My rat party lol DU don't even think about it

[Bettacreek]

but when you get the feeder breeders buying these "pretty" rats instead of the safe patterned/colored rats, you get megacolon babies and carriers.

So you're going to sit there and say that anyone who breeds a high white is guaranteed to get megacolon babies and carriers simply because they're feeder breeders? Believe it or not, but it's not a biased gene that automatically appears simply because people aren't being "responsible" breeders. People who're breeding for fancy feeder breeders can in fact luck out and produce healthy lines that aren't carrying megacolon. Actually, some of the feeder breeder rats are healthier than the "common" or more readily available pet rat lines, simply because they cull and cull hard for unhealthy rats. Nobody breeding solely for feeders is going to hold onto rats that die at 8 weeks from megacolon (well, nobody is), and most will ditch the parents that produce weak offspring, simply because it's not good for production.

[anendeloflorien]

Actually these are all breeders and we've currently had 6 litters with no megacolon. I got all but the siamese from Kara up at NERD and she's been breeding these lines (with new blood from time to time) for years with no problems so I feel pretty safe in saying that we won't have any major issues. I understand that there are issues with certain lines especially the black blaze and the high white but like I've said all of the females have had litters already with both of the males and we haven't seen any problems. I'm not saying that it will never happen but if it does that rat will be retired as a breeder.

[littleindiangirl]

Actually, some of the feeder breeder rats are healthier than the "common" or more readily available pet rat lines, simply because they cull and cull hard for unhealthy rats.

It has been my experience that readily available feeder rats are extremely poor quality and will need intensive concentration for generations to get to a stable, high producing rat that just doesn't crap out and die for no reason.

I have seen a young rat, clearly affected by the extreme bloating of megacolon in a feeder tank in my local pet store chain that buys from a large producer down in the south of the state.

That does not scream "hard culling". Most stores or producers put two animals together just to sell, and it's quite obvious in their feeders health and production.

That's why so many people come and ask that question, "Why did my feeder Breeder just die?", or "My Feeder rat only had 4 in a litter, is this normal?", "My rat came with mites! Help!"

Generally, we call them crap rats and that it will take some selective breeding on their part to get past the initial crap petstore feeder rats until they get large litters of healthy feeders.

Just my $0.2