I think you may have missed the point of this thread. I'd suggest you go through it again and read about the experiences of many rat owners and what we have learned from it all, and hopefully you'll re evaluate your situation as well.

As for other breeding questions, you should make a new thread about it since it is off topic from this thread.

I have to admit, rather sheepishly, that I was considering breeding. I was even thinking about just borrowing a buck to breed with one of my females, just because I wanted sweet handreared babies (none even CLOSE to my area, and I live on an island so that makes transport somewhat difficult), but after reading this thread, I won't ever breed any of my own. Thanks for enlightening me (and I am in the process of arranging with Kim's Ark to get a neutered male or two). 

Just think about what happens to the wild rats that live outside

I have never bred and never will. I could afford to but I just wouldn't want to have to deal with all the misshaps that could come with it, the intensive research needed and finally I know for a fact I'd be way too overprotective to allow 99% of potential homes to take them in.

But I did get two baby girls from someone who ended up with an accidental litter. One day she had one female rat and the next she had 11.

The two girls were very well socialized and nice and everything but they both developped pituitary tumors. The first one barely made it to 18 months old. In one month she went from happy go lucky to stumbling and barely able to eat ... antibiotics did nothing and prendisone bought her maybe a week at most. Her sister almost made it to two years. She had the same PT but it grew slower but I helped her over sooner than her sister. I knew what was comming and I decided that when she went one full day without eating on her own and just laying there listless ... from a rat who would scale my closet walls ... was her telling me it was time.

All and all I don't regret getting them, they brought me lots of joy and happyness but it was also very sad that I lost them so young due to bad genetics and it was especially painfull since nothing could be done to help them. 

It saddens me when I read about new breeders who breed their first rats, of course they seem healthy ... when they're around 6 months of age ... but they don't know what they're doing, what heartbreak they are producing ... and then when their "healthy breeders" turn 18 months and start to get sick they are all sorry and now they know what awaits the rittens they bred. Breeding is best left to people who have had many rats, who do the genetics research, who know the background of their breeders and who have the financial resources to do so.

This thread is not really about discussion, but about sharing a story about breeding.  Let's keep it that way please.

Greets!

     One of my first two rats, Hannah (fawn self) was pregnant when I adopted her. I knew very little about rats at this point-- I figured that having kept mice throughout my youth, they'd be kept in much the same manner. Oh, my, was I wrong.

     Hannah gave birth on Mother's Day, 21 days after I brought her home from the local pet shop my family has gone to for more than 20 years. When I got home from work that night, I was greeted by a very tired ratmom and 11 pink squeaky jellybeans. Hannah was a spectacular mother, and if she'd had a pedigree I would have considered breeding her on purpose, but knowing what I know now, I'm glad I didn't. Homes were found for all the babies-- we kept two (one unfortunately escaped and was killed swiftly by our cat; I still have the other, Ginger), my sister's friend took two of the three males, Loki and Spartacus. I got to see them the other day, and they're *HUGE* and absolutely gorgeous. A friend of mine took two of the girls-- Sin and Rasputina-- and they're apparently very healthy and happy. The pet shop owner helped us place the other five. He's an odd duck, but relaitvely trustworthy. Not a route I'll take again, though, since finding this board.

     I wasn't aware at the time that there were such beasts as reputable rat breeders.

     Like many others here, I went through a stupid phase. I outgrew it quickly, but not before obtaining Seraph, a beautiful mismarked agouti bareback male to mate with Midian, my high white female. They had 13 babies, 11 of whom survived. She ate half of one, and I'm pretty sure I heard the squeak of agony in the night that killed it. There was a very different sound to its little voice, and that sound still haunts me to this day. ::shudders:: The other baby was slept on shortly after its birth.

     Midian was ot such an enthusiastic mom. Where Hannah had proudly carried one of her babies to me to look at and praise, taught them how to build nests (on top of Midian, no less!), Mids spent as little time with her babies as possible. They, too, are healthy, beautiful rats, five of whom live with people I know and I get regular reports on them.

     My final mistake, and the one that smartened me up like a slap in the face (which I sorely needed-- I can't believe I was such an idiot!) came when I bred one of Midian's sons with one of Hannah's daughters. Ginger had one baby, deformed and stillbord. Its back legs never fully developed, and were just noodles of flesh.

     I have nightmares sometimes about cages overflowing with rats of all ages, overbreeding and escaping to breed again. In the dream I try to save them all, to house them all, but I can't-- there are just too many.

