The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Off Topic => Topic started by: NovelNerd on July 09, 2019, 12:41:43 AM
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I’ve started breeding rats this last year and recently got marten, silvermane, and Harley. My agouti Marten doe is pregnant with my platinum Marten buck. I keep asking her to release the beans and she refuses. They should show up soon. I’m very excited. I only have the one Harley and silvermane ar the moment both females (would have been better for males). I’m excited to breed them when they get a bit bigger. The Harley will need so much work even ignoring the typical skin issues she is skittish which I’m not a fan. I have a harley/dwarf carrier male To pair her with though that is a sweetie. The silvermane was the weaker one of the litter, as in her silvermane isn’t as vibrant. I’m pairing her with my big sweet fluffy black rex male. She actually has a good personality for a silvermane, but I think he will help make Them better. He is one of my favorite squishes. I have a lot of others going too just excited about these. Where are my rat enthusiasts?
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Here!!!!
Do you have any photos you could share? Unfortunately, those names don't mean anything to me, so I'd really love to see what colors you are talking about. And I am a sucker for cute rat photos.
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I agree, I would love to see pictures of your floofballs <3
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Well I run this on my phone and I don’t have photobucket anymore so I’ll see what I can gather. It doesn’t have much on it now but you’re welcome to follow my rats on instagram
MadHatteryRattery
I also have pictures on my pet page
Cobi_and_Company
Until I can show you mine here are some general colors for you
A marten (scroll down a bit) I have a few different martens my grown one is a platinum (blue color with lots of silver) and my female is agouti. I have a young black doe Marten and a couple males I’m still figuring out their colors as they molt
http://www.afrma.org/ratunstdnonrec.htm
I also have a ton of tabbies (also
On that page)
A Harley
http://www.afrma.org/ratunstdnonreccoats.htm
D’Argent is Silvermane
http://www.afrma.org/ratunstd.htm
My girl doesn’t look near as cool. My friend has two Silvermane does that haven’t been producing well and finally had a litter. She kept the best male and female to try and continue and make more. This one her silvermane isn’t as noticeable and she isn’t super pretty compared to the standard. Basically a spare to help me start trying breeding Silvermane as it’s a dominant trait. I’m sure my friend will give me a nicer girl once she has more but her being slim on having them I was just excited to get one to try at all. Rex coats can dilute Silvermane but hoping my big squish has cute babies with her. The Silvermane line is known to be skittish and aggressive. Her two main females are skittish but not aggressive. The female I have is a little skittish but pretty friendly, so it would be great for her to have some good babies for me since she has a decent temperament.
I have two really pretty boys I’ll end up having to cull because their temperaments aren’t good enough for breeding. Makes me sad one is a beautiful rat. I have his sister though and she is nicer.
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I have two really pretty boys I’ll end up having to cull because their temperaments aren’t good enough for breeding. Makes me sad one is a beautiful rat. I have his sister though and she is nicer.
I really hope this does not mean what I think it means. :cry: :cry: :cry:
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I have two really pretty boys I’ll end up having to cull because their temperaments aren’t good enough for breeding. Makes me sad one is a beautiful rat. I have his sister though and she is nicer.
I really hope this does not mean what I think it means. :cry: :cry: :cry:
It does, sorry probably should have put a spoiler I guess. I don’t remember how to do that. To be fair it’s kinda been agreed that rats get their temperament from genetics and breeding. A skittish rat that bites etc it’s bred that way and while some people make it their mission “to fix it”. In reality it’s a genetic flaw. The idea is to breed rats that already have good dispositions. My group is small numbers compared to my friend. I probably only have around 30 rats at the moment. It’s not the same environment where they are just pets and I can spend hours playing with them one on one. I hold everyone everyday, but they have such good personalities I could not handle them and they are still good rats and super sweet.
There is no point in breeding if it’s not to better the animals people have as pets. If these two are skittish and always scream when I pick them up or dislike being held it’s not a trait that is good to pass on. It also means they could later be aggressive. My friend runs a reptile sanctuary of sorts and also does outreach education on them. Nothing goes to waste and even those that don’t make good pets are taken care of humanely and then used for food (not live). It’s something I’ve had to kinda come to terms with breeding and something breeders have always done. I just was never on that side of it before.
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Well, that makes me incredibly sad. I know that's what breeders in general do, but I just assumed you as rat lover would still give them the nice life they deserve even though they are not suitable for passing on their genes. ):
To each their own, I guess.
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I don’t want to debate ethics on what should or should not be done hun. It’s no fair to keep a rat around either that is mentally not a good rat. I do love them, enough that I realize as a breeder it’s more important to try and make them better as pets not worse. It would be irresponsible of me to try and home a rat I know does not have a good temperament. That’s wrong. I’ve learned pet owners tend to have a different opinion and that’s fine. They don’t have to do the work a breeder does. Anyway, I would rather we step away from such a topic. It’s a downer and not necessary. It’s my fault for casually having it in conversation. I forget sometimes how people are sensitive to it and meant nothing by it in upsetting you.
