Pocket Potatoes Rattery

01/25/2025

6 weeks old today! (Video was taken a week ago)
So still 3 weeks to go. Please pm for details.
* must provide proof of cage and answer a few questions.
* minimum of 2. 3 or more is best as rats are very social creatures.
* Warren, OH
** drex are hold backs **

01/11/2025

01/04/2025

In 7-8 weeks I will have available male and female dumbo, rexoid russian blues and champanges. Also black dumbo self, standard and rexoid top ear male and female agoutis. If interested please pm me.

12/25/2024

Long time no post. Been working on my lines. Currently have 1 to 2 litters available in a few weeks. Will be holding some back to continue on with my breeding program.

* must send picture of current cage/setup
* what food they will eat
* list current pets
* must take min of 2.

09/17/2024

I will be taking a break from social media as I work on my lines/rattery. I look forward to posting babies when available. I am working on

* Silvermane mink, blues and blacks.
* Rexoids: velv, dvel, rex, drex and teddy rex
* silverfawn/fawn

06/16/2024

******EDUCATIONAL POST******

Alright so I have seen a LOT of misinformation being spread in this group. Some even harmful.

1.) Rattus norvegicus domestica is the scientific name for fancy rats. BOTH standard ear and dumbo ear are fancy rats. They are not different types of rats.
2.) Dumbo ear rats are NOT friendlier. Rats have varieties, not breeds. And NO variety or s*x is friendlier than the other. Friendliness has to do with selective breeding.
3.) Male do tend to be lazier than females and females tend to be more rambunctious, but each rat is an individual and you may have a hyper male or a calm female.

CAGES:
1.) Tanks are not suitable for rats. They do not provide proper airflow. I have seen some use tanks and provide the needed airflow, but a basic tank and lid is not appropriate.
2.) Rats are fossorial animals NOT arboreal. They need more length/width than hieght. Some rats do love to climb so minimal hieght should be 20in tall.
3.) Minimum floor space should be 23in in one direction
4.) Many groups will tell you a cage should be minimum 32x20. Insamu rat will tell you A cage should be big enough for 4 rats even if you only have two. So a cage should be at minimum 8 cubic feet. 24 x 24 x 20. The more floor space though the better.
5.) Towels, cotton, fleece are NOT appropriate rats NEED a deep layer of substrate. Kiln dried pine, aspen are appropriate. Paper bedding is not appropriate for rats. That colorful kaytee bedding many use has poor absorption and ammonia build up will cause uris. Paper can be mixed or needs changed practically every other day. If a person has a wood allergy h**p is a better option.
6.) Rats love tunnels, boxes and toys. Cages should be cluttered.
7.) Rats do NOT need chew toys. They grind their teeth down by Bruxing. Chewing is a learned behavior that many breeders breed out.
8.) Wires do NOT cause bumblefoot. Bumblefoot is caused by a dirty cage.

REPRODUCTION/S3X:
1.) Rats can NOT get pregnant before 5 weeks old. Females do not go in to heat until 5.5 weeks old. 6-9 weeks is average. NO good breeder separates before 5 to 5.5 weeks old. No one in my breeding groups has ever had a rat get pregnant when waiting to separate at 5 weeks old.
2.) Rats do not care if they are related. A brother and sister rat over 5-6 weeks old will mate.
3.) Female rats can get pregnant immediately after giving birth. There is zero reason to keep a male with a female.
4.) Boy have b@lls. Females have a v@ginal opening. Females can have fat pads but those are not b@lls. Only females have n*pples. It is very rare for a rat to be inters3xed and for a male to have n*pples.

