Fancy rats as feeders?

[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

[Stewart_Reptiles]

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

[kenncarleton]

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!!

[stupidcracker00]

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

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

[Stewart_Reptiles]

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

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.

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"

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/

[satomi325]

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.

[SaintTawny]

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.

[stupidcracker00]

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/

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

[Stewart_Reptiles]

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.

[kenncarleton]

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