Where are you Located? Newport New Hampshire.
| 1 hour from Manchester | 45 minutes from Keene | 2 hours from Boston | 2.5 hours from Portland
Do you deliver? We are not able to deliver. Please be sure you have reliable transportation and do not rely on us to be able to deliver your rats. This is your responsibility as the buyer, and although I'd love to be able to deliver to people who ca
nnot come pick-up their rats, it just isnt something we can do anymore. We do not
Do you work with other breeders? We enjoy working with other breeders and regularly participate in online breeder pages for new perspectives, questions, etc. We also work with other local breeders and often will trade breeding stock to introduce new colors, varieties, fur types, etc. We do not consider competition an issue and work together to bring the best rats to our shared community! Do you mentor new breeders? We are always willing to assist in breeding related questions, including husbandry, to provide accurate information to improve overall husbandry for rats. For full mentorship, we typically will only offer this time to breeders who get their rats through us, in which case we ask to stay on as mentors to ensure ethical breeding and to be a resource and guide as they learn the ropes. Our goal is and always will be to ensure responsible and ethical breeding. If we can assist in making this happen, we will! Do you sell single rats? We do not sell single rats, even to homes with rats already. We also have a limit depending on current demand and availability.
Can I buy 1 male and 1 female? Rats need same s*x companions. Opposite genders, when kept together, WILL breed. Repeatedly. We do not sell breeding rats unless discussed prior and in depth. We also prefer not to sell to homes with both genders due to risk of error. There are no accidental litters, only failure on the owners part to keep the genders separate. In the event that we agree to sell to a home with both genders, you will need to sign my contract which indicates the necessity of ensuring genders remain separate. "Accidental" litters are considered intentional and a breech of contract. Do I need to fill out an application? Yes you do, no exceptions. Do you have a wait list? We have a limited waitlist. Pre-approval is required to join the waitlist via application process. The application is closed when the waitlist is full. We will always announce when there is space on the waitlist so watch our page for the most up to date information. When can we reserve babies? I will not take requests until 6 weeks (12 weeks for dwarf) after they go through the final temperament evaluation. Once that is completed, we will begin contacting those on our waitlist to make their selections. If there are still babies left, we will open the application for those babies. What age do babies go home? We let babies go to their new homes when they are 6 weeks old. If there is for any reason an issue to hold back the litter longer, they may go home closer to 8 weeks. This will usually be noted when the litter is announced unless for temperament re-evaluations. Dwarf must be 12 weeks before leaving. How do I choose my babies? We provide photos at birth, 1 week, 2 weeks, 5 weeks on average to show adopters their options. When it comes time to choose babies, adopters will choose via photos at 6 weeks. Occasionally we will offer a video of a portion of temperament testing, but not always. Unfortunately, we cannot offer in person choosing due to time and the possibility of bringing something back on the rats not chosen. However, rest assured that we put a significant amount of effort into producing quality pet rats and only those who pass our temperament evaluations are available for purchase. I cant pick them up for [x] amount of time after they become available. Will you hold them? Due to the demand, we are no longer holding rats for longer than a week. Please make sure you are ready before reserving rats. Our schedule is pretty flexible, so we expect to be able to make a time and date for pickup within a week of reservation. If for any reason the delay falls on our end, we will extend the allotted time. Can we come to the rattery to pick our babies? We are a closed rattery and do not allow visitors to our home. This is not just for the safety of our family, but also my other animals. It is very important that we limit contact with potential viruses, bacteria and other contagions. We are very strict in this aspect and it is simply not something we want to risk, not only with the rats, but also with my dogs and cats, who could also catch a number of different things. Do we need to bring a carrier? Yes, you need to bring a carrier, or you can commission a bin carrier from us for $10. See "Bin Cages" for information. Do rats carry diseases that affect people? All animals carry diseases that can affect people. Dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, poultry, even fish. They all have zoonotics specific to the species, many of which can transfer to people. Rats are no different, however, due to media coverage and general fear associated with rodents, they often have a worse reputation than "man's best friend," who can transfer a vast amount of illnesses to their human companions. It is your responsibility as a pet owner to understand the risks and weigh those risks in comparison to the benefits and decide if you are willing to take these risks. It is also a good idea to consider your family as a whole when deciding. Elderly, those with compromised immune systems and children under 5 years of age are generally more susceptible to illness from animals and this should be considered with caution. Although most of the illnesses that rats carry are not typically found in domesticated rats, they can contract them from wild rodents with both direct and indirect contact. This includes, but is not limited to: food and bedding contaminated with wild rodent urine and droppings, contact with owner, clothes, skin, and even in your nose and hair, can contaminate your own colony. Compare this to stepping in f***s contaminated with parvovirus from an infected dog. You can infect your own dog via your exposure. This same concept applies to rats. For your convenience, we have gathered a list of the most common zoonotics associated with rats, along with suggestions on ways to minimize those risks. Do you hard cull? Because we are still working on some newer lines and varieties, we do still have a necessity to hard cull. Rats that are extremely skittish and fearful of their environment, or are aggressive, either to rats or people are unfortunately best to be humanely euthanized. It is a difficult part of breeding rats and as much as it saddens me at the very thought, in these cases, it is far more ethical to euthanize them rather than let them live their life so terrified of their surroundings, people, and other rats that they scream when held, risk injury or death from a high fall by jumping away, or bite. It is also not something any owner should have to deal with, and, besides the fact that it is a tremendous liability for me to do so, I do not agree with passing off a problem animal to someone else to make it their problem. Some people will argue that with "trust training" these rats can live good lives, however, for an animal who has such a short life span, spending even 1/3-1/2 of its life forced to interact with the object of its fear is simply not fair to the animal. Euthanizing rats with a poor quality of life is standard of many quality ratteries and is easily the worst, but often necessary, part of breeding rats. That is why it is so important to understand genetics and carefully plan litters and have a clear goal before breeding. We hope that one day, as our lines progress, we will not have any need to euthanize rats for behavioral issues. Can I breed the rats I adopt? No, I do not typically allow people to breed my rats. Intentionally or unintentionally. If you are familiar with ethical and responsible rat breeding, I may make an exception, but it will be a case by case basis and it will be conditional. If you are allowed to do so, you will need to work with me and we will find suitable rats for you. The rats adopted with the purpose of breeding will have a contract and will not be permitted to sell to other breeders for 3 generation. Depending on the rats chosen for breeding, there may be other stipulations. We will discuss in detail the history of the rats and any issues that could arise. Please be up front with your desire to breed. There are some rats that my be ok with breeding, and there may be others that may have certain issues that make them fine pets, but less desired for breeding, and for your sake, as well as the rats sake, it is not wise to breed rats that you are not informed about the genetic history of. Being a responsible and ethical breeder begins with honesty. Believe me when I say that you will not have good standing in the breeding community by breeding rats sold on a pet only contract. It is highly frowned upon, even in the rat community. If you believe in the ideology that "I paid for it, its mine, Ill do as I please" please dont waste my time and go to a pet store who sees their animals as merchandise. My rats are important to me, even once they leave. I breed for pets first and foremost, am willing to work with responsible breeders, but will not tolerate treating a living animal as a product to do with as you please. You will be blacklisted, both privately and publicly. Do you take in rescues? For the safety of our rats, we do not take in rescues of any kind unless they are rats bred by us that need to find a new home. In this instance, we kindly ask our adopters to give them back to us as it is important for our records to know where our rats are. See mmrattery.weebly.com/faq for more
