# Decent rat breeders



## Chez86 (May 20, 2014)

I am after a male rat as company for my other male who sadly lost his cagemate. I am not new to rats and can do the intros and all that, I just need a good breeder who won't sell me feeder stock or pet shops, who often sell inbred, poor quality rats. White Post Farm is good, I may try there, my first pair were from there and they were HUGE lol, from nose to tail tip they measured over a foot! I bred them to some quality females and produced more HUGE rats and had to buy new cages for their size lol. One of their offspring was like a dog, he would follow me into the garden just at the call of his name and stay by my side at all times without once trying to escape, he even washed my cat, supervised contact all the time obviously, but that rat was amazing. Never had another rat like him, raised from a pup, his name was Frank, in memory of Amy Winehouse. He was Siamese, this was the result of crossing Eddie, one of the white post farm rats with my late Siamese female. Some people told me he would win prizes in the pet section at shows but I never showed him due to the stress of long journeys on pubic transport as there is no local fancy rat clubs in my area. These rats passed a while ago now, but I am looking for a quality male with good genes, and maybe another Siamese female. 

Try to avoid pet shop rats, they are often of a poor genetic background.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Have you tried looking on the Fancy Rats Forum Fancy Rats • Index page


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## Chez86 (May 20, 2014)

Yes, nothing shows up in my area. I think I'm going back to white post farm as they are a 'petting farm' where they encourage all adults and children to get up close with the animals, for example after lambing you can go inside the pens, sit on a bale of hay & stroke the young lambs! No animal goes to slaughter, they have vets on site, do not breed rodents in racks, do NOT advocate live feeding of mammals etc etc and have ingenious ways of making money, like 30p for a bag of goat feed, which is great if you go with someone with your children (which we don't have) or as a family outing, even now I LOVE feeding the goats! Then they have the handling areas, a barn for chicks, mice, rats and hamsters, and a reptile area for snakes and spiders, even I at 28 enjoy a good hold of the corn snake and Chile Rose lol. You can observe the DWA inverts and snakes very well, it's so well laid out and going strong despite all the :devil: EU 'regulations. Time to say no tomorrow :2thumb:

Then they have the pet center, where they sell off animals raised on the farm like rats, mice, hamsters, some exotics like some snakes, and I think they had sugar gliders last time, you really do have to call and find out what's in stock, and be willing to wait for litters to be ready but they will reserve at no cost. Rats are around £11, and I think that is a great price to deter feeder seekers, and they are SOOOO worth it, they spent their entire lives in my arms. See Denmark Zoo, lots of ways for somewhere keeping animals to make $$$$$ £££££ :2thumb:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

not wising to rain on your parade, but if this is a petting farm, then I doubt healthy genetic lines come into their breeding in the same way as a committed breeder?


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## TalulaTarantula (Jan 21, 2011)

Having worked in a "petting zoo" you'll be suprised what goes on out of the eye of the public, i doubt very much any consideration has been given with breeding their rats,

Dont always brush of feeder breeders, i am one myself, we dont keep them in racks, theyre fed and good healthy diet and loved on, tame, i have even trained some of them, and we often trade in/buy new stock to avoid inbreeding we've sold alot to pet homes, and had people come back for more as they were so happy with their rats
We breed all different colors, markings
normal coats, rexs and little nekeds which are just so darn cute! 

And I will happily vet ever potential home, just because they may possibly be food doesnt mean they're not good quality, if anything they have to be the best, I cant go feeding sickly rats to our animals,

But as suggested, there are alot of registered ratteries around the country and will be worth the travelling.


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## Chez86 (May 20, 2014)

TalulaTarantula said:


> Having worked in a "petting zoo" you'll be suprised what goes on out of the eye of the public, i doubt very much any consideration has been given with breeding their rats,
> 
> Dont always brush of feeder breeders, i am one myself, we dont keep them in racks, theyre fed and good healthy diet and loved on, tame, i have even trained some of them, and we often trade in/buy new stock to avoid inbreeding we've sold alot to pet homes, and had people come back for more as they were so happy with their rats
> We breed all different colors, markings
> ...


Not without transport, and I have a friend who worked there and explained that all the animals they sell are bred very well, they keep studbooks to prevent inbreeding, unless you have visited, you don't know what a lovely place it is. The rats I got from them grew HUGE, never developed any problems, and lived their full life, and produced two strong litters too. It's pet SHOP rats I have had the most issues with. They are small, weak, and often bite as they are never handled. The ones from this place are all handled from birth by volunteers and paid staff who give their time to raise them. I have seen the breeding area and it is not like a factory, it's more like a farm, where they concentrate efforts into breeding healthy stock from good genes.


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## Oreni (May 28, 2014)

I hope you know, preventing inbreeding in rats is a bad thing.  Ask any of the responsible breeders on fancyratsforum and they will reply "I use inbreeding as a tool to expose hidden bad recessives in my line". If they don't inbreed, they don't have a line.

Breeding Ethics - Stovokor Rattery

See "do you inbreed".


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## thegreatpretender (Apr 27, 2009)

I can heartily recommend Lilliput Rattery at Sheffield: http://www.lilliputrattery.co.uk Never inbreeds. Wonderful temperament rats and Lilly is a lovely lady


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## Oreni (May 28, 2014)

I know Lilly personally and she DOES inbreed because NOT INBREEDING IS A BAD THING WHEN IT COMES TO RATS. She wouldn't be the respected, reputable breeder that she is without linebreeding. Don't ruin that reputation for her.


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## technomouse (Aug 13, 2009)

I do indeed line breed, but its true, I am a lovely lady . 
In all seriousness, I do line breed, sometimes quite heavily, but I've stopped lines off because I'm not happy with them, at the end of the day, I'm trying to further the fancy, and provide people with lovely pets 
Thank you for recommending me though, it means a lot to me! (Are you someone with kittens from me?)


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## vukic (Apr 9, 2010)

I must admit my experiences with petshop rats isn't amazing and the ones I've got off of a "breeder" havent lasted 6 months... Getting annoyed with poor stock... I want done of those "super rats" plaguing Britain... I'd take it out for walks on a lead and everything.. 

Sent from my ST26i using Tapatalk


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Line breeding is very different from inbreeding in any species.


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## CJPMakeup (Sep 6, 2013)

I am a rat breeder in the west mids if anyone is looking for some www.facebook.com/theatticzoo


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## Kiel (Aug 20, 2009)

thegreatpretender said:


> I can heartily recommend Lilliput Rattery at Sheffield: http://www.lilliputrattery.co.uk Never inbreeds. Wonderful temperament rats and Lilly is a lovely lady


Well the username fits the entirely ficticious claims.


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## technomouse (Aug 13, 2009)

Excuse me?


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