I am now the only actively breeding rattery in my area. And, though there are a small number of ratteries in nearby states, they breed for themselves and to share with other breeders, leaving very few babies available to pet adopters. Over the 11 years I have been breeding rats I have seen breeders come and go, some just "burning out", and others quitting when they discovered the amount of time, effort, and expense involved in the hobby. (Back yard breeders will always be around but the GOOD breeders are few and far between.) The hobby needs new breeders who are dedicated to working hard to improve upon the health and longevity of pet rats AND to offering the pet-seeking public rats of a much higher quality than they can find at their neighborhood pet shop. As more and more people are doing their homework and learning that they can get friendlier, healthier pets from a good breeder (and are trying to seek them out), it is becoming harder and harder to FIND a good breeder.
In my breeding I always work to improve upon the rats I have, and to continue to produce rats of the highest quality. I take great pleasure in placing these rats in loving homes, giving pet owners the opportunity to purchase healthy, sweet-tempered rats. After all, the whole POINT of working to improve the species is so that PET OWNERS can experience the joys of having healthy, sweet pet rats, that they cannot get from the mill-produced animals found in pet shops. At least that's my philosophy. There are breeders who do not share it and these are the breeders who raise very few litters and who share babies amongst themselves, placing a rare few with the public.
Whether would-be breeders are being discouraged because they cannot locate mentors or because they cannot locate pedigreed breeding stock to start their ratteries, or because the prospect of the time, effort and expense involved is too daunting, I do not know. Maybe they have been turned off by the antics and philosophies of breeders I have described above. All I know is that the fancy very much needs more good breeders, both to improve the rats themselves (and enlarge the pedigreed gene pool) and to provide quality pets for the public. If more people don't come along who want to become (good) breeders, eventually there will be none, and adopters will have only BYBs and pet shops to turn to for pet rats. That would be such a shame!
I always have a waiting list and often find it is quite long due to the difficulty adopters have in locating breeders near them. (Of course people contact me because "Only the SWEETEST pet rats come from Sweet Genes!") After 11 years of breeding I would like to slow things down a bit, breeding fewer litters, and spacing litters out more, but there are no breeders to whom I can refer adopters. I have met many individuals and lovely families over the years. The rats I placed with them have been much-loved and spoiled rotten! It has given me so much joy to get updates, funny stories, and pictures of their "furkids"! It is because of these wonderful people and more like them, seeking rats from a good breeder and wanting to avoid pet shop rats, that I continue to work hard at what I do. Pet adopters, please know that I will continue to produce rats of the highest quality and help all the people I can. I cannot (and will not) breed more litters than I am comfortable with raising, and will breed and raise all rats according the high standards I have always set. Mother Nature is in complete control of how many babies arrive, how many of each sex, color, ear-set, etc. Because of the shortage of breeders (good ones, not BYBs), getting quality rats may entail a wait of several months. Start looking early for a breeder, and get added to a waiting list. For those who choose to be added to MY waiting list, please know that you WILL get rats and they will be WORTH the wait!
Debbie
Monday, September 26, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Sweet Rats headed for New Jersey!
I haven't given rats to another breeder for quite a long time now so it is definitely worth mentioning here that SGR Eli Rose (Russian blue rex dumbo) and SGR Whole Lotta Hoodie (agouti hooded dumbo) are on their way to New Jersey with Kate of Farmhouse Rats (www.fhrats.com) as I type this note. Since forming American Rat Club (www.americanratclub.com) I have met a lot of nice people and several good breeders. Kate impressed me with her dedication to breeding rats of quality and we have become friends.It is my hope that Eli and Hoodie will be good additions to her breeding program. I look forward to working with Kate and her beautiful rats. (AND to GETTING a couple of them in December to add to my breeding program!)
Monday, June 13, 2011
A new club for rat lovers!
I am very happy to finally be able to announce that a new club for rat lovers has been formed! American Rat Club welcomes people from all over the country to share their love for rats in a friendly environment. Yearly shows will be held, with conformation classes geared toward breeders as well as fun classes geared toward pet owners. ARC promises something for everyone! ARC even has it's own group on Facebook, where members can "chat rats", share pics and experiences, learn from each other and make new friends. Please check American Rat Club out at www.americanratclub.com You'll be glad you did!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Shades of grey, common sense, and horse hockey!
There is a lot of misinformation, nonsense and just plain horse hockey being passed along to new breeders from some of the established breeders out there, and it's often combined with a heavy dose of our-way-or-the-highway "attitude". Newbies must kow-tow or they will be ostracized, and certainly will never be given breeding stock. New breeders and wannabe-breeders look up to established breeders and seek them out for advice. They SHOULD be able to do this, given the amount of knowledge and experience that established breeders have to share. What saddens me at present is that newbies are being subjected to arrogant "dictates" and a lot of just plain nonsense (IMO). Worse, the newbies are buying it. Because the established breeders CERTAINLY know what they're talking about, DON'T they? And newbies NEED those breeders to give them breeding stock, DON"T they? (Not always; not necessarily.)
