By Mary Ann Isaksen
I believe every hobby breeder has the best of intentions when they first make the decision to breed rats or mice for pet or show. However, somewhere along the line, many of those breeders lose sight of the fact that it was the love of the animals that brought them to the fancy to begin with. These breeders frequently find themselves overwhelmed, having too many animals, and being unable to care for them properly.
All too often, the show bench interferes with a breeder making the right decision for the animals in his care. Just like somebody becoming addicted to gambling, it is possible for a show breeder to become obsessed with winning ribbons. The competition is just too great for some people, and they will breed and breed and breed until they can finally beat that person who always takes home the Best In Show ribbon. I have even seen breeders of one species get involved with breeding another so they have more chances at winning ribbons. Yes, winning ribbons is fun, but it should not be the primary motivation for breeding any animal.
LOVE AND RESPONSIBILITY
If you aren’t breeding because you love the
animal, then you should not be breeding at all. Sadly, there are already enough
people out there producing reptile food. It is hypocritical to say you love
these animals and then turn around and sell your excess as “snake food,”
or to cull your litters down because you already “have too many and cannot
find homes for all of them.” If you love these animals, you need to take
a stand for their well-being and importance as a species, but most of all, as
pets. That means you must take responsibility for every animal you bring into
this world. With that in mind, let's talk about some of the things you need to
consider before you make the decision to start breeding, or to continue, if you
are already doing so.
FINANCIAL ASPECTS
We hear people say how inexpensive rats and mice are
to keep as pets. It is simply not true. You may be lucky enough to get a
healthy animal who never requires vet care, but
chances of that happening are slim. It is difficult enough when you have a few
rats or mice who require costly medical care, but what do you do when you have
a breeding colony of 20 to 100 or more animals? Can you afford to purchase
proper medication for that many animals? If not, and you under medicate, are
you creating a terrible antibiotic-resistant strain of some opportunistic
bacteria you have in your rattery or mousery and are passing it around to everyone else? Can you
afford to have tumors removed on every animal in your care that might get them?
Can you pay for an emergency c-section on a rat having birthing problems, or
any other surgeries or treatments that might be needed? With that many animals,
unless you are rich, your animals are not going to receive the medical care
they deserve.
In addition to medical care, the cost of housing and caring for the animals in your charge can be overwhelming. It is your responsibility to house each animal in conditions that are not only good for its physical health, but for its mental health as well. For rats, it is unacceptable to buy cheap aquariums or even expensive lab cages in which to house your animals. They are simply too small to allow room enough for toys and other items to provide mental stimulation. Large aquariums, or preferrably, safe large wire cages are required to give rats places to go and things to do to keep their minds occupied. These accomodations are also very expensive, costing anywhere from $50 to $200 each, not to mention the cost of toys to put in them! How many animals can you afford to buy cages and toys for?
You must also consider that healthy food and beddings are not cheap. Rats
and mice should be provided a good quality lab block as a base diet. They
should also be given fresh fruits and vegetables every day. Pregnant and
nursing females should also be provided with a good quality kitten kibble such
as Iams or Nutro, along
with much more of the daily foods you are already giving. It is not cheap to
feed that many animals, nor is it cheap to provide healthy beddings for that
many animals. For the health of the animals, bedding needs to be changed at
least once a week, depending on the size of the cage and the number of animals
housed in it. A mother rat with babies will likely need her cage cleaned even
more often - every couple of days. How many bags of CareFRESH,
Sani-chips, Gentle Touch, Cell Sorb,
or
Most people, unless they are rich, are on a budget and only have so much money per month to spend on hobbies, entertainment, and pets. We can all have unexpected expenses come up in any month that uses up some of that money as well - especially people with children. These things need to be considered and planned for. It is not acceptable not to provide care because you cannot afford it, or to put innocent animals in your charge at the bottom of your priority list. If you feel it is acceptable, then you should not have them - it is simply not fair. They did not choose to be in your care. Keep only the number of animals you can properly provide for.
TIME
In my experience, it is impossible to give more than 20 or so rats the love and
attention they need and deserve. At my highest numbers of over 50 (not counting
babies), it progressed to the point that many of my animals were not getting
much attention except at cage cleaning time, and I was a person who worked at
home and had more free time than the average person! I had become overwhelmed
and was heartbroken when I realized that my own animals were being neglected.
This realization was part of my decision to stop breeding and concentrate on
the rats already in my care, and on rescuing and placing abused and abandoned
rats in loving homes.
How much free time do you have? Do you work outside the home leaving only the evenings and weekends to care for and play with your rats? Calculate how much time you feel you can reasonably spend with your animals. If you have a husband or children the time will be even lower or you will cause resentment within the family. Once you have calculated how much time you can devote to your animals, subtract how much time it will take you to clean their cages, medicate them if necessary, prepare foods for them, or anything else that is necessary. How much time does that leave you each day to play with your rats or mice? Now, divide that amount of time between the number of animals you have. How much actual time will you be able to handle, play with, and love each rat or mouse? You also need to consider time needed to spend imprinting on each baby born in your care. It is imperative that you handle the babies daily to make them the best pets possible. Keep only the number of animals you can give enough love and attention to.
