1:Pet Store
This is the most common way new rat owners get their new rats. They’re everywhere, they’re reasonably priced, and they’re convenient.
Pros:
- Easily available: You can probably find a pet store that carries rats in stock in most any reasonably sized town.
- Wide variety: Because pet stores get their rats from mass breeders, if you search a little bit, see all kinds of colors, coat patterns, and body types. From the common Pink Eyed White rats (affectionately known as PEWs), to curly haired rex rats, hairless rats, and every color from black, blue, agouti, fawn, and cinnamon, to dumbo eared rats and even tailless rats.
Cons:
- Health and Temperament Issues: Pet store rats have a higher than usual expectation of avoidable health problems common in poor breeding practices, such as cancerous tumors or serious respiratory illness. While rats are by and large the sweetest and most social pocket pet you can own, they can still fall victim to genetically avoidable temperament issues from careless or unscrupulous breeding practices. Even if they are genetically sound, they will not be socialized, and are often traumatized and miss-handled, so you will also more than likely have to spend considerable time and patience socializing your new baby.
- Most pet stores, especially the big chains, get their rats from rat mills or back yard breeders.
A: Rat Mills-With very few notable exceptions, rat mills are mostly just like those horrible puppy mills that over breed in unhealthy conditions with the first and often only consideration for breeding two rats will be for the color or type of coat. Animals are not generally bred for temperament or health, and since the babies are bred in bulk to stressed females and shipped in bulk all over the country, they have had very little human socialization and may not have very strong immune systems. Since pet stores don’t observe any kind of real quarantine, stressed babies will have been exposed to any number of respiratory ailments common to rats.
B: Back Yard Breeders--people who breed animals by accident, or for profit, or 'the miracle of birth', because they love their ratty and want more like him/her, or even those who present themselves as reputable breeders but lack essential knowledge to do so ethically-- usually pay more attention to socialization, and usually don’t breed in unhealthy conditions. However they are often ignorant or careless about breeding rats of good temperament or health.
- Twelve for the Price of One: If you buy a female, she will often be already pregnant. Though they are still babies, rats are fertile at five weeks and can breed in two seconds. It can also be difficult for an inexperienced person, even a pet store worker, to tell the difference between a male and a female rat when they are younger. On top of this, at some point during shipment and delivery, rats often spend time in mixed company through ignorance or carelessness. Which means, two to three weeks after you get a sweet little female home, she might gift you with a litter of 4-15 new babies….who will themselves be fertile in 5 weeks time….you see where this is going?
2: Rescue/Adoption:
You can often find rats through local rescues. Your local ASPCA or other organization may sometimes have surrendered rats looking for a new home. Additionally, there are Rat Rescue organizations all over the United States. All in all, if you are able to go this route, because of the extreme overpopulation issues with pet and rodents in particular, this is the most humane and noble--some will say the only morally acceptable choice-- of all pet acquisition routes.
You can also find rats online through Petfinder: http://www.petfinder.com/index.html or even something like Craiglist.
Pros:
- Screening and Fostering: If you get him through a rescue, particularly a Rat Rescue, he will have been screened and fostered to be a good adoption candidate.
- Mentoring: Rat Rescues also offer continuous support for the entire life of your adopted rat to offer advice and answer any questions you might have.
- Excellent Return Policy: If you change your mind, Rat Rescues will gladly and preferably take back any rats you have that don’t work out for any reason.
- Save A Life: Much like adopting an unwanted dog, adopting a rat from a rescue is a great way to save a life and not contribute to the problem of pet overpopulation. Many pet owners consider this to be the only ethical way to obtain a pet. Lilspaz dedicates her life to this principle.
Cons:
- Limited Availability. Unlike cat and dog rescues, there are not that many Rat Rescues. Many states will have one or two, but not all.
- Scams: Animals sought through online ad sites should be sought with care and common sense to avoid falling victim to misrepresentation or outright scams.
3: Reputable Hobby Breeder:
Believe it or not, there is a growing group of rat fanciers who are dedicated to breeding rats whose goals are only for the improvement of the quality of rats as pets. They are knowledgeable in genetics, rat husbandry, and care. Reputable breeders will not breed for profit, but for the improvement of their line or development of new lines.
Pros:
- Health and Temperament: While reputable breeders do breed for looks and color, they also work hard to breed for good health and temperament. Apples for Apples, rats purchased from a breeder will likely be much healthier. Because they will be handled frequently from birth, and breeders only breed the best tempered of their stock, they will often friendlier and calmer from day one than other rats.
- Mentoring: Reputable breeders care about their babies, and like a rescue, will offer support to you for the entire life of your rat and will help you through any care issues, problems, illness, or injury.
- No Questions Asked Return Policy: Good breeders will also always offer (and often insist) to take back your rat with no questions asked if for any reason you can no longer care for him.
Cons:
- Availability: It can sometimes be challenging to find a reputable breeder near you. While there are currently 4-6 breeders within 300 miles of me, I only found one of those to be a reputable breeder, and I traveled two hours to her home to get my first rats.
- Long Wait List: Because reputable breeders are not breeding for profit, but mostly for the betterment of the rat lines, litters can be limited, and wait lists long. It can be common to wait six months for your ratty.
4: One More Word on Breeders:
But wait a minute, you might say to me, you're talking about a Reputable Breeder, and you've also mentioned Back Yard Breeders. How can I tell the difference between the two of them and why in the world would it matter to me anyway? Excellent questions, because often to the average new rat owner it's very hard to tell the difference right away. At first glance, they may both love their rats and take good care of them. They may both care about sharing the rat love and socialize them well. Heck, they may both even have been breeding for several years and have great websites claiming to breed for all the right reasons.
I'll answer the second question first. Why should it matter to you? Depending on the breeder involved, it can make a huge difference to you in the long term vet care cost of the animal you bring home. Reputable breeders do years long footwork to obtain and work with lines proven to have stronger immune systems and less susceptibility to cancers. They also study and understand genetics and animal husbandry extensively in order to make sound choices in their care and future pairings. Also, since reputable breeders take the same care in regards to temperament, going with a reputable breeder can also make a difference in being happy with your sweet, cuddly rat or having issues with undiscovered genetic aggression or fearfulness.
Now it's true that even the best bred rats can still pop up with health or temperament issues, but the instances of this are fewer and further between. Even should that happen, it might be good to know that going with a reputable breeder over a back yard breeder can also make the difference between having someone who will be there for you to offer advice, help, or re-homing after the sale should any of those things be needed.
Now the other question: How to tell the difference between a reputable breeder and a back yard breeder. Luckily I won't have to type out what you need because someone else has done it for me and done a much better job than I can do. Check out the former Blackwolf Rattery's Breeder Red Flags: http://bwr-rats.blogspot.com/2011/10/red-flags.html. Blackwolf Rattery created well researched and practical tips and advice as well as sound explanations.
Next: Selecting a Rat for You
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