     I realized the errors of my ways and will never, under any circumstances, breed rats ever again. Most of my current ten are rescues, including Burke and Justice, a mated pair (he's neutered thanks to Rabbitrescue.ca) who were part of a rat mill. When all of them have moved on to the Bridge as all creatures must, my fiance and I will only ever adopt rescues, and are strongly considering opening our home as a House For Wayward Ratmoms; having read the article about the rescue in San Francisco (if I recall correctly) where something like 20 pregnant females were euthanized upon arrival, I could not in good conscience allow such a thing to happen if I could help even a couple of them, then find homes for the babies. We have a loving home, and much more knowledge about rat care now than two years ago. Those who have Hannah and Midian's babies have started aiming other folks at me who are either looking to adopt rats (I generally point them at either the Toronto Humane Society or at RabbitRescue.ca), surrender rats, or have both rats and questions.

     When the time comes we'll have time and cages to spare. I've nursed next-to-brand-new baby birds by hand when the starlings in our eaves have pushed babies out by accident, so if I have to hand-feed a baby or 16 should the mom happen to pass away during/shrotly after giving birth, I'm not unprepared. I am familiar with the joy and loss that comes with rescuing critters. Perhaps, in part, I also feel the need to atone for my earlier thoughtlessness. A surprise litter from an adopted rat is one thing-- planning something that shouldn't have been done in the first place is another. I am thankful that there were only the three losses... It could have been so much worse, especially consiering that the majority of Midian's babies were also high white. Had I known about the horrors of megacolon I would never even have considered breeding her, not in a million years.

     One of my current rats, RAR Simon Templar (black berkshire dumbo rex male) is from a reputable breeder in Barrie, Ontario-- RunAbout Ratscals rattery. He's sweet-tempered, intelligent, and a shining example of what can be achieved by a careful, responsible breeder. It's certainly not a task for everyone, but to those of you who have dedicated yourselves to improving the species, I tip my hat to you.

     For myself, I'm going to stick with rescuing from now on, I think. There are so many rats out there who need homes, and it breaks my heart that I can't save all of them myself.

     Gotta start somewhere, though. Cutting down on irresponsible breeding is the best way to start. If you want to breed something to play with genetics, get "The Sims 2" (your Sims can have babies, and the genetic traits from the parents carry over) or any of CyberLife's "Creatures" games (genetics carry here as well, and you can breed selectively to improve the creatures, breed for colour or special characteristics, etc.). No megacolon, no myco, no tumours, no overpopulation of shelters, no nightmares, and no horrible guilt for risking the lives of our tiny friends out of sheer ignorance.

     Sorry this was so long, but I've needed to vent about this for a while. Now it's time to put the li'l hairless guy to bed. Mini-Me has been patiently grazing on my housecoat as I've been typing.

SqueakinJellybeans

I once had two rats, Jasmine and Chris.  When they were both old enough I spent a long time researching.  I had cages set up for all the possible babies and room for any up to 20 with separate cages for each sex and one for the momma to nurse them in.  So I bred them.  Instead of making the common mistake of breeding without guaranteed homes, I lined up homes way ahead of time and had everyone give me a deposit, which would be refunded if there were not enough babies for everyone.  A couple weeks later I had 16 beautiful babies.  We all worked 24-7 litter box and leash training the little ones and supplementing their mothers milk with formula since she had a lot of babies.  Let me tell you, taking care of baby rats is a lot of work.  I woke up every two hours, fed the babies, then went back to sleep.  Needless to say I slept walked through school and work and I had to take the runt with me for the four hours at school because she was extremely underweight and was getting pushed around severely by her siblings.  Then, each night she was returned home with her lovely mother to hopefully get some much needed milk for half hour periods all through the night while I kept the other babies warm and fed in a incubator one by one.  All the babies survived but it was one long, hard road to work, go to school and raise the baby rats.  If I ever breed again, one thing I would change is breeding two rats instead of one so if one mother doesn't have enough milk like Jasmine, there is a rat to help with feeding and warmth because man it is a lot of work.  Now if your thinking about breeding rats you better not value sleep or hate cleaning cages because there are sure a lot of cages to clean when you have 18 or more rats, not to mention feeding the babies, if needed, litter box and leash training each baby individually and taking notes on progress etc.  My experience wasn't that bad, but if I do it again I am going to be even more prepared and possibly even not even breed when it comes right down to it.  Besides, it is so heartbreaking to have to give away all or some of the babies you love and raise so lovingly to homes which are not your own.

I would suggest that you just contact each member who's story you plan to use, and ok it with the individual.  It sounds like an interesting article!

Not my story, but a friends. Anyhoo-

My friend Alex had the standard accidental litter, brought home two boys and the goolies on one magically dissapeared. 

