Birthing photos, WARNING live birth pics...rat kitten development day by day :)

[wolfsoul]

OOOHHH!! MANX BABY!! I want a tailless soo bad! Unfortunatly, it would be very difficult to get one around here Because there are no breeders in my area, I can't have any clue as to which rats here might carry the tailless gene I'm going to have to travel far to get some, lol. Same with odd eyeds. Want one reeeal bad! Do you have any odd eyed rats?

Dumbos sell for $25. If there were tailless they could be as much as $50 for a show quality buck. Their all sold though lol.

I always wondered what I should sell my rats for, when I'm older Rats aren't exactly the most popular thing around here, most people hate them , so I'm thinking of starting out a little cheaper and getting more expensive as they get more popular. I'm going to be selling to my friends before anyone else so they can spread the word for me
I wish that there were rat shows around here Then people would be more into it, and I could show my babies, it would be fun! My grandma is after me to start Kelowna's first rat club Well, they do have dog clubs, so why not? Maybe lol

[luckies4me]

Tailless are very hard to come by and very hard to breed. They are NOT for everyone that's for sure. They can overheat very easily because they don't have a tail, and that is how ratties sweat. yes I have oddeyes lol. It's just a white spotting gene, usually seen on high white rats such as blazes and split caps. Also tailless does cannot be bred due to possible birth complications. The mother can die. Inbreeding must be kept to a minimum because they can suffer birth defects such as spina befita, urinary and bowel troubles etc.


My rats sell pretty cheap compared to other breeders. Some regular ratties sell for as much as $35 dollars.


Have you studied genetics? I don't breed a litter unless I have a waiting list and almost all of my babies are sold before the litter is bred. How will you market your babies? I do not sell to petstores! My rats go to other breeders who I know, and who are experienced and to friends who I know and trust, or I keep themto furthur better my lines. Breeders mostly breed for themselves. Rat breeding cost a lot of money. I spend about 400 dollars a month on supplies. This does not include veterinary expenses. Just some things to think about before you start breeding. If you can't add anything to the fancy, you don't need to breed. I am very picky about who I breed.

[tikeyas_mom]

it is good to be picky though. .

I woul love for there to be hamsteries around here lol, as if thats gunna happen. But hamsters are more popualr then dogs where I live. I put an add in the paper for my upcoming litter of pups and the phones were ringing off the hooks it was great. I had alot of good homes to choose from .

[luckies4me]

Glad to hear that Tikeya! That is so great that you had a lot of people interested. Good for you!

[tikeyas_mom]

I know it was amzing how many ppl wanted hamsters.

around 20 ppl called each litter. when only 3 survived it was hard to choose a owner.

[wolfsoul]

I would be very picky lol. I will sell to my friends and I will also put up ads, and the people that call I will have thoroughly checked out, lol, they will think I'm crazy lady

My rats sell pretty cheap compared to other breeders. Some regular ratties sell for as much as $35 dollars.

I know what you mean, this breed "had" to get rid of her rats so she sold them to my friend (then went out and bought a few more, even though she went on and on about money problems ) And she gave them to my friend on sale for 2 for 1. She payed forty dollars! So her original price is forty dollars a rat! I know it's worth it, but people like to back off when they hear numbers that high...I heard that no one even buys from her

I have studied genetics, but alot of it I find confusing My punnet squares do get complicated sometimes, ecspecially when a rat carries so many different things...I'll definatly need more help in that area lol

Don't worry, I would never ever sell to a petstore! They are evil...I went back there yesterday, and they still have two pregger does left, and I asked the lady when the kittens are due, and she didn't even know they were pregnant! I thought by now they would be well aware, ecspecially after I got POed and speeled at them for not seperating the litter I'm going to go to every petstore and buy their babies mwahaha! I'll keep some, and sell some (I can't afford them all lol)

