Orcborn Rattery

04/01/2023

01/19/2023

I recommend Kinni Brook for anyone looking for a pet!

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01/07/2023

Happy new year! I decided to post an update to give you all an idea of how things have been going so far, and my plans for 2023.

A couple of people have inquired about availability. Right now I'm still keeping all critters I breed. I ran into some fertility issues with my best line, so I'm going to be trying very hard to revive it and/or outcross. There might be a bit of a bottleneck there, and I'll want to go a few more generations after that to ensure they're the best they can be. I tend to wait until they're older to breed them so I can ensure they are healthy before I commit to offspring from them. So this may take a couple years unfortunately.

As I've mentioned, I've been working on some new lines as well, and there have been good things and bad. They seem to have great fertility and keep large litters fed and healthy. There are some fun coat colors and varieties I'm eager to work with, such as dwarf. However, I've had issues with timidness and maternal aggression. This will definatly take me years to work on, while i also make sure I'm maintaining healthy lines with good lifespans. It's an expensive and time consuming task for my small rattery, but I love the rats and the hobby and want to ensure I'm sending out the very best pets to homes.

I've had a couple of other projects besides the rats, such as mice, asfs, and chickens. The mice are beautiful, I've been reaching many of my goals. I may eventually have 2 lines of mice if I'm ever able to come across abyssian, but right now I'm just working on a tan banded hairless line. I still have temperment goals to work towards, as well as size and conformation.

My asf project has been more difficult than expected. One of my lines has made excellent progress with temperment, and the other seems to have gone backwards. I may disband the colonies and try again when i have less on my plate.

It's been so much more work, so I've spent less time taking pictures and using social media, and more time cleaning cages. I know I need to update my websight, sorry about that. More updates to come this spring or summer.
Happy 2023 everyone!

08/18/2022

Three weeks ago, three beautiful litters were born. The rest didn't take, but we will be trying again. I'm not the best at keeping up with social media, especially with all I've had going on, but here are some photos I've taken over the last couple weeks.
They are so very friendly, and I am looking forward to getting to know them all as they grow.

07/26/2022

So excited, I have babies day now! It's been a while since I've had any litters, but I have a big baby boom coming up this week. All will be staying here of course. I should have harley harley carriers, velveteen, hairless carriers, marble, downunder, agouti, more of my lovely burmese line, and if I'm super lucky, Patchwork carriers. I'll try to post photos soon, but with so many projects going on this year, social media has been tough. I built maternity caging.

03/29/2022

This group is happy to be out of quarentine! So great to see them playing around in the critter nation.

03/17/2022

It's been a while, but my breeding moratorium is almost up. I've got a bunch of pairings planned for later this month! So very excited for what is to come. Enjoy some pictures of my fluffy harley bucks in the meantime!

01/22/2022

Bad news. Most of my rats are showing symptoms of SDAV. I've lost several sweet older rats this week. My younger rats have been a bit sneezy, and many have mandibular swelling. A couple swollen glands are quite extreme. I'm going to be going through a breeding moratorium as my rattery pushes through this, and get testing done before I resume.
I thought my quarantine procedure was adequate but will need to rethink my process for the future.

01/12/2022

We made a big trip last week and picked up some new rats! Introducing some of the new does from Sinner and Saint Rattery
1. Burmese dumbo harley doe
2. Black DU doe named Gluten-free Oreo
3. Agouti dumbo rex named Canada
4. Burmese Harley doe
5. Marble satin? Doe named Marble

Oreo and Canada are quite cuddly, even though Oreo is a bit shy and likes to hide. Marble just wants to explore.
Can't wait to work with Harley, it's going to be a big project. More updates, and more pictures of my other new rats later!

12/15/2021

I am so excited to announce the new line we will begin working on next year! Tonkinese is a color I've loved since I first got into breeding, and it's a variety coming to me from Oregon later this month. 2 Lovely Tonkinese does, A blue and a sable. 1 sable Tonkinese buck. They will be coming from J & J ' s Willamette Valley Rodentry , the same place my beautiful, cuddely roan boys are from. I've also got a possible tonkinese carrier buck(Behemoth) on hold from Clifford Sisters Rattery & Exotics . Even if he doesn't carry tonk, his super sweet personality should make him an excellent possible outcross for the line.
I'll be holding back every litter for several generations until I'm satisfied with their temperament. This may be a few years since I spend as much time as I can between each generation observing health.
In addition to the tonkinese, I also await pickup of well-tempered silver mane buck from J&J, and a nice dark agouti buck(Boston) from Clifford Sisters.

12/13/2021

Loving these sweet babies from my current litter! They're already acting so outgoing and curious. Fluff is starting to show, and at least one is looking silvermane. One of them has a lovely little heart on her belly.

12/08/2021

Here are some babies from our most recent litter! Entropy has been such a good mother. Very good with them and very trusting. The 5 all seem happy and healthy, even the runt. All will be staying here.

10/27/2021

Here are some of the babies from our first asf litter! It will be a few generations before I start getting pet quality asfs, so it will likely be over a year before any become available.

09/15/2021

Just thought I'd share an update with everyone! My fancy rat breeding is slowing down for a bit while I focus on breeding for longevity. I'm also very low hard-cull with them so I end up with a lot of them as pets! I may have some available mid-next year, but I'll have more details this winter.

