Rat breeder question

[My Peanuts]

I'm a little confused! I'm looking up rat breeders and I found one that seemed really reputable in everyway, but then I read something a little disturbing. According to the website, unless I'm reading it wrong, some of the pairs are brother and sister. Is this ok for rats? It doesn't seem right. I'll link where I read it and please let me know if I read wrong. rat breeder site

Thanks

[lute]

i'm not a rat breeder,but i asked my friend who is and he said they should NOT be inbred.

[Desert Arabian]

It all depends. From what I have read on some sites, it helps to strengthen certain quailities they carry-etc. It has to be done very carefully though, like all breeding. Cass would know for sure- hehe.

[wolfsoul]

Just like with dogs, a rat brother and sister may not have genes that are alot alike. A cousin may be more closely related to a rat than it's own sibling. So really, it isn't like inbreeding human siblings whose genetic makeups are alot alike. Inbreeding or linebreeding is done to strengthen a certain characteristic. If you breed rats that aren't related, you really don't know what you are going to get in the way of personality and body structure -- you can only hope. If you breed rats that are related, you can pretty much be sure of what you are going to get. That's why you'll notice that alot of dog breeders have dogs that look alot the same -- they are linebred so that they know what the puppies' "type" will be, since most breeders strive for a certain type. However, if you find that there is alot of inbreeding in the line, I'd stay away from the breeder. Too much can cause alot of problems. I've seen rats in pet stores that are so severely inbred that they were born without eyes.

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by My Peanuts
I'm a little confused! I'm looking up rat breeders and I found one that seemed really reputable in everyway, but then I read something a little disturbing. According to the website, unless I'm reading it wrong, some of the pairs are brother and sister. Is this ok for rats? It doesn't seem right. I'll link where I read it and please let me know if I read wrong. rat breeder site

Thanks

Alicia has been breeding for MANY MANY years! She has many different varieties others don't, and the only way to set that gene is by inbreeding. Most breeders inbreed. I've done it several times. The main thing is to not inbreed too heavily. In order to set certain traits breeders breed mom to son, brother and sister, and does back to their father etc. With certain lines such as tailless inbreeding needs to be kept to a minimum due to hereditary problems such as spina bifita (sp?) etc.

Jordan, with inbreeding there is NEVER a guarantee with what you are going to get. You can breed any two wonderful typey rats, with beautiful bodies and markings, and get horrible looking babies. "A cousin may be more closely related to a rat than it's own sibling" This is not true. Siblings are way more closely related than cousins. They come from the same parents, therefor both carry the same genes. if the mom is RED, the babies WILL carry RED. If the mom is blue and both babies are black, they will both carry blue etc. The only good thing about inbreeding is you know you will get a certain trait. Meaning, if you bred two tailless carriers (siblings) your chances of getting tailless are far greater. By looking at the pedigree of rats, you will always know what you are going to get. It's just a basic understanding of genetics. Most of the time inbreeding is done to help keep a line going and to NOT lose the genes, such as tailless, the Harley coat gene, DU's, and the new "snowflake" rats, which are rats with white spots on their stomachs. It's also done to set personality traits. If you have two sweet parents, chances are the babies will have better personalities, however inbreeding is very chancy as there could be hidden health problems in the line that might not have shown unless inbreeding is done, which is why you need to be careful.

[CathyBogart]

If you're really concerned about it, ask the breeder. She should be willing to answer your questions so that you feel completely comfortable adopting from her.

Looking through the site, she seems like an excellent breeder. Inbreedingis something to be done carefully, with a lot of thought to the possible consequences should something go wrong. If she has strong, healthy lines (which I believe she does) then occasional well thought-out inbreeding to solidify desirable traits is ok in my opinion.