Info on Breeders and Breeding | Just Another Rant By Soul

Basic Breeder and Breeding Info

I have been breeding on and off for many years, but it has only been in the last 10 years that I have started paying attention to genetics and how important it is. I never realised just how much hard work I could be or was undoing by just random breeding, and by not keeping track of my litters or what was going on with them.
Now I'm a bit older and less impulsive lol So I started doing research as to why this colour and that colour produce other colours........ and fell in love with the prospect of genetics and what I can learn and how it can change the way I breed and what I can produce.

Firstly, I need to state that I have never done any genetics courses (although I would like to) and that all the information about genetics on this page is my interpretation of the research I have done. So please if you see something that needs correcting or more information please feel free to contact me about it 🙂 I'm always happy to learn something new 🙂

So you are thinking about breeding

The first thing you need to ask your self is...... Why do you want to breed?

Then you need to ask your self the following:

What is it about breeding that appeals to you?
Are you wanting to breed for extra pocket money?
Have you done any research or asked any breeders any questions?
Do you have a goal in mind as to what you would like to aim for in your litters?
Are you wanting to try and create a line or are you just going to be random breeding?
Do you have any homes arranged for your babies to go to when they are old enough to leave their mother?
What are you going to do with any rats that you can't find homes for or that can't be sold due to sickness or deformity?
Are you prepared to keep paperwork on your litters and any issues that might pop up?
If issues do pop up are you prepared to let people know?
Are you willing to stop breeding that line or put the time into trying to breed out the issue?

And that is only a few of the questions you need to think about when it comes to breeding lol

If you are wanting to breed for money........ let me stop you right there! There is no money in breeding rats at all!

Unless you are just going to be breeding rats for the sake of breeding and not look after them properly. And if this is the case then people will work it out real fast and you WILL get a bad reputation and then you will be stuck with a heap of babies as no one will want to buy from you, and pet shops will usually only pay $2 a rat if you're lucky. I don't mean to be harsh but there are so many rats in Australia that are sick or carrying deformities and needing homes, without anyone else adding to it.

If you are going to be looking after them properly any money made from selling your rats will be going back into buying food, litter, Vet visits....etc

If you are wanting to breed because you think the babies are so cute............... you are right they are so cute, but this is not a reason to breed! There are a heap of sites/forums that have pics of bubs for you to get your cuteness fix lol and if you get in contact with breeders around you area, I'm sure if you asked them nicely (meaning don't pester them or harass) they might set up a time for you to come and have a look at their babies. Not all breeders will be open to doing it but most will especially if it means one less random litter. And hey you might just fall in love with line breeding and decide to start a rattery 🙂

Unfortunately, a lot of people think that breeding is just putting a female to a male, they do the deed and babies are born and that is it! This not the case (well it is lol but that is just the very very basics of it) there is a lot more involved than that.

If you are serious about getting into breeding do as much research as you can, join forums and ask any question you have. But make sure you have done your research because if you go asking a thousand questions and it is very obvious that you are trying to get other people to do the research for you, you will only irritate people and then they won't want to help you.

Once you have done your research and you know what is involved and you are still wanting to give it all ago, work out what your goal/aim is. The first part of your goal/aim should ALWAYS be happy healthy rats! Then you should try and aim for the colour/markings/coat type you are wanting.

Most breeders like myself don't breed on demand, we breed to reach our goals and if we happen to have a happy healthy litter that we are happy sell to people, then we will offer them to people and the people on the top of the waiting list get first choice then followed by the rest and if there are any bubs left in the litter after the people on the waiting list have chosen then the rest of the litter will get offered to other people who meet the breeder's standards, as in asked the right questions, have a good set up.... etc.
Not all breeders work like this, each has their own set up, ethics and way of doing things. I have just found that this is the most common practice. Since getting more and more into breeding my Rattery ethics and set up has change a lot, and I am the first to admit that I have made quite a few mistakes in the past, as in who I bought from and not doing enough research. I now have a lot of work ahead to try and fix these mistakes, but it is my goal to try.