I gave her lots of info about how to take care of the baby rats, she and her brother handled them, and had lots of fun raising them. They had a litter of 8, I think, and they found homes for all but a girl and a boy. They kept the girl and boy with the mom and dad.

Alex came home one day from school and looked inside the buck's cage and was greeted by the back half of the body of the baby rat, with a large, bloody segment of the back sticking out.

Turns out, the baby died in about 6 hours, perfectly fine before she left, and the father (Matrix) instinctively ate him. Or, at least, part of him.

It also turned out that the misterious disease was genetic, as, one by one, every, single, baby died in the same short manner, followed by their parents.

The (blunt) end, as I can never conclude things well.
(BTW, you can use this Sorraia)

Since Silver won't have computer access for awhile, I felt that I should tell her unfortunate story. (I have permission.  )

She'd bought a flea market rat ages ago named Dante, the sweetest albino cuddlebug ever. Later on, her boyfriend also bought a black hooded female named Trick from a petstore. Neither of them were fixed of course and when Jon began to have some major trouble and had to get rid of the rat, there wasn't an extra cage.  Everyone will make a stupid mistake of some sort in their lifetime(Often many!  ), so Silver decided Trick was far too young to possibly be able to breed and placed her with Dante.

Although Dante had a wonderful disposition, Trick was very neurotic and flighty. She gave birth to ten babies in a new and seperate cage; whites, hooded ratties, and one black rattie. All of the rittens managed to survive fine and happy, however as they got older it became apparent that they were closer to a wild rat's personality than a domestic. They would bite, were jumpy and nervous, and overall had extremely poor personalities.

Silver was later kicked out by her mother and she(And all the rats) moved to her boyfriend's house. Dante died in the night as it was just too cold and he was old, but not long after, (Two or more months) Silver awoke to find that the babies had literally eaten Trick's insides through her belly. Silver admits readily that it's unforgivable and will never happen again, but she ended up releasing 8 of the 10 babies in the woods near their home. They kept the black boy and one black hooded boy who have been won over since then on personality...


But believe me, none of those creatures deserved the fate they got.

In the future (meaning in about 40 yrs or so when I am retired from my career) I think I would like to breed, but only if I can truly devote most of my time to them and improving the species.  But as for now I have had a total of three pregnant rats, one recent and two a long time ago.

Probably about 11 years ago I got two rats from a petstore.  I had done research on rats, but there wasn't a lot out there, plus as an 11 year old, I didnt' have quite the research skills that I do now.  But I ended up with 2 pregnant rats from a petstore and with no clue what to do.  I got on some rat forum and found out the signs and how to hand feed, but that was about all the info I had.  The first rat Kanitchi had her babies and did nothing for them...then the next day Dr. Livingstone I Presume, had her babies and at least started to nurse them.  I was incredibly lucky that they werent' overly large litters....total it was 23 babies.  I do not know what I would have done if there was more.  As it was the momma's were living together, in the hopes that they could share their duties...but I was also handfeeding as well as I could.  Only kanitch would feed the babies after the first day (occasionally), and she would just walk off leaving them behind.  I had to go in constantly to find the babies and put them back together so they didn't die of cold.  After the babies were fully grown I only had 6 of them left.  The 15 others had died.  It was the most horrifying thing I have gone through, especially since one of them, Gonzo, died after 3 weeks when we thought everyone was going to make it.  I did everything I knew to do and I had to watch these innocent rats die...as it was I kept all the babies, which I was going to do even if all survived.  Thank god I knew to separate the sexes at 5 weeks!

Then 4 months ago I got a rat, my Willie, and she was pregnant (and as the dates worked out she probably got pregnant the day before I got her!).  I knew this time I was taking a risk from buying from a store that didnt' separate sexes, but she was begging to go home with me.  This time, in doing new research I found out all those things about how you need to stimulate the rat to go to the restroom or they can die of their own toxins, or if the mom isnt' nursing try putting her in a small enough area so she is forced to be on top of the babies, I wish I knew all that before.  It is imp. to know what you are getting into, and I can't believe anyone would go into it lightly.  After reading some of the stories on here, I think I got off relatively easy in my experience and yet it is still one of the worst times in my life.

WOW what an amazing thread!!  We have had our first Rat since Dec 04 and boy have I learnt alot since reading these threads!!

I have 2 male rats and one female (In seperate cages of course) and am looking for another female, and I was considering breeding (I was only thinking of one litter, per female, just to carry on the line).  It was suggested to me that I should read all the threads available here and do my research, well I am very seriously rethinking my plans, I don't know the heritage of my darlings and two of them have come from pet stores,  I don't know if these pet store rats will have any future problems (We have only had them for a week and they are in isolation at the