new blood :)

[Ginevive]

]I got 2 new ratties in the past few days. First off, this lovely female that I picked up from a friend that breeds. She is out of a black berk mom and himi dad. She is so hand-tame already! At my friend's store, they often handle the rats.. I can easily pick her up and pet her even now.
After the 5-minute drive from the store home: "new in box "



Home, she is so handleable!


And this new boy. I got him from Petco, but it is a good location where they seperate their rats by sex and size; and use good bedding (no pine; aspen, like I use.) My current male breeder is getting on in age so I figure I wanted a new boy to mix into things.
It kills me to have to quarantine them in seperate tanks; but of course they are too young to breed.. and can't put them with the same sex anyway until they clear QT. So I plan on socializing with her a lot; it will help in making her a nice, handleable girl down the road. He, is a bit standoffish; never been handled is my guess, save for when they clean cages.

[Nate]

mm nice and plump...ready to make some snake food

[littleindiangirl]

We just named our 2 albino twins zorn and thorn. Great catch! Our girls from petsmart are our best breeders so far.

[Reediculous]

i can see the males not to sure about you yet! look at that face.

do the breeder females become aggressive when they have litters?

[Ginevive]

i can see the males not to sure about you yet! look at that face.

do the breeder females become aggressive when they have litters?

I notice that they get very wary and a bit defensive. One of my girls is very laid-back normally.. but if she is nursing, look out. She nipped me a good one once. I leave the girls alone while they are nursing.. seems better for all involved. I like them all to be at ease with people reaching hands in; makes cleanup time much easier!
I have another girl who throws nice litters but she is a speed demon. Take her tank lid off for a second to refill the water bottle, and wham she is right out the top!

[catawhat75]

LOL @ the speed demon. I have one who has chewed thru tubs several times. She climbs out and then sits on top of the rack so she can keep an eye on the babies but get a break from them at the same time. She never goes anywhere so I finally gave up on buying new tubs or fixing them so she can't get out.

[frankykeno]

Nice rats, Jen. They both look in great shape and should make some nice feeders for you down the road.

[Ginevive]

LOL @ the speed demon. I have one who has chewed thru tubs several times. She climbs out and then sits on top of the rack so she can keep an eye on the babies but get a break from them at the same time. She never goes anywhere so I finally gave up on buying new tubs or fixing them so she can't get out.

Aw.. reminds me of Delphi. She was an awesome rat that I used as a breeder for awhile. I had gotten her frm my friend, who inherited her after a class of students had raised her and her siblings for some sort of project.
She was literally the most intelligent rat I have ever known of. She always found ways out of anything I put her in; tank w/ screen lid, tank w/ metal grille lid, tub w/screen lid, you get the idea. But she never, ever ran off. She'd be sitting right there on top of another rat's tank, eating some food. A few times I found her back in her tank with somethings that she had to have gotten on her forays; a sock, a clothespin, the like

[Ginevive]

Nice rats, Jen. They both look in great shape and should make some nice feeders for you down the road.

I hope so I really advocate buying them as subadults. This way, you can judge their general age. I would not rule out buying an adult if it struck me and I wanted it as a pet or companion, but for breeders, this is my method to the madness

[frankykeno]

I'm with you there Jen. When I do buy from outside sources I always want rats either freshly weaned or very close to that. Working with adult rats, I really prefer them to have become used to me around them before I'm in there messing with them when they are in breeding or maternity tubs LOL. A lot of my males are good sized guys, I don't need any of them being difficult to handle or my females drawing blood when I go to clean enclosures or remove a young for feeding off purposes.

I think too if you get them a bit younger, then you have that time to feed them up properly so they are in great shape to start breeding. It also gives you the time to see if there's anything that might prevent them from going into the breeding group....a very bad temperment, illness, genetic weakness, etc. I'm really wary of picking up adult rats, especially from pet stores, it just never seems to work out well for me.