So how do you get on a wait list? You need to find out what lines breeders are working on and if it is something you are interested in then nicely ask (not pester, harass or demand) if you can be put on their waiting list. Keep in mind that you are probably not the first person to ask and not all litters are available as the breeder is not yet happy to release any yet, so you could be waiting a while, so don't go constantly asking the breeder if they have anything available as you will end up finding yourself at the bottom of the list or not on it at all. If you really want that type of rat, then it is worth waiting for 🙂

So what is Line Breeding?

Like I said earlier this is just my interpretation
You can't just put 2 rats together and then call it a line. A line takes a lot of work to achieve, it involves in-breeding for a few generations then out-crossing then crossing back to the original in-bred rats.
Well, that is just the very beginning of it lol it goes much more in-depth than that.

Now you're probably thinking "What, you have to in-breed? In-breeding is bad!"
And yes, in humans and other animals in-breeding is bad and not recommended. But in rats it ok as long as done properly. Scientists don't call a line in-bred till they have been in-bred over 20 times.

So, what is in-breed?
Is when you breed mother to son, father to daughter or brother to sister. This is often called test breeding when you are first starting out because by breeding these combinations you will often find any underlying problems will appear. You want this to happen so you can start working on breeding out any issues right away, and you may have to test breed quite a few times. You will need to do research on any issues that pop up to find out if they are recessive or not, and this will give you an idea as to whether or not you want to continue with this line.

So, what makes a line a line and not just random breeding or in-breeding?
A line is a line when you have in-bred generations and breed those inbred rats to other rats that are closely related (uncles/aunties, niece/nephew, cousins, grandparents) and that are also healthy and carrying the genes you want to continue or don't have signs of the gene you don't want. Just make sure you aren't just pairing related rats because they are related, the rats you pick must not only be related but they must also be picked because of their temperament and health. There is no point breeding unhealthy rats as it won't get you anywhere other than back where you started.

If you are trying to breed a certain temperament/colour/marking or coat type that the parents have or that one parent has then you pick the healthiest of the bubs and breed it to the parent who has the gene, you want to carry. If you have you 2 bubs that are healthy, happy and both carry the gene's you want to continue with then you breed them to each other. The same goes if you are trying to breed out a problem, you pick the healthiest rats and breed them either to the parent that doesn't carry the gene you are trying to breed out, so you can tip the gene pool in that parent's favour, and if you have to, you breed the healthiest baby from that litter back to that parent. If both parents carry the gene, then you need to pick the healthiest babies from the litters that don't have the gene present and breed them to each other and so on. You keep doing this till you have happy healthy litters carrying the genetics you are aiming for. Once you have reached this (about 5 generations or so down the track) you then pick a happy healthy rat from a different line that carries a gene you would like to work with and breed that rat to one of the heathy happy rats you have been in-breeding, this is called out-crossing.
You should only out-cross to improve and strengthen or to add a new trait to the line.

Once you have out-crossed guess what.......... You have to start again! lol
That means you have to start from the very start, test breeding to see if anything pops up.
You pick the healthiest bub carrying the new gene from that litter and breed it back to the parent from the in-bred line or to one of the other healthy happy rats in the litter and continue like you were before. Once you have ruled out any problems you breed the healthiest rat and breed it back to the original line. This is referred to as back crossing.

You may need to in-breed, out-cross and cross -back several times before you can call it a line and reach your end goal. And you need to go into it with the understanding that due to the genetics involved you may never be able to reach your goal or may have to end the line and start again, because the genetics you are working with are just not working and all you are doing is making the problem worse.

Once again this is just my interpretation, and it is only the very basics of it all as I'm still learning and trying to get my head around it. I will update it as I learn more or if I have got it all wrong and get corrected lol

What do you need to breed?

So, you have done your research, you have your goal/aim in mind, so what else do you need?
Well, this will get a few different answers, but the basics that everyone will agree on is healthy rats and the means for keeping records.

Then you need to decide what you are going to breed in, I use a Pet One cage that I have halved using cooling racks (the ones used for cakes) and fluteboard. Other people use the big clear storage tubs and make alterations to them like air holes, places to hold food and water, wire mesh lids etc. Some people use bird cages, clear plastic rat/mouse cages or glass tanks.

Then you need a box to use as a bed for mum and bubs, it can be anything from an ice-cream container to a shoe box, just make sure you clean/change it every few days, so it doesn't smell or, so the only thing breeding is babies and not germs, you need to fill the tub with shredded paper for the mum to make a nest in.

