PLEASE READ! When I filmed this video, my intention was to educate you on some of the issues with rats for sale on these websites, using examples and sharing my opinion of what could potentially be going on just from looking at the photos / description, and potentially warn you from buying from some of these sellers / similar ads. It didn't cross my mind how many of you would have bought your rats from these adverts already. Hearing your experiences (good or bad) has been valuable in getting an insight into what the conditions, health issues, and behavioural issues with these rats for sale are really like. I'm so sorry that some of you have had such a terrible experience with some of these specific ads, especially if you are a first time rat owner, having to navigate owning a new type of pet but also one that comes with a lot of health or behavioural issues, it's tough. I tried my best to edit out the names of these sellers, out of respect for not wanting to 'expose' some of their details, as my opinions are only my own and might not be 100% what is going on, but some of you have confirmed my suspicions about the conditions these rats are being bred in. Some of you have had positive experiences too and I'm really relieved! Just be careful and don't beat yourself up too much if you've purchased rats from one of these ads / or similar if you didn't know any better, we've all been there, and we can learn from it and have a more positive experience when getting our next rats! If you have any personal experience with any of the 'breeders' in these adverts (good or bad!) feel free to reply to this pinned comment with it, just to give a fair overview from those of you who have first hand experience!
Emiology The woman who was breeding from Eastleigh is an extremely well informed lady, and takes really good care of her animals.. I have had four babies from her and they’ve all been excellent health and temperaments, I’m pretty certain she said she won’t be breeding anymore and a few of the litters were accidents.. the babies I brought are of good health, the lady even bred rats for Marwell zoo :)) It’s better to not judge just from a picture. Like I said, she takes EXCELLENT care of her animals.. I even entrusted her to take one of my previous males, who after the death of a cage mate, became aggressive with my other males, and so I was forced to try and rehome him (after many attempts to solve the issues of course.) as I just don’t have the space to set up two cages or the money (at the time) to neuter him. ontop of that, I didn’t feel like keeping him on his own or attempting to introduce him to other males. So the lady took him for me, and she’s been taking good care of him for the last few months..
Emiology I brought my 3 boys from one of those breeders your showed, and they were like 1 month old so they weren’t with the mother anymore they were in 2 separate cages boys and girls I went to the boys and they were in a tub with a cage on top it looked pretty good to me and he said that his kids played with them everyday, I bought them for £10 each. At this moment in time they are 6 months old and all seem fine :)
Agreed. Just animals in general. I went to a pet store for some hay for my guinea pigs and saw a man buying ten goldfish, a betta and four plecos for a five gallon tank. (2L) As a fish keeper. This is a big No no. Common goldfish can get a foot long and need min of 50 gallons per. Plecos grow up to 3 feet. And betta fish need a heater, and will be eaten by theism fish. Why can’t we resurch, and care about animals. 😖😭
Yes! Me and my mom went to the pet store to get some items for my rats and my mom goes up to this fish in a small plastic container and says “I wonder if I can keep it in the container, I probably can” and I’m just thinking wtf you definitely can’t keep a fish in a very small plastic container
I knoow! Rats, mice, guinea pigs and HAMSTERS!! People dont respect these and they think they are small and dont need as much care as dogs for example. These are real living animals! TREAT THEM LIKE YOUR BABIES!
When the seller says that she can provide you with ‘pedigree information’ I’m pretty sure she is referring to a pedigree chart which is basically a family chart that shows the occurrence of a gene throughout the different generations, it’s basically used as a guide to help the breeder breed out certain genes from their lines.
Yes, when I was into the field of breeding Parrotlets, that is how some breeders did it too,when it came to pedigree. It was to show the genetic/family line and where/who it was bred from.
I saw a sketchy advert for rats, so phoned the number and asked lots of questions. I ended up with vague answers like ‘I can’t remember’ or ‘not sure’. I asked ‘why are you keeping your rats in a plastic box?’ and they hung up.
i think a series where you look at and react to these ads and break them down would be very educational and super helpful in promoting proper rat keeping!
Ugh I’m ashamed to admit that I fell for ads like this when I was first starting to own rats. Looking back, I should have confronted the breeder I got two of my girls from, because they sold them to us at only around 4 weeks old. I was new to rat owning so I had no idea they were so young; it took me getting them home and my friend seeing them to find out that they were so young. The breeder also didn’t show us the mum or anything, and the babies were in a plastic tub like in most of these pictures. I love both of the girls I bought from them immensely, they’re the sweetest girls, but I know I’ll never fall for ads like this ever again. Also one of the girls has had multiple health issues, so I imagine their genetics aren’t super good anyway. Thanks for making this video Emi, it’s good to educate people on not buying rats from ads like these!
Honestly don't worry, we've all been there and i fell for it too! I think it takes experiencing it to learn from it and not go down that path again, or from hearing others experiences so hopefully this will help a few first time rat owners not have the heart break of purchasing rats that end up dying young etc :(
I wish I had known how to find breeders when I got my first pair. I ended up buying an already pregnant female. Luckily, she was a really good mommy, and all the babies are really healthy.
