03/20/2025
I don't make this post lightly, but I saw this earlier and it literally made me facepalm, because it's frankly idiotic from a behavioural standpoint.
Allowing bucks to be so studbucky in behaviour that they can't accept other rats as adults is just bizarre, and this unfortunately will result in lone rats, surely? Not everybody can source or create instant kittens, so they will unfortunately be alone, maybe for months, which isn't okay because rats are a SOCIAL SPECIES that thrive on the companionship of other rats.
I don't care if Marti comes after me again.
I'm really concerned that if this catches on (which it might), we are going to have a really big issue with rats suffering alone for possibly MONTHS whilst waiting for kittens.
There's also the issue that those lone periods can/will cause psychological damage in some rats....and guess what? That could then cause issues with intros to kittens. So what do you do then? Euthanise? Re-home? Keep alone? All this is entirely avoidable.
This just isn't okay.
We should be breeding for more adaptable behaviour in our rats, not more selectivity, rigidity and problematic behaviour.
What she is proposing, isn't even a 'rule' in wild rats, we have 150+ years of rat behavioural studies to show it's not true. Where on earth has this come from? It's certainly not evidence based, that's for sure.
This is a genuinely dangerous statement to make.
