Cute Rats

[melgalea]

its refreshing to see that even though we can still breed the rats as "snake food" they are still a respected animal / pet.
all my breeders are still handled and petted. and loved. i love watching what new colours arise. and its nice to put my hand inside the rats cages and not get bitten.
great pics sdaji and everyone.
cheers
mel

 

[No-two]

Heres some
Rats are great, they're much better than mice, allthough we have some cool coloured mice.
This one you might like Sdaji

And some mice

These are some of my faves, marked dove brindles

 

[Tail_less]

Unusual marked rats

You are right about rat fanciers going mad about those markings. The rats with the white stripes down their faces fetch upwards of $35 each, the black eyed whites about the same, if not more (I would expect about $50 each) and the odd eyed ones set your own price, at least $35 upwards.

So you see you can make a tidy profit on them as 'pets' rather than snake food.
I guess you have to be willing to possibly ship, which the buyer pays for, and all you need to do is crate them up and drop off at airport. But a lot of buyers will come to you and collect as well.

Something to think about

 

[grizz]

This is exactly the reason I don't let my kids in the shed anymore, every second rat would get a pardon...

Correct... I have to keep moving my lot to new locations, one step ahead of the kids.

 

[Southside Morelia]

Personally, I don't like the Albino rats and have almost breed all my "whitey" genes out as I too like to work the colours and pair up accordingly.....just an off shoot to the real Business of feeding the snakes. That is except for Grandpa....who is one of the founding males in the colony who is over 2.5 years old from what I remember and still loves the girls.
I will never cull him as he is a great old BIG boy and I love him to bits, he's a beautiful guy!
As long as he is still alive and doing the deed, there will be some whites still amongst the colony....lol
Nice ratties Sdaji!

 

[pyrodarknessanny]

omg there soo cute, yeah there some realy cool rat "breeds" getting around now days my faves are the double rex (hairless) and siamies (white or cream with dark points)

but theres more rat breeds than you can poke a stick at now

 

[DanTheMan]

Haha, I was hoping at the end of all those rat pictures there would be some with them in a snakes mouth

 

[Sdaji]

omg there soo cute, yeah there some realy cool rat "breeds" getting around now days my faves are the double rex (hairless) and siamies (white or cream with dark points)

but theres more rat breeds than you can poke a stick at now

There's plenty of morphs, but very few breeds, and no one bothers breeding true to any of the breeds in the fancy world, they just stick to morphs. We have rexes, but deliberately avoid making double rexes, as they grow slowly, stay small, have reduced health, and we generally don't like them, but they're certainly very popular! Siamese rats are something I would just about kill for, but unfortunately they haven't turned up in Australia yet If you know of any in Australia, name your price!

As for naming your price for blazed rats, or any other type, I find it amazing how little value rat people put on special rats. I would happily pay hundreds for a Siamese rat, but most of the rat people think it is insane to spend a premium on a good rat. Most of them fiercely oppose any rat being sold for more than the going rate for the basic ones. Of course, an occasional person is willing to pay a premium. My best ones are the kind of thing some of those rat people would stab their own grandmothers for, but they still won't pay extra I wouldn't sell a live rat for less than about $150, because after all the time you spend dealing with their million questions, emails, etc, it just isn't worth the time. If you think herp tyre kickers are bad, don't even think about bothering with a ratter! I certainly don't. It's funny when they say "Name your price! I'll pay anything, even if it's $40 per rat!" :lol: It reminds me of seeing someone unexpectedly hatch a new albino, and someone else saying "I want that albino Rough-scaled Python, name your price, I don't care if it's FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS! I'll still pay it!" :lol:

 

[Lonewolf]

Eek! I'll have to work quickly on getting a new snake morph ready for market to distract myself from these furry abominations! :lol:

I've actually spoken to a few rat fanciers, they are insane, they make reptile people look like rational, sensible, intelligent folks. If I was to stick to their breeding rules my rats would end up sickly and genetically ruined. They are well intentioned for the most part though.

Ahem, thanks heaps Sdaji...

Nah, we're out of fancys now. Coastal Rodents is officially closed! Horrid creatures those fancies are.. They either bite you, scratch you or cost you a fortune in vet bills. All the rats i've bought from feeder breeders have turned out to be the best damn rats i've ever come across. Hettys for example, i bred a few i got from her and didn't hold them once, until today, and they are the best tempered rats!

So, i'd much prefer a boring old PEW from a feeder over a fancy any day!

