Glad to know there are more people interested in this topic. It would be great to have a community of feeder breeders that also breed for quality.

I will definitely post pics... The females never hold still, so hard to get pics and I haven't been able to find my good camera since I moved. I will document the pregnancy and babies. I am hoping to get feedback on the babies when they are old enough to pick my keepers. I've read that 6 weeks is a good time to choose, but don't really know what to look for. It is likely that my first generation will all be black with various markings, and all should be recessive for blue and dumbo, so we'll see. In a couple months, i plan to do a second breeding with buttercup's sister and the same male, so that will yield similar offspring.

I think that temperament has both a genetic and socialization component. I am planning on weeding out any aggressive rats, if any are produced from the breedings. I am starting with adults that have good temperaments, so hopefully this won't be an issue. Ideally, I'd love to place the rats that don't suit my needs as pets, but I just don't think there's a market here. There are NO breeders in my area and I was lucky to find the person that I will get babies from... She doesn't even live in my city.

I think breeding rats is more popular in the north east and in california for some reason, but there are practically no clubs or any interest here in the south east. I'd love to be closer to those with similar things in mind. I was hoping to find new stock at the reptile show in Atlanta (the closest to me at 2 hours away) but only found one person selling true feeder rats.. not socialized and not in very clean conditions).