Online Rat Communities?

[aldebono]

Stick to snakes is my advice

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How can you be attached to an animal that you feed to your other animals??? I could not do that, i have had mice and hamsters in the past but not at the same time as owning snakes

You will find quite a few people here who are as passionate about their rats as they are their snakes, myself included. Breeding rats for certain traits is done much quicker than ball pythons, so I always had breeding projects going on. I honestly spent more time on a daily basis with my rats, and you get attached no matter what.
I was comforted knowing where my feeders had come from and how they were treated before they became food. That was one of the reasons why I started breeding for myself. I eventually had amazing pet quality rats that I was able to sell to pet homes.
I definitely loved and miss my rats.

[BulkMice]

there is not much out there for what you are asking bud ive looked all over and most forums are for pet only and show type rat breeding.

[MrLang]

Angela, you NEED some of these little dwarves. They're so cute and much more energetic than standards which makes them very fun!

[Marrissa]

Picture? Haven't heard of dwarf rats before now. Is it a recessive gene?

[Xaila]

My sister is actual an admin at ratforum. Just be careful how vocal you are about keeping and breeding snakes. A lot of people won't want to do business with you if they think you're going to feed off the rats. And don't do something silly like post feeding videos There are definitely other snake owners over there though.

[aldebono]

Angela, you NEED some of these little dwarves. They're so cute and much more energetic than standards which makes them very fun!

I definitely do, and some of those Siamese!
I have a good friend looking after my snakes and managing my rat colony back in Florida. I am planning on driving down in the spring and I will have to make a pit stop!
Right after I left for Maine, my rats produced a dumbo BEW . She is continuing my lines of Blues and Siameses. Big, friendly rats!

[artgecko]

I've been posting on ratforum... about my new pet rats. I don't have enough snakes yet to breed feeders of my own but wanted to test both the odor and pet qualities of the rats before i committed to breeding them myself.

So far I"m loving the rats... Mine have almost litter trained themselves in two weeks.

That said, that forum (ratforum) is very anti-breeding. They are even, to a point, anti-breeding rats as pets. They can mention a breeder if someone asks and all of them say "go to rescue or good breeders" but they dont' encourage breeding or help people that might want to become "good breeders". It doesn't make much sense to me. Similar to how many of the cat forums are pro-adoption to the point that they demonize good show breeders.

I'm now considering breeding rats in a few years to try to get good temperament and health (for being good pets) but with the bonus of being able to feed off the rats that don't cut it temperment or health wise.

Apparently the mouse community is much more breeding / culling friendly for whatever reason.

I've considered looking into getting breeding stock from a good "show" rat breeder when I do look into starting a colony, but the only one close to me wants you to sign a non-breeding contract... Which I"d expect with a dog breeder but seems odd with a rat breeder.

If I do end up raising rats for my snakes (as well as pets) I think I will have to keep them in bigger cages than racks and treat them more like "pets" if possible.

MrLang- good luck! I think people would be interested in buying your rats as pets if there are no other "breeders" in your area and you advertize the colors / varieties you have. But like the others said, if you breed them as feeders and an adopter gets wind, it will be posted on a rat forum and you will be trashed.

[aldebono]

I adopted out to two people who were well aware that I was a feeder breeder. It's hard to hide if they come over to look at your rats, but neither of them minded that fact as they had friends who owned reptiles. One of them told me I had the healthiest and friendliest rats she has ever owned and she became a repeat buyer.
I think the customers will be split as to if they mind that fact or not. Many snake owners also have or have had pet rats because of a picky feeder and an extra friendly rat.
And there is the simple fact that I can reach a goal with rats as a feeder breeder than a strictly pet breeder. If a line does not have the personality or health suited for a pet home, I do not have to hold onto those rats or find a willing home for them. I also get to see how consistent the traits are that an individual or line is throwing as I am producing much more than the pet breeder. And the first thing I am doing when I get my rats back is tracking lineages.

Not saying that one way is better than another, but we do have advantages.

[artgecko]

aldebono- I totally see your points, and I will say that most most of the posts on those forums that diss feeder breeders also claim that the animals environments were nasty / smelly and that the animals didn't have anything to "play with" in their tubs... i.e. chew toys, houses, etc. I don't know if they would have the same comments for a feeder breeder that provided clean cages and did give the rats some mental stimulation.

I also agree that you have advantages over pet only breeders. Like you said, being able to "do something" with the undesirable rats that is useful rather than hold onto them forever is a very big advantage.

I am not sure what I'll do in the future, but I'm sure that I'll try breeding a litter or two for feeders and to select good pets at some point. As I like both snakes and rats it seems like a natural combination to me.

As I don't have a lot of snakes (currently 3, planning on topping out at 8 at most), I think I could breed on a small scale that would allow me to keep the rats in enclosures similar to what pet rats are kept in and spend time with them, etc.

I really admire those of you that do keep lots of rodents in quality conditions... It's not easy task to keep my guys not smelling, etc. and I can't imagine doing that with, like, 50+ rodents.

[satomi325]

Check out the Feeder Breeder group on Facebook. I'm sure some are willing to buy or trade for the more rare genes. The people there really do enjoy their rats and try to care for them to the best of their ability.

If you're not mass breeding feeders on a large scale, I think a lot of feeder breeders treat their rats well. And aside from enrichment, I do believe in many cases that feeder rats get better care than some pet rats. Healthy rats means healthy snakes, right? I keep pedigrees of the rats I hold back or sell as pets. I don't really record those who are going to be fed off.

I was very attached to my first generation group of females. When they retired, they lived in a huge cage full of hammocks, toys, and a running wheel. And for rats who lived in a rack their entire lives, they surprisingly took to the litter box right away. There was no effort in showing them what to do. They just did it on their own. Unfortunately, I've forced myself to stop becoming so attached with the more recent generations. I can't have myself save and keep every rat that I retire. I'd be the biggest rat hoarder ever. Haha



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