TEMPERMENT:
1.) NO well bred rat bites! Fingers smelling like food or being red/pink eyed is NOT an excuse. They know the difference! If your rat bites it IS aggressive. No rat bites food hard enough to equal making a person bleed.
2.) It does NOT take days/weeks for a well bred rat to decompress or get use to you. A well bred rat should be friendly and not be skittish from day one. If a rat is semi well bred a day or two may be needed. Anything over a week your rat is just poorly bred.
3.) If you want a well bred rat than buy from a reputable breeder.
4.)RED FLAGS:
** does not c*ll. Culling does not always mean euthanizing which is hard c*lling there is also soft c*lling which means to remive from the breeding program and keep as a pet.
** sells skittish or aggressive rats or sells pups from bucks or does who have aggression. If the female had maternal aggression the pups should NOT be sold as pets.
** boast about handling daily. Many breeders believe in masking which means the nurture (handling alot) masked the rats true nature. And when the rat goes to a new home they can resort back to their true nature of being skittish. A good breeder should NOT have to handle their rats daily for them to be friendly. Selective breeding makes a rat friendly. Reputable breeders handle only for health checks. And the ones who are naturally friendly and not skittish continue the line or get sold as pets.
** does not keep track of their lines.
** does NOT inbreed. If a "breeder" does not inbreed than stay FAR away. Inbreeding is essential in rat breeding. If anyone ever tells you inbreeding causes issues it just means they had poor quality rats. Rats can be in**ed for 100s of generations. It takes 20 gens for them to be identical.

05/27/2024

The rat room! 🥰 More pics/video in comments.

05/05/2024

My current babies. Going to be pairing in the next month or so.

04/27/2024

Share your other non rat pets 😊. Please no pics of rats with other species. Here is my kali-maa.🥰 She's such a good girl except for when she just tried to roll in some trash 🤢.

04/26/2024

The rat room!

04/10/2024

OMG! my one rat hitched a ride to the laundromat. I let my rats have free roam time for a couple to a few days at a time occasionally checking on them through the days. She some how stayed hidden carrying the basket to the car, ride to the laundromat. I usually take my dog with me on errands weather permitting so thank god i buckle her in cause she would of killed Zara.

04/08/2024

They grow up so fast! 15 were born April. 2, by april. 4th we were down to 12, then on April.7th we were down to 10. 5 boys and 5 girls. Since I am trying to breed out MA from this line I decided to cull down to 7 so I wouldnt risk loosing anymore girls. We now have 4 girls. 3 boys. Since im working on breeding out aggression this litter is not up for grabs.

04/02/2024

Okay I am going to talk about red flags/byb. When buying from a breeder here are some things to look out for.

1. Does not cull: culling is a must. If you have females with Ma the litter should be culled. as aggression is hereditary and males are at risk of having Ha if mom had MA.
2. Does not inbreed: rats can be in**ed for MANY MANY generations. Inbreeding is essential to keeping good lines. If a breeder says the dont inbreed because they had issues. It means they have/had issues with their stock.
3. Tells you they handle them a lot so they are friendly. I believe in masking. Well bred rats do not need handled a lot. If they have a good core temperament they will be a good rat with minimal handling. I handle all my rats the same. Just health checks. I dont carry them around or hold them a lot. It helps show who has a true good temperament. I cull the ones who are skittish, keep the ones who are friendly
4. Poor/improper husbandry
5. Does not keep track of lines.
6. Does not Holds rats back. To watch for ilnesses, aggression, how long the rats live.
7. Rehoming before 6 weeks min. Most breeders including myself wait until 8 weeks min.
8. Rehoming single rats
9. Cant s*x rats

I think of more I will update.

03/12/2024

*** NOT available ***

Beautiful day so I did a little photo shoot with my babies 💜💚💛

03/11/2024

So I am going to talk about cages. Im sure many are in the same groups I am and see ppl ise words like fossorial (to burrow) and arboreal (to climb) but not scansorial (the ability to climb). I have bred and owned many pet rats over the years and can tell you rats DO enjoy climb. Rats are mainly fossorial animals and a proper cage should have a large base (32x20 min), but also be tall enough to allow them the option to climb and stretch. You will also see ppl say rats only need .5-1 sq ft other 2-2.5 per rat. Others will say only 3 in a SCN This also depends on your rats, the size and activity level. Too small of a cage can cause stress especially if one of the rats is more dominate or aggressive. Ive had rats in a huge cage and all of them squeeze into one single noodle box. Rats do need space, but the amount does depend imo.

02/06/2024

Printer ran out of ink lol. Looks like I got a blaze! So cute 😍

01/29/2024

Update: Zoey had hers.
Zola and Zina were the first to have their litters. Zoey and Zaria should be having theirs soon. I will be holding some back for my breeding program, but if temperaments are good I will have some available in about 2 months. Expecting and may have available mink, beige, champange, black and blues rex and dumbos.