One doesn't get very far in life without noticing that it's lessons come in shades of grey, instead of black-and-white. There are different paths to becoming a good, ethical, successful, rat breeder. Information presented on a breeder's website should reflect the experience and philosophy of that breeder and not be there simply because other breeders dictate that it must be such-and-such a way, have such-an-such a page, or whatever.****If you don't have a page listing all your past litters, or a "bridge" page, for example, the breeders who like to dictate to others will say that you must be "hiding" something because you aren't sharing all the information on every past litter and every rat who has died. NONSENSE! Breeders SHOULD keep careful records and should also BE WILLING TO SHARE that information when asked, and ALWAYS with other breeders who may be acquiring breeding animals. Established breeders who dictate to newbies that ALL breeders MUST plaster their websites with every bit of information about past litters, rats who have passed on, information about lab testings, necropsy results, etc, etc, if they wish to be "accepted" and certainly if they ever hope to be given breeding animals, are simply on a power trip and/or have a lot of control issues!
Shades of grey are ignored and new breeders are instead given black-and-white pictures of the way a good breeder "must" operate. Misinformation too, is many times shared. For example, when it comes to what ages to use animals for breeding, it is being passed along that waiting till animals have reached 10 months and up (for females) and 12 months and up (for males) is best. One newer breeder said she's heard an established breeder's claim that breeders are creating "slower maturing" rats (which I suppose means they can keep safely and without problems delay breeding till older and older ages). HORSE HOCKEY! Older rats, just like older human females, have more difficulty getting pregnant. There can be birthing difficulties. (Some breeders will blame their "lines" and not their own breeding practices.) With humans, the difficulty in getting pregnant, and the potential for genetic problems (for example, Down's Syndrome), increases with maternal age. Mother Nature didn't intend for us to wait so long to bear children. Has Science been able to help US "mature slower" so that WE can more successfully "breed" at older and older ages? No. Can't be done. (This is why fertility clinics are so busy, and older women are "high risk" deliveries.) Can't be done with our rats either. But the newbies believe it because that's what they're being told.
One person in the rat community has managed to "sell" a lot of others on her unfounded "fact" that soy in rat food is harmful, and that eliminating it from what we feed our rats will extend their lives several years beyond the average of 2 1/2-3. There are just no serious studies supporting these claims, the "articles" pointed to were written by the same woman making the claims, and none of her own rats have lived as long as what she claims they WILL on a soy-free diet. It's all HORSE HOCKEY!
Every breeder, new, established, or wannabe, should be aware that rat breeding practices, like living life, are full of shades of grey. There is no, one, "right" way to do things. Question things that don't make sense for you instead of just following the dictates of others. Apply your common sense. Don't allow yourself to be bullied into doing things "just because" the established breeders tell you that's the way you MUST do them if you want to become a good, successful breeder. NONSENSE! Please don't be discouraged and fear your dream of breeding rats will be derailed if you are not able to obtain breeding animals from these self-important breeders; there ARE breeders who will help.
Debbie
One doesn't get very far in life without noticing that it's lessons come in shades of grey, instead of black-and-white. There are different paths to becoming a good, ethical, successful, rat breeder. Information presented on a breeder's website should reflect the experience and philosophy of that breeder and not be there simply because other breeders dictate that it must be such-and-such a way, have such-an-such a page, or whatever.****If you don't have a page listing all your past litters, or a "bridge" page, for example, the breeders who like to dictate to others will say that you must be "hiding" something because you aren't sharing all the information on every past litter and every rat who has died. NONSENSE! Breeders SHOULD keep careful records and should also BE WILLING TO SHARE that information when asked, and ALWAYS with other breeders who may be acquiring breeding animals. Established breeders who dictate to newbies that ALL breeders MUST plaster their websites with every bit of information about past litters, rats who have passed on, information about lab testings, necropsy results, etc, etc, if they wish to be "accepted" and certainly if they ever hope to be given breeding animals, are simply on a power trip and/or have a lot of control issues!
Shades of grey are ignored and new breeders are instead given black-and-white pictures of the way a good breeder "must" operate. Misinformation too, is many times shared. For example, when it comes to what ages to use animals for breeding, it is being passed along that waiting till animals have reached 10 months and up (for females) and 12 months and up (for males) is best. One newer breeder said she's heard an established breeder's claim that breeders are creating "slower maturing" rats (which I suppose means they can keep safely and without problems delay breeding till older and older ages). HORSE HOCKEY! Older rats, just like older human females, have more difficulty getting pregnant. There can be birthing difficulties. (Some breeders will blame their "lines" and not their own breeding practices.) With humans, the difficulty in getting pregnant, and the potential for genetic problems (for example, Down's Syndrome), increases with maternal age. Mother Nature didn't intend for us to wait so long to bear children. Has Science been able to help US "mature slower" so that WE can more successfully "breed" at older and older ages? No. Can't be done. (This is why fertility clinics are so busy, and older women are "high risk" deliveries.) Can't be done with our rats either. But the newbies believe it because that's what they're being told.
One person in the rat community has managed to "sell" a lot of others on her unfounded "fact" that soy in rat food is harmful, and that eliminating it from what we feed our rats will extend their lives several years beyond the average of 2 1/2-3. There are just no serious studies supporting these claims, the "articles" pointed to were written by the same woman making the claims, and none of her own rats have lived as long as what she claims they WILL on a soy-free diet. It's all HORSE HOCKEY!
Every breeder, new, established, or wannabe, should be aware that rat breeding practices, like living life, are full of shades of grey. There is no, one, "right" way to do things. Question things that don't make sense for you instead of just following the dictates of others. Apply your common sense. Don't allow yourself to be bullied into doing things "just because" the established breeders tell you that's the way you MUST do them if you want to become a good, successful breeder. NONSENSE! Please don't be discouraged and fear your dream of breeding rats will be derailed if you are not able to obtain breeding animals from these self-important breeders; there ARE breeders who will help.
Debbie
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