Okay...my turn...
I had a friend in college who's rat had babies. The mama was from a pet store, and I'm not sure where the dad came from. Probably the same place. There was this runt that I fell in love with. She was so cute, but EVERYONE wanted her. So I offered my friend $20. Of course she said yes, and after getting the okay from my husband, Robert, I got him.
I mentioned to Wolfchan that I was getting this runt and that I was thinking about getting her a friend. At the time she was working at Evil Petco and she was able to give me the "nappy" (read: rex) looking rat for free.
Robert named them Yin and Yang. (The runt was very dark, and the other was white.)
Then, due to unfortunate circumstances Kathy wasn't able to keep Dexter anymore, and so I took him in, and bought Yin's brother, Cid as a buddy for Dexter.
All was seemingly well until one day, I picked my little girlie runt Yang, only to discover she was a he! His testicles dropped at eight(

weeks instead of the standard four(4). I didn't separate them soon enough because I thought that Yin would beat him up if he tried anything, and a friend mentioned that he should be sterile. This of course was foolish on my part.
Yin had eleven(11) babies. Six (6) girls and five (5) boys. Seven(7) of them went to my family while I kept the rest. Things seemed fine for a while until slowly but surely the tragedies started to happen.
-Cid(m) at 6 months old had a tumor removed and was always getting respiratory flare ups. Later he developed a tumor inside his bladder that was inoperable. It made him lose all mobility in his hind legs and often he would urinate blood along with a grey and dark grey matter that smelled. He died at 11 months old.
-Yokiko(m) died of myco (possibly pneumonia) at 6 months.
-Katra(m) died of myco at 12 months.
-Toki(f) died of a pituitary tumor at 19 months.
-Jumper(f) had a tumor the size of two golf balls. She died of severe heart disease at 22 months.
-Squeaker(f) had a tumor the size of 1.5 golf balls. She died of severe heart disease at 23 months.
-Sniffles(m) had diebetes, an eye that hemorraged, and died of a possible heart attack (uncertain) at 23 months.
-Junior(m) had melanoma, a slight arythmia, and a tumor removed from his throat. It came back fast and he died at 23 months.
-Yang(m) had chronic bumblefoot and heart disease. He died at 26 months.
-Yin(f) has a tumor literally the size of another adult rat, another tumor above her bladder, and heart disease.
-Washu(f) had a tumor removed. She now has another as well as cataracts and possible heart disease or sleep apnea.
-Smoothie(m) has chronic bumblefoot.
-Ashi'taka(f) has had 6 tumors removed. Not all were mammary.
and last but not least;
-Ogre has had 2 tumors removed.
Some have had problems with abcesses, and ALL have had respiratory infections off and on all their lives.
Every single one had (or have) wonderful personalities and made great pets. After experiencing this heart break, which isn't over yet, anyone who isn't a knowledgeable and reputable breeder should NOT be breeding. I firmly believe that all rats deserve
top knotch genes not the crappy ones that are perpetuated by mills, backyard breeders, and people who want "cute babies" and see the "miracle of life."
My poor babies did not deserve what they got. They deserved better...