We bought rats from our local mom and pop store, and so far I've taken every single one to the vet with problems with RI's, poor skin, aggressiveness, and overall not good breeders. On the other hand, I bought 2 females from petsmart, and they are the healthiest rats we have. Odd I know, those 2 females threw 14 and 15 litters each, never have proyphrin stains, and are very sociable. Maybe we were just lucky that time. I'm convinced that the rats we bought from the mom and pop store are all severly inbred, and the males we bought from them will never be breed to those females. I have a dumbo bareback/variegated that has been with us for several months, and she still hasnt reached 250 grams. These are all things you must consider when buying from different stores. I've heard a lot of people say they bought from petsmart or petco, and their rats have been fine, but I have heard of disease carrying, parasite inflicted rats as well. Make sure to quarantine all your rats regardless, since young rats do not show sickness as readily as older rats. Just some things to think about.

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And observe all your rats daily!! Sneezing a lot, coughing, poor stool, scratching constantly, sores, scabs, all things that you need to look out for when choosing a rat as well. Just take your time and handle all the rats your interested in, ask the breeder questions, and go for the strongest, healthiest, and nicest rats you see. As far as i've heard, there are no health risks associated with hooded rats.