If I have any questions about genetics, can I ask you? Cuz I have one...It's a little bit hard, because I'm not sure all of what Icarus carries
See, I'm going to be breeding Icarus in the summer (Not Frisco though...It would be waaaay irresponsible of me to do that..He's crazy lol) Icarus will be bred to a either a blue point or a chocolate point siamese. My friend won't decided which one she wants to be bred, lol. Both siameses are pureline, and were bred straight from ratteries with pedigrees going back to the 80s, so we know they are pureline from atleast that far back.
Icarus is an agouti hooded, and I know for sure that of the colours he carries fawn, and of the patterns he carries blazed and veriegated. But I'm not sure which ones are dominant and might show up in a litter, because it's so hard to find genetics on marked varieties on the net. Do you know what will definatly show up and might? Any opinions would be great

[tikeyas_mom]

witch one is Icarus and witch one it Frisco?

[wolfsoul]

Icarus is the agouti (brown) hooded and Frisco is the beige hooded

[CathyBogart]

Your little ones are getting cuter by the day! Mine are ENORMOUS, and I only have homes for three so far. *sigh* It's so hard, and the litter was so unexpected....

I don't suppose you wany any agouti or black hoodie boys do you? LoL

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by wolfsoul
If I have any questions about genetics, can I ask you? Cuz I have one...It's a little bit hard, because I'm not sure all of what Icarus carries
See, I'm going to be breeding Icarus in the summer (Not Frisco though...It would be waaaay irresponsible of me to do that..He's crazy lol) Icarus will be bred to a either a blue point or a chocolate point siamese. My friend won't decided which one she wants to be bred, lol. Both siameses are pureline, and were bred straight from ratteries with pedigrees going back to the 80s, so we know they are pureline from atleast that far back.
Icarus is an agouti hooded, and I know for sure that of the colours he carries fawn, and of the patterns he carries blazed and veriegated. But I'm not sure which ones are dominant and might show up in a litter, because it's so hard to find genetics on marked varieties on the net. Do you know what will definatly show up and might? Any opinions would be great

First off why do you want to breed him? I don't breed unless I have homes lined up beforehand. Like WolfChan stated, it can be VERY hard to place agouti and black babies!!!

There is no way to know what colors he carries unless you have a pedigree, and since you don't I wouldn't breed him to a pedigreed rat, especially one whos lines supposedly go that far. Who is this breeder? It is hard to find lines that go back that far.

Breeders spend years perfecting thier lines in both temperament and health, as well as color/coat type and body type. It would be irresponsible of you to breed your rat to a well pedigreed line because you will be losing all the work the breeder has put into the lines. What is so special about your rat? I will tell you now, he is not show quality in markings or body type. He is from unknown backgrounds which could cause serious problems later in the line. He may seem healthy now, but what if in a few months he gets a tumour or dies of cancer? All you have done, since you haven't improved body type and other things is just breeding tumours into the lines, which wouldn't be good.

Usually breeder rats are sold on contract, and if the breeder is letting you breed your rat to her well established lines it sounds like this breeder needs to sit down and think about what she is doing. Also chocolate point siamese are very hard to find, just chocolate is a hard to come by color. What rattery is this?

Also a rat can't carry fawn. They carry RED (red eye dilute) which turns black rats beige and agoutis fawn. Usually blazing is recessive. I highly doubt your rat carries chocolate but a lot of petstore rats carry siamese, so you will only get siamese IF your rat carries. If he carries chocolate or blue you will get some blues, some blacks and some agoutis. However all the babies will carry either blue or chocolate. If your rat carries siamese but not blue or chocolate he will only have agouti or seal point babies.


Also are you sure they are siamese and not himilayans? Siamese start out as beige then develope the points at around 6 weeks. Himis start out as PEWs and then get their points. Also it isn't good if you want to improve the siamese, to breed a hooded rat to a siamese because you will just be creating non show siamese. Show siamese have ALL points, and preferably no white toes. Siamese and himis are just selfs, but the color only developes on the points. So if you don't have a great self to breed to a siamese, there is no reason to do it at all.

