Website Updated December.6.2024
We have babies available!
We are moving soon! Our house will go up for sale this month. We are moving out of state. Many people who adopt form us have been watching our site for years before they decide to get babies. Well now is the time to adopt if you have been thinking about it. Please do not miss out on the opportunity for Camarattery babies! A lot of our adopters drive in from other states. And many of you will continue to do so because you are awesome! But for those of you who cannot drive to another state now is the time to contact us for an application. We also want to take a moment to thank all of our loyal Colorado adopters. We could not have had this hobby without you! Thank you! My husband and I appreciate you!
Our Babies Are Raised In Our Home
We do not raise babies in a warehouse, or garage or other distant non intrusive way. They have their own space in our home. Our rats are all loved, played with and given fun toys to enrich them. We feed them fresh grains from the latest harvest, not sprayed with chemicals, and we feed fresh produce regularly. Our rats have hiddy holes, wheels and chew sticks. We have tall multi level cages. And litter boxes. We sanitize our set ups regularly. And refresh the used toys. Our rats are lab tested for diseases, viruses funguses and bacteria's. We are as high bio security as you can be within your home. And we do not let outside rats into our house.
Pedigree & Health History
I post pedigrees of the babies on their litter pages. Also at the top of the page I link you to their parents litter pages as well, however, If I don't have links up for some of the rats several generations in the past it's because they were born a long time ago and I had a different website then. And that website has been deleted and their litter page has been too. So I didn't make new ones when I moved everything over to this website. I didn't have the desire to re type out 500 + pages. But I still have all of the pedigrees and litter photos to every liter I've bred. I can provide that to you if you want it. Also a lot of people like this too, if you need genetic info or health info or date of deaths on any rat in my pedigree, you are always welcome to contact me for that info. I am more then happy to provide that. I keep very detailed reccords on all of that information. Breeders I've adopted to are always contacting me for updates on that for their reccords. And I love to be able to provide that information. I spend a great deal of time breeding healthy rats, and keeping excellent reccords, and I am happy to hear when other people are interested in all of the data I have. After all I didn't do all this work for nothing!
- Ethics - Health & Temperament Come First
I don't breed for pretty colors or patterns. I breed for super long life spans and the sweetest temperaments you can imagine. It's imperative that my rats are as free of health issues as possible. That means if there is a health issue I stop breeding from that rat and its descendants. Most health issues are genetic. So I've worked for many generations to breed that out to the best of my ability. Once I have accomplished all that with a line, then I add the color I want. The color is the last result of my breeding's. Having said that, my rats are very beautiful as a result of many generations of my breeding's.
Moral of the story, I never ever breed aggressive, deformed or otherwise unhealthy rats. My rats are only bred if they are in their prime, structurally sound, of correct type and have excellent temperament.
Breeding Ethics
I do not over breed my rats. My Does get bred just one time in most cases. Maybe 2 if she's exceptional. But not back to back breeding's. Typically I breed my Does at 6 months old. I try not to past 9 months. My boys normally also only get bred once or twice. Because of the fact that they have zero responsibility.
Weaning the Babies
I have been asked "how old do you wean your babies?" And the answer is simple. I don't wean my babies. I don't think it's my job to pull nursing babies away from their mothers. I let the moms wean their own babies. On their own schedule. My moms always dry up and stop nursing at 4 weeks old. So I keep the babies with her through all of that. And I let the boys stay with mom for an additional week. Once the boys are 5 weeks they are sexually mature, so I move them into a big nursery cage with the other boys I am raising. This way they get a sense of community and learn the values of living in a community. The baby girls get moved to a big nursery cage at 5 weeks also where they stay with their mom and are added into the cage with one or 2 other moms who are also raising their daughters. And they stay with mom until they go to their forever homes.
I do things very slowly because I feel it's so important that rats grow up in a loving environment, and get raised on mother's milk for as long as mom feels the need. She is the most qualified at weaning her babies.
Line Breeding and Inbreeding
There are 3 types of breeding.
1) Inbreeding, which is is breeding either brother to sister, mother to son or father to daughter.
2) Line breeding, which is breeding relatives that are more distantly related. Like cousins or aunts. That sort of thing. I prefer this type of breeding.
3) Outcrossing, which is is bringing in new blood. I don't do it often because that blood is untested and unknown. It scares me. I can't predict it. Always throwing in new blood is totally unpredictable and through experience I do not see much benefit in it. You breed in too many tumors and temperament issues this way.
I line breed for the most part to lock in great health, temperament, type and longevity. I may inbreed every now and again to test a line or lock in the best traits.
Do I Cull Litters?
I do not cull/ feed off my babies to other animals or kill them.
Some breeders cull their litters because they feel their inferior or smaller babies should be culled so the stronger fair better, or they may have other reasons. This is very very new thinking in the rat community and it isn't species appropriate. For decades quality rat breeders have left all the babies with their moms. Rat moms can and do handle huge litters. Always have. People are using their desire to cull as a reason that its necessary. Just because you want to cull does not mean it needs to be done! Culling is a choice not a need for this species. If f other breeders want to cull that is their choice I do not stand in the way, but I do not reccomend it. I stick to my own feelings on the matter, but I myself refuse to do kill babies.
Adoption Ethics
Not all adoptions are approved. There are many times where I deny adoptions to applicants. It does not make me a bad person or breeder. I would be a bad breeder if I let my babies go to anyone who asked. I have come across people who think they will automatically get babies from me because they applied for babies, but that simply cannot be the case. I am not a pet shop and I cannot and will not offer a pet shop experience.
I have more than enough adopters to choose from, and I do not breed for money. I do not need to consider losing out on a "sale" so to speak. I am not even a store or a business in the 1st place. I am a hobby breeder. And picking the right pet parents is a huge part of my hobby. So this allows me to hand pick the parents of all my babies.
What I Breed For
Health
Camarattery rats are known around the world for their great health. And almost tumor free reputation |
Longevity
Camarattery rats are known to live an average of 4 years. |
Temperament
My rats have the sweetest temperaments! They love people & have fun playing with you. |