🌱 Husbandry 🌱
Before anything else, my rats are my pets! They are handled, loved, taken to the vet as they need it, and are spoiled rotten. My Rattery is smaller in comparison to other Rattery’s and so we produce litters less frequently but that is so I can take the time to properly evaluate and handle each litter. My rats are kept in 2 double critter nations in a 70 degree room with access to natural day and night cycles. They are fed Mazuri Rodent Breeder F6 which is a staple diet for many rat breeders. Rats are given a seed mix weekly as a treat and also get rat friendly treats from our kitchen such as egg, fruits, veggies, cereals, and pastas!
Pairings are carefully picked for their health and prime temperaments. Once a pairing is picked, they are housed together in a comfortable breeding bin until the female rat is pregnant. Once the litter is born, they are health checked and handled daily until they are 5 weeks of age and the sexes have to be separated from each other. The girls go into our female cage and the boys go into our male cage where they can be around our sweet adult rats who will teach them how to be a rat! We believe that breeding for great temperaments and also exposing our baby rats to all sorts of situations and stimulations is the best way to produce a confident, happy rat. |
Little Sprout Rattery is a CLOSED Rattery which means we do not allow any meetings prior to adoption. This is so our rats' environment is controlled and they are not exposed to potential illness, parasite, or disease that they can bring back to our colony. They are kept in a 70 degree room with an air purifier and a cage with plenty of ventilation. Our rats are also treated for parasites so they will not come carrying mites, rat lice, or any internal worm. Rats from outside the Rattery are purchased from other trusted Breeders and quarantined until they are deemed healthy and safe to introduce to the main cages.
Below are some examples of what the cages usually look like.