What spiffy varieties do you have?

[Bettacreek]

Purely out of curiosity, I was wondering what everyone had in their colonies. I'm not breeding for feeders, but, I know some of you guys have some interesting rats in your collections!

My current collection: blues, rexes, white facial markings.
My future collection: same as above, but will include true hairless, siamese, dumbo and dwarves.

So, add what you have in your collections and even what you would like to get.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I have Blue, Dumbo , Rex, Beige Hooded, Black Hooded, Albinos, Beige, Lilac, Agouti

[Bruce Whitehead]

Himalayans, Blues, Dumbos (4 types of coat and colour patterns),Siamese, Black and tan and agouti selves (athough technically I don't think that an agouti can be a self), Black - blonde and agouti hooded, black and white blaze faced dalmation huskies, and the ever present black and blonde and agouti berkies.

Oh I have one Naked Rat that just runs around my house but isn't a breeder...

Bruce

[SatanicIntention]

Seems like you're looking for alot of problems breeding blues, high whites and hairless(true hairless at that)...

Why would you even do that when there are alot of reputable breeders from the US and UK with stable lines(PEDIGREED LINES) of high quality rats in their ratteries?

Plus you don't use bedding.. Good luck with that!

If you didn't get your rats from a quality breeder(QUALITY not BYB), then you're just making more mutt rats who can potentially have alot of problems. American Blues have immune system problems and the babies rarely thrive. High whites have megacolon in their genes, so if you want to end up with litters of babies dying from malnutrition because they can't absorb nutrients, and bloating because of the gas build-up, then go ahead. Blue blazed rats are a good combination of both! They generally get heart-related and lung-related problems. Hairless rats DO NOT make good mothers. They rarely lactate(if they do, it's not enough to support a litter more than 1 or 2 pups) and don't carry enough fat on their bodies to support themselves AND a litter.

TRUE hairless, which you will not have unless you go to a laboratory and get them, which isn't possible, do not have a thymus, therefore they don't have a good immune system. They have very short lives. True hairless do not have any hair or whiskers whatsoever, unlike the fuzzy hairless(albeit however hairless they may be) most people are aware of. Fuzzy hairless always have whiskers, even if they are short and curly or broken off. Neither breed very well, if at all.

I recommend for you to get some hoodeds or berks, or just not get rodents at all if you can't keep them on any sort of bedding for THEIR COMFORT AND HEALTH.

[Bettacreek]

Excuse me...? Umm, I'd like to know how you know exactly where I'm getting my BREEDING stock from. Yes, I have some rats from the petstore, they're in my colony, they are not breeding, thank you for your concern. Believe it or not, but, yes, some people do breed these rats in an attempt to make them healthier, to weed out the ones with megacolon and other genetic issues.

Hairless rats DO NOT make good mothers. They rarely lactate(if they do, it's not enough to support a litter more than 1 or 2 pups) and don't carry enough fat on their bodies to support themselves AND a litter.

Hence the reason why there are breeders out there attempting to eliminate the health issues of hairless rats. And, believe it or not, but hairless carrier females do not have the same problems hairless females do, and, shockingly, a hairless bred to a hairless carrier produces hairless babies...


I appreciate your concern. Now can we get back to the subject of what varieties people have in their colonies? Thanks.

[binknit]

When I was like......9 years old? I Had a hamster that had 27 babies. It was nuts.

[littleindiangirl]

Excuse me...? Umm, I'd like to know how you know exactly where I'm getting my BREEDING stock from. Yes, I have some rats from the petstore, they're in my colony, they are not breeding, thank you for your concern. Believe it or not, but, yes, some people do breed these rats in an attempt to make them healthier, to weed out the ones with megacolon and other genetic issues.



Hence the reason why there are breeders out there attempting to eliminate the health issues of hairless rats. And, believe it or not, but hairless carrier females do not have the same problems hairless females do, and, shockingly, a hairless bred to a hairless carrier produces hairless babies...


I appreciate your concern. Now can we get back to the subject of what varieties people have in their colonies? Thanks.

It seems to me that if your breeding for the Fancy, then wouldnt you want to start out with lines that are already far beyond the mixed bag pet store rats?

Meaning.... buying from a quality Fancy Rat breeder who has the pedigrees of many generations?

It's one thing to breed for feeders from pet store rats all willy nilly, but Fancy people take great care to ensure their animals are thoroughly documented in concerns to health and genetics to help carry on and improve future generations.

And I simply cannot understand your refusal to use newspaper bedding for the health of your animals. If you can't keep them off of urine and fecal matter (that is there, whether you see it with a naked eye or not), then why keep them at all?

What do others in the rat fancy think of your housing and breeding efforts?

[Bettacreek]

If you want to dissect my breeding, go do it in the thread I made, have fun...


Now, back to the actual subject, what varieties does everyone have?

[littleindiangirl]

I think it's amazing you can assume a position of nonchalance and friendship when in your no-bedding thread you clearly stated you didn't use ANYTHING but rather sprayed down the tubs every few days, and go on as if no one remembers.

[wolfy-hound]

Hey. I've only got 4 retired breeders now here. I did have some rats with the thin white blaze on the face. They all seemed to grow well, although I never bred FOR them. I did use a male with a thin blaze face as a stud, and he threw a lot of blaze face babies, and they all seemed to do quite well.
Also, I had two hairless rats(the typical "hairless", not whatever rare breed only found in labs that no one was talking about "Hairless") that were great moms. I never did have them produce hairless babies, since I never bothered to get a hairless carrier male to use as a stud. But they threw litters of 8-12, usually with those thin terrible looking coats, and nursed them fine. One lived to be 3 years old in fact, one of my oldest breeding females, although she did not have as many litters. I really like hairless, cause they're so cute and warm.
I never have had any luck with blue rats. No matter what, every blue manages to die. So I gave it up. I have had several dumbos, but I don't care for the look, so I never tried to breed for it. Tons of hooded of all colors.
Right now I have one male retiree, he's a dumbo with a soft brown coloration. I don't know colors on rats, so he's just "soft brown" and not anything special, but he's cool. The other three retirees are all white red-eyed rats. One has the thin coat, she might be a half-hairless one.
I bred for feeders, but I liked keeping the most interesting ones for breeders(as long as they produced). I also tried to treat them as cherished pets, as far as their conditions. Lots of toys, chew things, treats, good food, and fresh bedding constantly.
I've since been told that my temps here might just be too high to do very welll breeding rats. I might try breeding my own at some point, but right now, I don't have time to take care of 50 adult breeding females plus assorted male studs, and raising young to feeder size. No time.
I love rats as pets, highly entertaining and clean pets.