, there are different "blues" too. It's hard to tell just what "blue" until they are an adult. Blue agouti is a rat with different bands of gray color on each hair.

I agree with you. How could you? I had a hard time back when my Bp was younger, lol. I bred two female rats also with a nice stud tan male with red eyes, he was such an adorable boy. My females; 1 was all white with also red eyes and the other was solid black. Rats are so tame and sweet, its hard to think that I am feeding a probable relative of them each time I feed my snakes.:cool: . But when I did have babies I made a quick kill of the pinkie rats that I fed to my male corns. And let the other fully mature (and not hand them) and fed them to my other snakes. But I dont ever feed live, I just couldnt think of that:( So I had one of my friends who knew how t use CO2 on them and well.. I was a bit sad when he gave me the baggy of 10 rats (this was my first time having baby rats) and it was sad, because they were the children of my rats. But that was 5 yrs ago and now my rats dont breed I just love them for who they are. Even though Mr. Whiskers tries to "do his thing" with Mamasita and Blacky. lol:P But now I just go to our regular petstore a few miles away and buy f/t. Good luck with those two cute beauties. I have always liked the black and whites, so petty. And when you get them two a boyfriend good luck with breeding them!!:)

Ack!! Too cute!! :aww: :clap:

Oooohhhh....pretty pretty rats, Robin! You just have excellent taste in critters! ;)

Thank you everyone! I forgot to mention that I think that the gray girl is going to be Scarlett - just seems like a good name for her!


Karl is going to be naming the hooded - so he's studying her. If he wasn't, I'd name her Jasmine or Daisy.

I want to keep him as involved as possible! Although he did get offended when I threw a few chicken wing bones in with them from our Chinese take out (after all, he spent all that time cleaning their enclosure and getting it "pretty" and I go mussing it up! LOL)

They are so darn CUTE! I'm hoping knowing the fact that my breeders will never be feeders will help to make it a little easier to feed off the babies, since I did get them to help out with the snake feeding bills! LOL

sooo cute. I miss my rats :( Although mine were all hairless. I've never been fond of "haired" rats but that blue is a beauty. Good job! And I also agree, get a really ugle male lol.

the black n white rat looks lilke the one i just fed my bp

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...11600x1200.JPG

Robin, they are indeed cutie patooties! However, I would get that corncob out of there as dried corn(not fresh, cooked corn or canned corn) can contain a mold that secretes aflatoxins which can build up in their systems and kill them. I think those cobs are made for popping in the microwave anyway, but I still wouldn't give it to them for fear of that icky mold(especially since we haven't been getting adequate rain and the mold is higher).

Oh! And if you want a dog food that has less than 18% protein and won't make them have issues with protein sensitivity(as blue rats are more prone too than others), Wellness Senior, as well as Nutro Senior are both good candidates. I use the Wellness and none have problems(except the Harley coat boy rat, but his inbreeding coefficient is a bit up there...).

Found a good lab block yet? I recommend the Mazuri made by Purina if you have a feed store around that is a Purina Mill. Pet stores sell Mazuri lab blocks, but they aren't the same quality or have the same ingredients as the feed store ones. www.mazuri.com I use Rodent Block 6F for the rats and 9F for my breeding colony of mice.

Becky, I went to the pet store prepared! I had printed your food sticky, so I have a bag of the Nutro Senior. I didn't get the Mazuri lab block at the pet store, because I couldn't remember if you had the low protein dog food (and the rest of the mix) if you still needed lab block. After talking to Jo, I know that I do need to get some. I need to google and see if there are any feed stores around here.


Corn cob will come out - it was also for sale at PetSmart, so I thought it was something that might keep them busy and entertained.

Any suggestions on keeping rats happy and not bored by the way? They remind me of dogs in their personalities, I am already head over heels in love with these two! I keep telling myself - you WILL not get attached to their babies, you WILL not get attached to their babies! LOL

Karl was convinced they were killing each other when they were wrestling last night, he would not believe me that they were playing and establishing dominance until I gave Ms. Jo a call to confirm! LOL

Anyhow, they are going to be a lot of fun!

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Originally Posted by white

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...11600x1200.JPG

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looks like the one that my BCI downed yesterday

LOL - Smulkin fixed the picture in the original post and then someone copied the picture and "broke" the thread again! Driving me nuts scrolling left and right!