The rats I owned when I was younger were from a pet shop but that's because my father could see how much I wanted them and he knew i'd take care of them, the reason my father wouldn't go to rat breeders is because he did attempt to purchase two dumbo sisters for me from a reputable breeder that he knew, however my father is a pest control technician (to clarify he is not cruel, and when my rats got sick he took them to the vet, he put a lot of money into them) the breeder wouldn't sell my dad these rats because they assumed that because of his job he would...I don't think i need to say it...anyway that breeder contacted all the other ones they knew and they wouldn't sell him rats either (which is wrong because he loved them as much as I did) so he was resorted to buying from a pet shop which he really didn't want to do but he didn't want to disappoint me. Sad part of it is my rats even from a pet shop lived nearly 3 1/2 years and they had a good life, even if one passed from cancer, we made her comfortable when nothing more could be done for her. The rats he tried to get from the breeder went to a school friend of mine and lasted around 4 weeks because she let them play with her dog (which is why I am a serious advocate for not letting so called "prey items" like rats mix with dogs or cats, because as cute and fluffy as your dogs and cats are to you, you're not natural prey and you don't look identical to a dog toy.)
Same! When I was young we always got them from pet stores.. Now I know better and get them from a breeder but they were actually all very sociable and lived quite long from what I remember.
Just going to comment I've recently brought 3 girls from the second breeder that had the long description - had absolutely no problems at all! She was telling me all about how she keeps many animals and is really into animal care and does educational parties about them etc. The girls I've got are so loving, straight away they were friendly and have had no problems at all. I was sceptical about getting rats from sites like these, but I recently lost one of my girls and had a lone rat that was really beginning to act differently so it was urgent that I got her some friends.
“I can’t quite figure out what food they’ve got in that bowl” Me: *squints* “hmm looks like peas or something” “It kinda looks like weed to me” Me: well... O.o
Please would you consider doing a video on some good examples? Mine came from a pet shop before I realised it was bad, because I was scared of local adverts.
You actually covered an ad I got my rats on aha. They’re a breeder and the rats currently have absolute no health problems. They were kept with such care and love and still are. 😅 also pictures of my rats were on this video lmao
I’m glad to know they have no health problems at the moment ☺️ hopefully it was from one of the better adverts I came across that just had slight wording in the description that when combined with other things is usually something to look out for
Emiology yeah :) im glad too. The people breeding were actually a self run pet store business and they have all their own animals for Sale which they breed in a wonderful way. They’re the tamest animals I’ve met and so affectionate. I was shocked to see my rats faces on this ad😂
A pedigree in itself can just be recorded lineage, so it can refer to rats as well as dogs; just not in the same sense as Kennelclub. Love these 'react to pet ad' videos. This is the first rat-specific one i've seen. :)
Whenecer I see concerning ads I get their address and report it to a shelter so they can let the person know that this isnt okay and help them, or if the pwner isnt willing to change, find them new homes
I agree with pretty much everything- but as someone that fostered a mama and her accidental litter- male babies can only stay with their mom’s until 5 weeks and some of the listings seemed to show babies older than that. And I found with my female that she seemed to get very stressed with her girls after 5 weeks as they were still trying to nurse when they should have been fully weaned by then so if she had shown any aggression towards them I would have definitely separated her babies from her. I think that those babies in the listings were probably living in those small bins- which is a shame. I don’t think you should breed rats if you don’t have the space to give them proper enrichment/care until they’re no longer yours. If they’re trying to sell or rehome babies, they should at least make the post presentable with detailed information regarding the care they’ve already been given to set a standard for potential buyers and posting a slightly more professional looking picture might make it seem less sketchy as well.