If you really are set on breeding your rat breed him to another rat who will be a better fit. Like a black self, a blue self etc. So at least the babies will carry blue. And if you aren't keen on genetics than I would stay away from marked rats for now.

Again, it also cost a lot of money to breed. What happens if the doe needs a Csection? It costs a lot of money to feed a whole litter after they are weaned. Do you have cages to seperate sexes? If you have your heart set on breeding, save up your money, and buy some good breeder rats to start with. Also if there are no ratteries around you, how did your friend get these nice pedigreed rats?

I know you have stated several times that you cannot take your rats to the vet. You should wait until you are out on your own and able to give your ratties medical attention before breeding. That would not be responsible to breed without having the proper funds to do so. Trust me, I have been in that situation before, I stopped breeding until I knew I was able to afford the time money and socialization the animals needed from me.

[wolfsoul]

We have homes lined up already otherwise we wouldn't be breeding I'm going to try and keep one myself, it would be nice to have Icarus's little guy runnin' around

Also are you sure they are siamese and not himilayans?

Oops, one is a siamese and the other is himilayan, I'm used of calling them both siamese cuz my friend used to think that's what they were (I haven't seen them yet, she lives in Campbell River).

What rattery is this?

Not a very good one She didn't actually know for sure if my friend's rat is actually a blue point, she only guessd, and my friend doesn't have the interenet to check She also told me that she needed to get rid of these baby rats very bad, and so I told my friend about them who bought them. Then the breeder went out the same week and about the week after and got some more rats, even though she complained to me about her money problems I don't think her rattery even has a name..

Ahk, I have to go I'll reply later lol. I know that Icarus may not breed the prettiest of rats, but that shouldn't matter to anyone, we don't even have any rat shows or clubs around here. And even if he does breed sick rats, we will know because I know the people that I'm giving the babies to, and they will let me know about anything.

[Desert Arabian]

Originally posted by luckies4me
They can overheat very easily because they don't have a tail, and that is how ratties sweat.

Rats sweat through their feet, they regulate their body temp. through their tail. At least that is what I have read all over the internet.

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by YellowLabLover
Rats sweat through their feet, they regulate their body temp. through their tail. At least that is what I have read all over the internet.

Yes that is what I meant to say. That is why if a rattie is hot it will lay with it's feeties in the air. But yes you are right about that.

[Desert Arabian]

I remember when Oreo, Skittles, and Nugget had babies. It was the coolest experience. I was so proud of my babies. Oreo had 9 babies, Skittles had 7, and Nugget had 9. I remember I'd be falling a sleep, but couldn't because they were squeeking and squealing all the time. . OMG- and when their eyes opened, and they started running around all the time like spazzes..that was so awsome to watch! I miss all the babies, I would have kept all of them if mom let me.

Skittles had two russian blue (I believe that's the color) dumbo boys, oh how I wanted to keep them so bad, but mom said no to keeping boys (didn't think of neutering option at that time.) Ah well, I have 8 other ratties so I'm happy, hehe.

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by YellowLabLover
I remember when Oreo, Skittles, and Nugget had babies. It was the coolest experience. I was so proud of my babies. Oreo had 9 babies, Skittles had 7, and Nugget had 9. I remember I'd be falling a sleep, but couldn't because they were squeeking and squealing all the time. . OMG- and when their eyes opened, and they started running around all the time like spazzes..that was so awsome to watch! I miss all the babies, I would have kept all of them if mom let me.

Skittles had two russian blue (I believe that's the color) dumbo boys, oh how I wanted to keep them so bad, but mom said no to keeping boys (didn't think of neutering option at that time.) Ah well, I have 8 other ratties so I'm happy, hehe.

Do you have any pictures of the RB dumbo babies?


Yep, as soon as their eyes open they all of a sudden run around like a mad man hehe. It's really amazing that all it takes is for their eyes to open and then their activity level increases three fold.


Well I am off to take pictures of Day 4! and then to cook lunch...but I will try to post pics first.