On a positive note my girl is for sure starting to show. I think I have a week at most of waiting. I’m so excited to see what kind of babies she has for me. I want little blue martens.
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I love red eyed martens!! Too bad I'm far away from you, you sound like an awesome breeder!
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Thank you, I’m trying my best at least. I need to pair a few more this week if I can. I’m afraid the Silvermane might have gotten with some boys before I brought her home because she has a little pudge. I should have lots of little martens pretty quick. I ended up picking up more martens. I have such a weakness. :lol:
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Goodness, that's exciting :)
I don't think I could ever be a rat mama (closest I got was with a chinchilla!) but I have friends that own them. They are some of the cleanest pets.
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I have kept rats as pets for years and when I was really involved in the fancy I had several friends who were breeders. I never heard of UK breeders culling, even if rats did not fit the breed standard or had temperament issues they were always sold to pet homes.
Very sad that a life is taken over something like that. I don’t agree with breeding in general as there are already tons of animals out there needing homes, very very sad to hear hobby breeders at home culling their pets and I dread to think how you actually do it! Sorry, not right.
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Very sad that a life is taken over something like that. I don’t agree with breeding in general as there are already tons of animals out there needing homes, very very sad to hear hobby breeders at home culling their pets and I dread to think how you actually do it! Sorry, not right.
I agree with this. "Hobby" breeding is so unnecessary.
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Goodness, that's exciting :)
I don't think I could ever be a rat mama (closest I got was with a chinchilla!) but I have friends that own them. They are some of the cleanest pets.
My sister had chinchillas, sadly she had to rehome them recently because she is having living situation issues. Those little guys are such soft and sweet pets. I have an Angora rabbit and an Angora ferret. Those are the only other small critters I have running around the house. I adore my ferret and the rabbit is a pretty nice boy. Neither of them are as clean as rats though really. The ferret isn’t too bad, but mine is from a breeder so he is unaltered and likes to “poof” and make awful smells around my house.
I’m not arguing with the rest of you. It was my mistake mentioning it but like I said I’m done discussing any of that.
Still no babies yet although momma is pretty big. Trying to keep her comfortable and happy since it’s her first litter of pups. Still think I’ll have some at any point though.
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Wow, congrats to you and the mother and father. I don’t know much about rat pregnancy or rearing, but I think with you taking care of her, momma and the babies are in good hands. Good luck, and here’s hoping it all goes well and happens soon!
Also, do you know how many babies she’s having? I mean, I don’t think one can ultrasound or anything on a rat...can you?
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She isn’t the only girl I have pregnant just the one that is close to having her babies. My other ladies are a little further off. I had put several with the males around the same times (try to have a few at the same time in case something goes wrong and someone needs to foster babies), but apparently in the summer they don’t breed as often. I know most people have theirs like in sheds etc but mine are in the house in their own room so figured they would do about the same.
You know I’m not sure if you could ultra sound a rat. I mean, mine see my vet often enough but haven’t asked about that in particular. I had one female during the winter she looked like she would pop and ended up having around 13. This female is a bigger girl and carries her weight differently. Im going to say less than ten but she might surprise me.
The male and female are both from a new line I haven’t worked with but my friend has some. We kinda chart our rats and keep up with lines. A few months ago someone brought in some new rats and her and I divided them up to work with them. I know the buck has quickly become one of my favorites because of his easy going temperament and pretty color. My best friend loves him and threatens to steal him. The female came to me a little older (not saying old I mean she might have been four months instead of the younger ones I get). She is a pretty sweet doe, both of them are rats I wouldn’t have issues with say my students holding (I have a trio of rats that are my students class rats that travel back and forth with me to work). I’m expecting a good bunch from these two, fingers crossed at least. The idea is since it’s a new line none of these would be pets yet, but my friend and I will split up the babies and work with them and see what personality traits they have, but they came from a known breeder and she has sweet rats so these should be good kiddos. I’m excited to see what odd colors I will get since the mom is what we think is agouti but the Marten has marbeled and skewed her color so no telling what I’ll end up having.
I do have a really cute black female Marten I need to take pictures of. She is with my females that are still growing and is super sweet. She is growing a little slower than the others so have been giving her a different block and some extra protein. She is cute though.
I have to clean cages this weekend. I’ll try to get s picture or mom’s belly. I’ve handled her everyday, but I’ve also tried to just keep her relaxed and not bother her too much since she has been nesting. She doesn’t say no though to a little scrambled egg. :lol: