Breeders or shows?

[rhsm]

I wasn't sure where to post this so please let me know if I am in the wrong area .

I was going to get my feeder breeders from a guy close to me but now he is limiting what I can get from him.

So I was hoping I could maybe locate someone else close to me within a resonable driving distance to get my breeders from and or to make up the difference.

Or find out where there might be a show around me to purchase some.

I am in the Panhandle of FL so certain parts of Fl , Al and GA are very do able for me due to our location.

One other question real quick.

Should the person I purchase my feeder breeder from let me see where he keeps his stock ?

I am just wondering if this is a general thing with animal purchases to see where and what conditions they are kept in.

thanks I look forward to hearing back from you guys soon

I also just want to say THANK YOU all for ALL the Help you all have given me so far on starting up my breeding . I Really Really Appreciate ALL the Help I have recieved.

Thank All!
rhsm

[littleindiangirl]

I think if you are beginning to build a colony, you will want the best you can get. If someone is proud of their work with a colony of rats, I personally don't see a problem with seeing where they keep the animals. I have been to people's houses before and they took me right to the rat room, and it wasn't asked by me or anything, but gave me a piece of mind to know that they kept their rats well.

But, that doesn't mean it's a common thing to see their rat room, it is their house too ya know?

I wouldn't buy from shows. The shows I've been to where they sell rats, the rats were in terrible condition. Covered with parasites, sneezing up a storm and just plain old nasty. I felt dirty just walking by them.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Should the person I purchase my feeder breeder from let me see where he keeps his stock ?

Personally I do not feel comfortable having strangers in my home so don’t be surprised if the person does not let you see their stock, it has nothing to do with the stock itself but has to do with security.

[nixer]

also some ppl that sell feeders do not like someone else to copy what they are doing some ppl act like breeding rodents is some kinda science. some just dont like ppl to see what else they have around. also it could be that they are just trying to hide something they have or hide nastys

[BrucenBruce]

I started my rat colony with petshop stock - some from the last LPS in town and some from Petco. (Some of the ones from Petco did not do well at all, particularly a very pretty female, a blue so pale she was lighter than most "white" rats! She died birthing her first litter.) We did have some issues getting things up & running . . .

More recently, we've been picking up rats at the White Plains reptile show. They don't allow the sale of rodents with eyes open, but we've been able to buy crawlers & pups, and foster them into litters we already had. They've been pretty clean. (We did have an outbreak of fleas last summer, but I blame the cats. I blame the cats for rather a lot . . .) Took a while, but we've finally got a group I'm not un-pleased with. You'll probably get better results buying from a breeder - depending on just what limits he's putting on what you can buy!

~Bruce

[cobweb2000]

I am in contact with several rat rescues and people who breed rats for pets and none of them let most people into see the breeding/living areas, although all are happy to post photographs of it. The main reason is there are two viruses that someone could easily bring into a colony on their clothing, hair or nasal passages: Sendai and SDA (Sialodacryoadenitis). Once you get your colony established, if you bring in any new blood it would be a good idea to qt the new arrivals for 3 weeks. Once either of these two viruses get into your colony, the mortality can be very high--the rescue group closest to me just lost over half of their adoptable animals from an SDA outbreak.

More info on SDA if anyone is interested: http://www.rmca.org/Articles/sda.htm

[Clear]

If you lived closer I would be willing to help you get started. I am thinking about downsizing.