I'd also like to introduce my new African Soft Furred rats! These are relatively newer to the pet trade, and it's going to take a bit of time as I work on their domestication. AFS aren't exactly rats, they are somewhere between rats and mice. They are a lot of fun so far, and I'm excited to work with them.
I'm hoping to start breeding them next year and my goals will be 1. Reducing skittishness/timidness and agression. 2. Health. 3. Size.
I probably won't have any available as pets next year, but I will likely have to humanely put down those who aren't meeting my temperment goals to sell as frozen feeders.
Putting rodents down is very emotionally difficult for me, and this is all easier said than done. But I also don't agree with live feeding, and this is the plan for now.

08/27/2021

Happy birthday Bones! She turns one year old today. Though I decided not to breed her, she is a sweet and gorgeous pet!

Rainbow Whiskers Rattery Minneapolis

08/24/2021

Sorry for the lack of updates! Here are 2 babies from my last pair of litters. Their mother is Saffron, and father is Bird Box. We're so excited to see how their coats turn out. Double rex, but the mother expresses some sort of coat modifier gene that might be satin? The black Berkshire is quite soft for a double rex!
Enthalpy with the blaze, the other is Entropy!

06/30/2021

Directors at Charles River Laboratories have recently presented us with the possibility of eradicating Streptobacillus Moniliformis (the bacteria that causes Rat Bite Fever) by cross-fostering to "clean" nursing females. While this theory is currently untested, it has worked for other bacteria in mice and we are willing to try it!
Links to a couple studies presented by Charles River -
( https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ukc6TvO0n5vDel4gU6eAsV9ND0AF9zsN/view?usp=drivesdk )
( https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ga68PYsl_qX9tUYIfS6yDPAucQPAowrR/view?usp=drivesdk )

A group of breeders are coming together to form what we are calling the 'Coalition for the Preservation of Fancy Rat Genetics'. We will be buying clean, health tested rat colonies from a laboratory to test cross-fostering, most likely Wistar Han rats. We currently have 5 primary breeders within an hour of each other who will become the different "stations" to try and do this as securely as possible!

There will be more breeders added to act as additional hubs for "clean" lab rats and to house "dirty" lines to ensure no genetics are lost. This is the basis of what we're planning for this project.

Genes that we have available between us and will be attempting to "clean":

Size: Standard and Dwarf

Ears: Standard and Dumbo

Coats: Standard, Hairless, Werewolf/Patchwork, Rex, Velveteen, Silvermane, Harley, Satin 1, Satin 2, and Lux.

Markings: Self, Hooded, Irish, Berkshire, Variegated, Whiteside, Downunder, Merle, Recessive Blaze, and Roan.

Misc. Colors and Varieties: Black, Agouti, Russian Blue, American Blue, UK Mink, US Mink, AUS Mink, Pearl, RED, PED, Siamese (RE, BE and Golden), Marten (RE and BE), Tonkinese, Burmese.

More information on testing can be found on this page and the Practical Rodent Testing Facebook group!

06/29/2021

Hello everyone!

I'm going to be putting my rattery into quarantine, indefinitely. My rats and I aren't going anywhere, we're all doing just fine. I'll still be working on my lines, but I'm putting a (hopefully temporary) halt on pet homing or bringing in rats from other sources. My page will still be up, and I'll post updates when I feel up to social media.

When I have the money and the stomach for it, I'll be getting my colony tested before opening back up to the public just to be sure I don't have anything that could spread to other people and/or rats. But right now I just want to do my own thing.

I know of a couple of good breeders in the area, and I am happy to recommend them in the meantime for anyone who wants pets 🥰

Thanks everyone! You are all appreciated 🐀

06/07/2021

Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates. Hush's litter is doing wonderfully. The babies are just so sweet and outgoing. I'll take pictures this week to share :)

05/10/2021

Hush x Tripe babies opened their eyes today! They are peering around for the first time

05/09/2021

Soon, their eyes will be open.
Hipe babies, May 8th

05/04/2021

We welcomed these two beautiful Roan/husky bucks to Orcborn Rattery on Sunday! They are absolutely gorgeous and friendly. The biggest of the two is Agouti based.
They come from J & J ' s Willamette Valley Rodentry in Oregon!

05/04/2021

Here's a peak at how Hush's lovely litter is coming along! A few beautiful variegated babies, but unfortunately only 1 who may be burmese after all. They are all so lovely

04/28/2021

Here are Hush x Tripe(Hipe) 2 day old babies. Looks like I should be getting a few Burmese! Some crazy whisker action going on with a couple of them.
I don't have my lightbox set up right now, so sorry for the low quality

04/27/2021

Update on French. I was wrong, French wasn't about to go into labor. She had been doing more nest building than I usually expect from her, but her tiny belly bump is nearly gone today. The litter was absorbed in the uterus. She seems to be ok, and that is the most important thing. Congrats to French on her retirement!

04/27/2021

Happy birthday to 7 fat, healthy babies! I was able to take a couple quick pictures when Hush walked away from the nest to greet me.
I noticed that 2 or 3 of them have red eyes and the rest are black eyed. I'm hoping to pull more burmese with this litter, or maybe even a siamese. I'll be lucky if I get any nice wedge blazes like their mother.
I expect this litter to be outgoing, brave, and of improved size. Hush is such an excellent doe.
Congratulations to Hush, who seems to be in good spirit and health.

04/26/2021

I checked on my does before bed(I've been having insomnia and just took some medication). I heard little peeps from Hush's bin! It's hard to see in the near without disturbing her, but I think I made out some fleshy shapes. I'm so excited, but I have to leave her alone for a bit and soon I'll be asleep for 8 hours.
French has been nesting a lot today, and it looks like she's going into labor. I'll post another update tonight/ tomorrow morning.

04/04/2021

We're expecting a second litter towards the end of this month! Hush and Tripe spent the day together yesterday