Ooh and i bred my first BEW rex odd eye!! He's definitely a keeper

 

[montay]

Gorgeous pics. I have toyed with the idea of breeding my own rats for my snakes, as it is getting pretty expensive, but I just wouldn't be able to sacrifice them!
I am feeding rabbits now to the larger snakes, and they look like puppies, same size, same beautiful faces. It's heart breaking, but that's the circle of life, I guess.

 

[Sdaji]

Ahem, thanks heaps Sdaji...

Nah, we're out of fancys now. Coastal Rodents is officially closed! Horrid creatures those fancies are.. They either bite you, scratch you or cost you a fortune in vet bills. All the rats i've bought from feeder breeders have turned out to be the best damn rats i've ever come across. Hettys for example, i bred a few i got from her and didn't hold them once, until today, and they are the best tempered rats!

So, i'd much prefer a boring old PEW from a feeder over a fancy any day!

Ooh and i bred my first BEW rex odd eye!! He's definitely a keeper

Yeah, unfortunately the rat fanciers don't know what they're doing, and even if they did, they wouldn't be able to do a good job of it with the restrictions they put on themselves. There are a very few good ones though, and there are certainly bad feeders around. If a feed rat breeder knows what they are doing though, they quickly end up with good rats. It's certainly not difficult to cull any which bite or even look like they might be thinking about it, and within very few generations you have rats which are perfectly tempered, even without any socialisation. Tell that to the ratters though! :lol:

 

[Lonewolf]

I personally think that the feeder breeders do all the work for most of the rats the fanciers have. All the fancy types are bred because feeder breeders inbreed, mix and match etc it opens up new genetic possibilities. Technically, they aren't improving the rat population at all. They're killing what few good types we have.

Sorry, had to vent lol

Now, with your no freight, or if you have to it's 150 per rat, do we get a discount if someone can pick up? Nah, just kidding. I'd be happy paying 150 for good quality ratties. They're just so hard to find these days.

 

[Sdaji]

I personally think that the feeder breeders do all the work for most of the rats the fanciers have. All the fancy types are bred because feeder breeders inbreed, mix and match etc it opens up new genetic possibilities. Technically, they aren't improving the rat population at all. They're killing what few good types we have.

Sorry, had to vent lol

Now, with your no freight, or if you have to it's 150 per rat, do we get a discount if someone can pick up? Nah, just kidding. I'd be happy paying 150 for good quality ratties. They're just so hard to find these days.

$150 doesn't include freight

 

[Jen]

Fancy rats as feeders? This could be a way to get those female snakes who like to be wined and dined into the er, sack.... A male who rocks up with a nice fancy rat for a romantic dinner is more likely to get some action....ok, ok, I took it too far

 

[cris]

If you think herp tyre kickers are bad, don't even think about bothering with a ratter! I certainly don't. It's funny when they say "Name your price! I'll pay anything, even if it's $40 per rat!" :lol:

I would have ethical trouble dealing with them, could end up like a hostage situation :lol:

Other than that can i buy a rat, i axed my last lot after getting myco contaminated pet shop additions, almost had nice a nice healthy super lightning stripe line going I will pay $40 per rat

 

[Sdaji]

I would have ethical trouble dealing with them, could end up like a hostage situation :lol:

Other than that can i buy a rat, i axed my last lot after getting myco contaminated pet shop additions, almost had nice a nice healthy super lightning stripe line going I will pay $40 per rat

No worries! While you're over, bring some Chondros, I'll give you $400 each!

 

[gold&black...]

Lol in the simplest of words, Sdaji's become a softy.... Hi bro, how r the adders coming along???

 

[Sdaji]

Most of them are just albino or hooded blacks though, the snakes don't care... but yeah, we have our pet ones too! Don't worry though, I'm still the one who does all the culls!

Those Adders are coming along beautifully! Fingers crossed for some gorgeous babies in a few months Mating season is coming to a close, so it is a case of sit and wait... and hope! Would you believe it, I have been slack with getting pictures, and still barely having anything (well, plenty of mug shots, but nothing pretty). I really have to get around to taking some good ones. I used to take countless 'pretty' Adder shots until a couple of years ago. Strange, huh?

 

[gold&black...]

Good to hear from u bro... Most importantly good to know the adders are coming along well... Do email me a few pic's.... Would love to see how they've grown... Especially loved the pic with the spectacles drawn... Lol must be (Sorry has to be) a snake worth dying for now....

 

[Sdaji]

Haha! I didn't realise I'd sent that one out! :lol: I don't know what I was thinking when I drew the glasses on the snake, but I vaguely remember the picture I can't even remember which snake it was, but if I check the picture I'll be able to tell, and I'll send you pictures of the same one all grown up Their colours changed a lot as they grew. I'll put a few up on the forum before too much longer as well