GENETICS
For many breeders, breeding is all about improving physical features (color,
body type, eye size, ears, head shape, markings, etc....) We all love to see a
beautiful show rat, but that should not be the most important factor in
breeding. Health and temperament should come first.
Most rats will end up with respiratory infections caused by Mycoplasma pulmonis at some point in their life. Many females will also end up with mammary tumors. Oftentimes, these health problems occur later in life after you have already bred the animal and have passed on its genes. Possibly even after the people who bought its offspring have bred them as well. Once you know that a line is not myco-resistant or tumor resistant, you can stop breeding rats from that line, but can you guarantee that everyone with their offspring will do the same? Simply put, do you want to be responsible for perpetuating animals with medical problems? This often leads to people ending their relationship with rats and mice as pets because they don't feel they can get a healthy animal, and the heartbreak and expense of going through the problems over and over are too much for them. I hear this all too often and it breaks my heart.
PLACING YOUR BABIES
If you are a breeder who loves his animals, placing
your babies into loving homes is going to be your goal. You may think that
because you spent so much time with them, the result being beautiful, healthy
animals with fabulous temperaments, that it is going
to be a breeze to accomplish this goal. Think again. Do you live in an area
where rats and mice are popular pets? If not, it will be almost impossible for
you to find homes for your babies. And even if you live where there is a chapter
of a rat or mouse club, there will be many other people breeding, and you will
have to compete for the few homes that are available.
What will you do if you cannot place all of them? Will you keep them? If you do and you continue to breed, in no time you will be overwhelmed with more animals than you can properly care for, which will lead to inhumane conditions. Out of desperation will you do something immediately inhumane and release them into the wild to fend for themselves where they may be tormented and killed by a cat, dog, or bird of prey or where they may starve to death? Will you dump them off at a pet shop that will ultimately sell them for reptile food? I certainly hope not. It is imperative that you are humane in every action you take when it comes to these innocent little lives.
Okay, so you were successful in placing each one of the babies in your litter into what you considered to be a loving home. That's fantastic. Now, every cage you own is filled to capacity and somebody who bought a couple of rats from you cannot keep them any longer and wants you to take them back. They tell you that if you can't take them they will release them outside, will take them to the pet shop, or will put them to sleep. It is your duty as a responsible breeder to take them back, but where do you put them? They may even need medical attention and you're at your limit. How do you pay for it?
How are you going to feel when you hear about, or see some of the animals you handled and loved from birth being kept in deplorable conditions and are not being given the medical treatment they require? What is going to happen to you emotionally when you discover animals that you handled and loved from birth have ended up as snake food? Can you live with the fact that offspring of animals you have produced may be purchased by someone who breeds them for reptile food?
I’ll never be able to forget the wonderful little Platinum boy from one of my litters years ago. I placed him into the home of a fellow club member - a home I thought was going to give him plenty of love and attention. I really wanted to keep him, but I knew the more I kept, the less attention the others would get, and the girl was so excited about getting him. I gave in and let her take him. The next time I saw her at a show, I asked how he was doing. She told me that she had decided not to breed him and had taken him to a pet shop. I was outraged, but there was nothing I could do except be sure to never give her another animal. I hate to think about it, but this kind of thing happens all the time. Can you handle that?
EDUCATION
As a responsible breeder it is also your duty to educate yourself as thoroughly
as possible about the care, medical conditions and treatments of the animals
you breed. It is recommended you join one of the rodent clubs so you can stay
up-to-date on the latest information. It is also your responsibility to answer
questions and help educate anyone who buys an animal from you. Do you have the
time and inclination to research and learn and to make yourself available when
people need you?
SELLING
There is no money to be made breeding rats and mice,
unless you breed reptile food, which is something no rat or mouse loving person
would do. Therefore, if you think you’re going to be able to make enough
money to pay for the upkeep of your animals, you're sadly mistaken. A small fee
should be charged for every animal you produce,
hopefully to ensure that the person who purchased it will respect it enough to
properly care for it, but that will never cover your costs. Count on having to
come out of pocket for the majority of your animal expenses.
BREEDING FOR FUN
If you're breeding a litter “just to see” what you will get, please
don’t. There are already enough unwanted rats and mice in the world who
are being put to sleep in shelters, sold as reptile food in pet stores, and
being abused in unloving homes. Please don't contribute to the problem.
If you’re breeding a litter because it would be educational for your classroom or for your own children to experience, remember that anything can go wrong and it may not be a joyful experience for the kids. In fact, it can be emotionally devastating if things do not go as planned. Also, the majority of rat and mouse births take place unobserved. You must also remember that any animal you breed may die in the birthing process. Can you live with being responsible for your pet's death?
CONCLUSION
If after reading this, you still want to breed, I hope
you will take care not to get out of control. The only way to be sure of that
is to breed only a small number of litters per year. If you specialize in one
type of rat or mouse, you can keep your lines going with very few annual
litters. I bred an average of one litter a month and managed to have a
population of over 50 in no time. It’s far too easy to get out of
control. You can be there before you even realize it. My conditions were never
horrible, but I was not able to give them the attention they deserved. However,
we have recently heard of many cases of rats and mice being kept in deplorable
conditions. Overcrowding is the most common and can lead to more horrible
conditions that I don't even want to describe. Please don’t let that
happen to the animals in your care.
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