Anything wrong with this idea?

[Marrissa]

So I started my rat group with two petco female dumbos (my favorite and friendliest one that always wanted attention passed away ) and one from the local feed store. The male I got from East Bay Vivarium. Well the one from the feed store just bit my knuckle and broke the skin. Before both mom had put their teeth on me when they had babies but did not exert any pressure. The moms are too big my oldest ball python, so unless I want to Co2 the moms I don't have any way of getting rid of them. (One of the nice perks in me getting a boa is so when she grows up I don't have this problem ) I do need babies for when my clown girl decides she wants to eat again. I'm picking up an adult breeder female and a young female and male from Satomi and I know her rats are good tempered so my idea was to just keep holdbacks from only that group, keep the trio I have now and just use them to make babies and feed them all off.

The male has never threatened to bite at all, he's just skittish which isn't a great quality I know, but I've never handled him much because of it so that doesn't help. So my current though process is keep the breeding trio, feed all their babies off, use the male for the breeder female I'm getting and feed all those babies off. Then when the young male is old enough I will keep holdbacks from that trio. Good or bad idea?

[artgecko]

Would you be "getting rid" of the aggressive females once you have your new ones established and producing? You will still have to put your hands in their tubs (is my thinking) and I know I wouldn't want to get bit.

Sorry you're dealing with bad temperament too.. I've found out the petstore animals are a crap-shoot temperament wise too. It's good that you have someone close enough to get "good" rats from though.

[Marrissa]

Once I have the new ones established, I think I'll Co2 my current group. I'm going to start wearing gloves to remove babies just in case. Thankfully where she bit me was on the knuckled and I pulled back in time that I only have scrape teeth marks. I really don't want to experience a real bite. The dumbo mom didn't attempt anything until the feed store girl decided to bite. I will not be housing the new group with them as I don't want them to pick up any behaviors.

Yes I'm very glad she lives close by. She's got gorgeous dumbos. Getting a blue capped breeder size female, a mink dumbo girl, and a rex dumbo male.

[RobNJ]

Ive always just held back my most even tempered, well adjusted rats and crossed them with unrelated rats of the same demeanor...works well.

[kc261]

It might not be bad genetics...who knows how those poor rats were handled before you brought them home. Even if they weren't really treated badly, it is very possible they weren't socialized enough. Most likely if you socialize their babies they'll turn out fine. But if not, yeah, just eliminate them from your breeding stock.

[sorraia]

I personally wouldn't use any rat that bites in a persevering breeding program. That said, I don't see anything wrong with using them and feeding off the babies (as long as you are Ok worth the possibility of getting bit again), I just wouldn't keep ANY babies from them . Future breeders. There are enough well tempered rats out there, it isn't worth it. Biting is just unacceptable, unforgivable behavior IMO. And a serious bite is no joke. I was bit on my right index finger when I stuck my hand between two squabbling rats. I still have a scar, and this was 5+ years ago. Within a half hour my finger had swelled up to 3 times it's normal size, and by the time I could see the doctor it was starting to turn blue and gray. Not exaggerating. The doctor said that was a normal reaction. Apparently there is something on the surface of rat teeth that most people react to. She updated my tetanus, prescribed preventative antibiotics, took an xray to make sure a tooth didn't break (didn't), and sent me on my way. It took me weeks before I could use that finger again, and months to heal fully. Since then, I have NEVER tolerated any kind of the slightest aggression. That was a pet/show rat too, not something that was mistreated.

[satomi325]

The two weaned ones are really nice and do lick my fingers. They're a silly pair. The female is particularly bold.

But I do admit that the adult female that you're getting is not the most social. She doesn't bite, but she's a little shy.
I didn't spend any time socializing her because I wasn't planning to breed and hold her back. She was just an extra girl I had.

But I haven't been bit by any rats in my colony in years. I've culled all biters long ago.

[wolfy-hound]

I'd use them until you have replacements that are unrelated.

I've ruthlessly culled biters from my stock. I can pick babies from moms without qualm now. Some are more high strung about wriggling when picked up, but they still don't bite, just wriggle.

I do only keep the most mellow and tame females for future breeders.

[kc261]

I'd like to retract what I said just slightly. I think when I said "most likely" the babies will turn out fine, I was overstating it. I do know that bad temperament can be genetic, and I definitely agree with what people are saying about eliminating it from your breeding stock. If you have better rats to choose from, it makes sense to keep back the babies from the better ones.

But, on the other hand, I started out with 3 females that were not well socialized. 2 of the 3 bit me hard enough to draw blood (but nothing like sorraia's finger mangling) when they had litters. They were all I had though, so I kept some of their babies. Those babies are now producing their own litters, and are just as tame and as sweet as can be, even when I mess with their babies. Of course I'm only on my second generation, so it is possible the biting will show up again if it was related to genetics, but I'm inclined to believe it was the socialization in this case.

[Marrissa]

Thanks guys! By far these are this new group are favorite rats. Their temperament is so different than the first trio. I'm very excited for the eventual holdbacks I'll be getting.