Personal stories about breeding

[Chaosbadgerling]

Breath honey.

It would be best for you to post out independantly of this thread.

While there are some bad stories out there, there are also some good ones.  What's done is done, we just hope you don't do it again.

[redgingerkisses]

Breeding doesnt always have to end in tragedy. As long as you get your breeders from and non-commercial breeder you should be good. If possible asks around in your group of friends to see if anyone knows a breeder. I adopted mine from a friend who breeds and they are wonderful. I had one die at the young age of 2 years but the rest lived until 3 or 4 or are still living! My baby Roxy is going on 5. She is very slow and blind but still sweet and healthy. Roxy was one of my first litters. I have a thing for adopting the pregnant ones from my friend and my uncle (also a breeder). Once the babies were weaned I took them back to the pet shop my friend works with and they were all adopted on the same day! There were 7 and all went to what I hope are great homes. The one went to a 'regular' and she took kyle (breeder friend) that came in last week and her rat is still going strong at 4 years old!

[cheerio]

Yay! You sent babies to a pet shop. Probably not the best thing to post, as one thing we tend to discourage here is due to most pet shops not being where ratties belong in the first place. Well planned litters belong with waiting lists and open arms awaiting their arrival. Mistakes happen, good homes can be found, and pet shops should not be considered an alternative. This goes to show that there are those that still continue to breed without a care in the world for their "pet", the pups, or their customer. I received a baby from a very poor "breeder" who worked through a pet shop. He had to be brought back immediately. He had severe respiratory problems, and I'm sure passed them on to all in the immediate area (as the small animals are all kept together, in small, useless tanks). This was such a sad experience, and all because they just "threw together" a male and female to see if they could get babies and make money. Breeding should be done with papered animals with a lineage, so as to show respiratory, and other illness patterns, as well as socialized behaviors. Without it, the babies born can add to those pets needing homes and requiring extra care due to illness and other issues. Breeding rats shouldn't be done because they're cute, or because everyone wants a baby. It should be done to promote the health and standard and socialization of a particular breed. Kudos to those who do this and follow up with their contracts etc, to those who turn to pet stores to "adopt out", I'm sure that you'd get a fast "adoption" line at your local reptile store... just think twice about the homes they may or not be provided and that you are responsible for that. There are hundreds of rescues available, and if you can rescue more, open your heart to them, don't breed unless you plan to promote the standards, not just a male and female you got from a friend or family who can breed and you know that they're just good rats....

[redgingerkisses]

The pet store my friend works with is a very small shop. They depend on breeders for their animals. Well they always have some animals, stray kittens, fish and the like but with puppies, ratties and many other things, they keep a list of people looking to adopt and when there is a litter availible they call to tell them they are ready. The ratties go faster at this store than anything else, lol. My friend Kyle could adopt them out on his own but he helped the store open and they advertise and all that good stuff so he knows his ratties and mice will find good homes faster than doing it on his own.

[Jayen]

The first time that I bred was in november last year with my first Rat, Psi (who unfortunately succumbed to heat stroke in february his year while I was moving house). She was the largest, most friendly rat I had ever seen - she was even bigger than my male who was the largest male I had seen.
Psi had a whopping 15 babies in her first litter, but lost one in the first week. Psi's second litter was an even greater surprise with 19 baby rats, and my other female had her first litter of 11 at the same time.
I have since had 8 other litters born to my other younger girls, all successful and ranging from 11 babies to 15 babies, however I had one girl who got a kidney infection and I treated her with antibiotics whilke she was pregnant which resulted in her giving birth prematurely. I hand fed the 7 babies that she had for three days before they all died due to my own failure to check them in time on the third night.
She is now pregnant again, and although her kidney infection has returned, my vet has assured me that it should be alright not to treat her until until next week when she gives birth as it would be better for the babies to treat her while they are feeding.
I now breed twice a month for three local pet shops so I always have buyers for my babies, and every now and then I will keep one baby whose colouring I think is unusual or different from what I consider normal.
The only problem my rats have is that they get colds in any weather below 22 degree's. I've had them checked out and treated them with antibiotics and everything to no avail. They don't have myco or rat flu or any other respiritory illness, they just sneeze constantly every time the temperature gets below 22, but once they are put into a room that is over 22 degrees in temperature they stop sneezing altogether. Even my pet shops can't explain it when they suddenly stop sneezing after a couple of days in the warmth. It only starts once they hit 4 weeks and get weaned.