Urrgh! This is really making me mad!!!

[luckies4me]

This weekend while at the pet expo I was meeting some people to pick up breeder rats from. Well..... I got four rats from this lady named Khat who everyone has said is such an awesome breder, blah blah blah. Well the rats are very nice colors but they are just terrible!


Their ears have so many **** folds and creases, they look terrible. That can be fixed though be breeding to a better dumbo.

BUT....they are so antisocial!!! They act like they were just pulled out of a feeder tank from Petco! I am so angry because I paid a lot for these rats! They squeel everytime you pick them up, and you can tell they have hardly been handled. What's the use of having good rats if you can't even hold them?

Also the one girl has a cloudy eye so I have to take her to the vet to see if it is a cataract, and if it is she surely won't be bred. What makes me mad is that when I talked to the breeder on the phone she was saying that her rats ears are perfect, ya right! They look discusting.


Now I feel totally ripped off. I got another rat from a friend of mine and she is an absolute opposite from these other girls. She is so nice and cuddly and licks my hand when I stick it in the cage. These are the rats I want to breed, not antisocial dingbats! I'm sorry if I sound cruel but this is why feeder rats don't make good pets most of the time, they are neurotic!

I can see a VERY big difference between my rats and this ladies. My rats are handled since birth and are not jumpy or have fear poops, they don't run and hide. They beg for attention and will cuddle with you for hours! I am starting to think I should not get anymore lines again, and just line breed my rats, but I would hate to do that. I love my friends ratty, so I wouldn't mind getting anymore from her rattery.


I tell you though, handling rats at a young age makes all the difference. I now know why so many people dislike them. If all I saw were rats like these I probably would have never had any.


So what should I do? Should I call the breeder and tell her I dislike her rats and they are not ones I would chose for breeding? Or should I work with them for a few weeks and then see how they turn out? They are just driving me crazy. They act like you are going to kill them everytime you pick them up. They are also thin too. I can tell they aren't fed well because when I fed them last night, my own mix that I make at home, they acted like they hadn't eaten in ages!


Please someone make me feel better! This is driving me crazy!

[aly]

Get them well fed and healthy first. If they feel better physically, they will be a little easier to tame. Then work with them to become social and happy. I'm sure it will take a long time but you don't want them going back to their former "home". I know you get rats to breed, but maybe these can just be considered rescues who you help to have a better life. I am sorry for the loss of money but I would not try to get your money back and return them to that woman

[luckies4me]

Ya it just really upsets me that if a person is going to breed they should make sure the animals are social and healthy before selling themselves.


I really feel sorry for these girl. I plan on keeping them, it just bugs me that I was pretty much lied to. And if the one doe does have a cataract it's genetic, meaning she is breeding rats with health problems, something I just don't tolerate!