You then need to pick what rats you are going to start with, then you need to decide what you are going to do with the babies that you are not going to use to continue on with from this litter, are you going to keep them as pets, cull them or find possible homes for them.

Ask yourself the following:

If you are going to keep them do you have the room for them and the means to keep them?
If you are going to cull, how are you going to do it? or better yet can you? (There a a few different ways to do this, but you are going to have to do your own research on it).
If you are going to home them then you need to be up front about anything that might have popped up and I also suggest that you make all your test breeding litters "pet only" just to be on the safe side.

You then need to set up a record keeping system so you can keep track of your litters, health issues, and who you home them to so you can find out any future info on them, it is also handy to to keep track of who you home them to because you never know what the future holds and you may need to ask one of your adopters to use the rat they got from you in order to continue on with creating your line.

When can I breed my doe?

Female rats go on heat every 3 to 5 days. Because of this, when I pair my doe and buck, I pair them for almost 2 weeks unless my doe starts to show signs earlier than this.

How do you know if your rat showing signs of being pregnant?

Well, how fast they begin to show will depend on their size and how many babies they are carrying. I find the easiest way to work out if she is indeed pregnant is to weigh her every 2 to 3 days. If she is gaining weight and starts to get rounder, then she is pregnant.

How and when to pick your doe?

As a rule, I don't breed a doe until:

she is over 10 weeks old
over 200g,
I never breed the same doe more than 3 times,
I make sure my doe has at least 3 months break before I breed her again
I don't breed them after they turn 18 months old. Like us it is not good for the doe to have babies when they are too young, too small or too old.

How long are rats pregnant and how many babies can they have?

A doe is pregnant for 21 to 25 days and can have anywhere from 1 to 24 babies.

Touching Babies

Some people say don't touch the babies, that the mother will kill them if you do. This can be correct if you go touching them without washing your hands first to remove any food, pet or other smells on your hands or if you go stressing the mother by trying to force her away from her babies, I find that my doe's are quite happy for me to touch their bubs as long as I do it on their terms. I usually get the babies out while mum is eating. I make sure I grab a hand full of the bedding with them, so my hands now smell like them. Doing it this way I have not had any issues. In my experience mums only eat their babies if there is something wrong with them or if she panics while giving birth. This can sometimes happen in very young mums.

Hormonal Aggression

If a doe becomes bitey while pregnant or with babies you shouldn't breed from her again, and I wouldn't continue on with the babies. If a doe does eat her babies I would probably think twice before breeding her again.

Rat Baby Development

Babies start to colour up within a few days of being born, and by day 10 they will be fully covered in fur. Babies' eyes should open around week 2, by week 4 they should be weaned from their mother, and by 5 weeks of age they should be separated into same sex groups as they become fertile at 5 weeks. From 5 weeks onwards you can home them if that is the option you choose.

Sexing Pinkies

You can tell the sex of the babies straight away, although this might take some getting used to as there isn't a big difference between them when they are pinkies but if you pay attention you will be able to pick the boys from the girls.

Pinky Doe

: Doe just born

: Doe just born- different angle

Pinky Buck

: Buck just born

: Buck just born- different angle

One of our Doe's giving birth

Miss Charlotte (Black Broken Hooded Powder puff Rex DU) gave us the honor of being able to video her giving birth. After days of building her nest (what we call the stink pile) she ended up pushing all her breeders choice to the other side of the cage put all her bedding to the other corner and gave birth on the plastic. She had 8 bubs, 4 boys and 4 girls. I managed to get some really great video footage of her given birth

Video 1:

The first few minutes are not very clear angles of the birth but around the 7 to 9 min make there is very clear angles and then in the last 4min their is a very very clear view of a bub being born.

Also sorry about the video being upside down, this was taken on my old iPhone to take the videos and it was plugged in charging so this was the only way I could take the videos. (both the same just wasn't sure which one will work)

http://s1132.photobucket.com/albums/...t=79056a46.mp4

Video 2:

The first few minutes you see her still cleaning the bub from the last video (I had to delete stuff to make room for more video), then at around 5min you can see her very clearly give birth to the last bub

http://s1132.photobucket.com/albums/...t=deaab80d.mp4

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