OK, this is just too funny. So Becky, I googled Atlanta feed store and this is one of the first that popped up. Name sounded promising - clicked on the link - somehow, I don't think this is the kind of feed store you were talking about! http://www.atlanta-midtown.com/commu...eed/index.html

Robin, I used to buy cat toys for my rats,like wagon wheels,bell balls, and other things like that. Also, those flavored potato starch bones made for dogs aare great too,plus they come in "irratzistable" flavors, such as cheese,bacon,and peanut butter. Bird toys also work well too, as do ferret toys.

Those are some nice ones yuo have there! One of my mommas had an awesome litter of b/w hodeds like yours; I have been feeding off the few white and creams fmro that litter, but i hate feeding off the pretty skunklike-looking ones! So I know how you feel!

Robin, you may want to type in Purina dealer, or go to Purina.com and find a retail store that can order the lab blocks for you.

Hm, I usually buy wooden bird toys, the plastic bird toys with bells from WalMart, make some spaghetti noodles, mix in a little butter and they are happy as clams. You can also wad up newspaper and put treats in the center so they have something to find. Hammocks are a favorite(think bandana held up in 4 corners with big safety pins or binder rings). Boxes stuffed with shredded paper are FUN! And you can put treats in those(chocolate chips, raisins, craisins, etc).

I try not to give mine any kind of bread, tortillas included(unless it is hard/crunchy, etc like french bread or pizza crust). They have a tendency to choke on those things as it gets caught on the roof of their mouth or they gobble it too fast.

You can make them popcorn, pressure cook some fresh green beans(or frozen in a bowl of water is fun for bobbing in, LoL) or fresh corn on the cob(never give corn raw or dried, it will make them sick or can kill them. There is a list of no-no foods somewhere. I will find it and post it soon.

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Originally Posted by KLG

Oh, I LURVE them!!! Congrats on your rattie-roos, Robin...they really do make excellent pets & can be so much fun!!!

Now you need some Dumbo rats...uber rodent cuteness! :D

Just make sure you get a butt-ugly male to breed them to, so you'll have some not so cute babies to feed off! ;) :devilish:

K~

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Ditto!!! I've got a Blue male... Vergil, and 2 "feeder producers" Lindsay, Chocolate Dumbo, and a Newbie... Black? hairless.. unnamed as of yet. Vergil has a silk purse he rides around in. No lie... I gotta get U some pix. You'll be amazed how smart they are. GREAT pets!!! I've recentlly gotten my frien into pet rats, she's at 6 now? And planning to build them a "Rat-Gratto"!:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Darn I had that do not feed list on my favorites before I lost my hard drive so I'll try to find it again and post it on the feeder forum if I can remember where I originally found it.

Those look like lovely rats Robin. The blues I think are likely Russian blue as they look like quick dark steel grey in color...one is a Self, the other with the white would be a Berkshire. From what I remember of rat genetics try to avoid breeding those two blue females with a male that has a blaze face or is a Husky in markings as they can both carry a recessive genes for something (Becky help me out here the NyQuil won't let me remember what you told me about that...ACK).

Don't worry too much about feeding off "pretty" feeders. It's bound to bother you the first few times, that's just natural and will likely pass in time whether the rats are cute or not. I still don't care for feeding off fuzzies as they are the most visually appealing to me but it's just a fact of life when you breed rodents for feeders.

Remember our talk about what to look for when you go out male rat shopping LOL.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Darn I had that do not feed list on my favorites before I lost my hard drive so I'll try to find it again and post it on the feeder forum if I can remember where I originally found it.

Those look like lovely rats Robin. The blues I think are likely Russian blue as they look like quick dark steel grey in color...one is a Self, the other with the white would be a Berkshire. From what I remember of rat genetics try to avoid breeding those two blue females with a male that has a blaze face or is a Husky in markings as they can both carry a recessive genes for something (Becky help me out here the NyQuil won't let me remember what you told me about that...ACK).

Don't worry too much about feeding off "pretty" feeders. It's bound to bother you the first few times, that's just natural and will likely pass in time whether the rats are cute or not. I still don't care for feeding off fuzzies as they are the most visually appealing to me but it's just a fact of life when you breed rodents for feeders.

Remember our talk about what to look for when you go out male rat shopping LOL.

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Thanks Jo - there's only one blue, not two - just lots of pictures!

Ah okay re-read that...you picked the self blue not the berkie one...gotcha! Note to myself to take the next dose of cold meds AFTER I try to catch up on BPNet threads LOL.