Agreed! And omg when i was searching for some of these ads again to make the thumbnail, i found another one where it was a tiny tub, babies that all seemed to be about 6/7 weeks old, and two adult rats. I'm presuming one of these adults was the father, and the other was the mother because she was already very pregnant again and literally about to pop :( so sad that they're having to live in a box, with no enrichment, and just continuously breeding back to back :(
I literally spent about 2 hours yesterday looking at rat adverts on those websites (I can’t yet buy rats) but was getting some practise of looking for good vs bad adverts, it’s so so sad some of the conditions rats are raised in, and also how many people are giving rats away after only owning them for a couple months and obviously not having done their research before hand. So it was a coincidence but also confirming to what I was thinking that you uploaded this video today :) I think you should do more videos like this in the future, but looking at other rat ages too
POV: You're driving to a breeder you've been talking to for 2 months, and you're really sure that they're great. You've been sitting in the car for an hour when you pull up into their driveway. You and your mom walk up to the door. You take a deep breath and ring the doorbell. The breeder opens the door and smiles, and they gesture for you to come inside. You and your mom walk inside their messy home. There's clothes everywhere, and there's trash all over the floor. "This way," the breeder says, walking into a room. You and your mom follow them into a big room full of tubs of baby rats. There's poop everywhere, and the conditions are horrible. You look at your mom with a frightened expression. "So which one do you want?" The breeder asks, picking up one of the baby rats by its tail and holding it up to you. You quickly took the rat out of her hand and held it gently. "Wait, you're letting me get one?" You ask. "You know you're supposed to get atleast-" as you're trying to explain the rules to the breeder, your mom puts her hand over your mouth. "We want six," your mom says. The breeder raises their eyebrows and gawks. "Okay! Which six??" They ask. Your mom looks at you. Situation 1 - you back out and try to tell your mom that you don't want to get rats from this breeder. (Scroll down a lot) Situation 2 - steal the rats! (Right below this) Situation 2: I choose to get a tub of six rats. "I just want this whole tub" you say, pointing down at a bin full of skinny little rats. "Okay! Can do!" The breeder says, picking up the tub and handing it to you. They get out a clipboard and look at it. "So.. six.. that will be..." They think for a moment, and you run out of their house carrying the tub of rats with your mom. You hop in the car as you see the breeder chasing after you. Your mom slams on the gas and you drive all the way to a rat rescue and leave the rats there. Situation 1: "Mom.. I don't wanna get my rats from here," you whisper in her ear. She makes an awkward face and looks at the breeder. "Hey, I think we'll probably need more time to think. We'll be going now," she says, her voice shaky. Your mom starts walking towards the door, and then the breeder says, "I don't think so," as they press a button on a remote that locks the doors. Your mom turns around, startled, and then the breeder pulls out a knife and holds it to your mom's neck. "You're going to buy my rats, no matter what I have to do!" They say. Then they kill both of you. Sorry i made this i just rlly felt like it
Unfortunately, me and my partner had a very bad experience with and old ad from the same advertiser you speak about at min 10:30 (the Warrington one) We contacted Mark (the “breeder”) through another ad he had before and he invited us to go visit him and see the babies. Once we got there, the conditions are way worse than what it looks like. Long story short, and our bad completely, we got three boys... though one of them happened to be a girl and I contacted him again to let him know and to rehome the girl as we could not keep her with all our boys without neutering her (and I rather not do that unless completely necessary) - after picking up the phone once, Mark promised us he would be meeting us to get the girl and since then... nothing! Thousands of calls, messages and we even went to his house but he ignored us completely, leaving us stressed and the poor baby on her own until we managed to find her a great home to live in. I have reported his ads on all websites I could but he has created different profiles and keep posting... DO NOT GET ANY RATS FROM THAT GUY IN WARRINGTON - rats live on very crowded cages or tubs and are given away before they should (3 and a half weeks and around then). (Sorry for the long comment, needed to warn everyone about this person)
So sorry you had to go through this ☹️ it makes making this video worthwhile despite the few who think people like this are fine - hopefully it prevents what happened to you happening again!
Thanks. This is really helpful. Researching ready to get a pair so I can make sure their home will be as good as possible. Your videos help and I am now researching breeders.
I got my past girls from a reptile breeder who breed them for food, and they were taken better care of than some of these babies. (The breeder told us we HAD to have more than one and was using an alright food)
Honestly, a lot of people who breed them for food will take pretty good care of them because they're still a living thing. Just because they're going to be fis that doesn't mean they don't deserve a good life. My feeder animals get exactly the same setup and food as my pets. Actually my feeder mice might have it even better than my pet rats Haha
Hi Emi :) I love your channel! I got my rats from pets at home and they where extremely friendly and staff would often hold them so they where very tame when I got them. I never knew it's better for rats to be bought from rescues or breeders, so thanks for mentioning that detail. I am glad my boys are fine after getting them from a pet shop :)
Oh no, this will be hard to watch. All my rats come from kijiji and i tend to get the ones worst off and give them a group and a large cage with plenty of interaction and toys. Im currently trying to get one of two who were dumped at a ladys house. She caught one but has no clue how to care for it. Im known to be the one to take in the badly injured or who have aggressive behaviours and work with them
Also on these websites 90% of the time i find them theyre accidentsl litters so there are barely anyone ive seen that claim to be breeders but would rather get the babies out because they didnt want that many
The_Blockster no worries! I avoid getting baby rats just because they have a way higher chance at a good home than the older guys i get, no one where i am actively breeds rats for kijiji luckily so i end up taking lone rats or pairs most of the time from people who just dont care for them
Me and my friend always check the pet adoption/selling sites during our breaks at college(we study animal care), thankyou so much for bringing this to the light❤
Omg I got babies from one of these breeders She directed us straight to her page to talk on as her account wouldn't let her send pics properly Our 6 babies are just amazing we keep going back 😂 Think she is waiting to be on the nfrs rat list and her and her family run a rescue and animal centre which is fab So worth the 2 hour drive Think some smaller breeders use these sites untill they are more known Best experience I've had when getting rats we got to spend time with them before we took them home, I've got 11 overall now as I lost one pets at home rat at 9 months old so definetly sticking to proper breeders
The one with the long description on pre loved She gave us so much information and still message her with questions She took such good photos she showed us when we was there And sent us videos of rats we was interested in, she spent a lot of time with us which was good as another place we went to wanted us in and out very quick so we missed out on asking questions we wanted like birthdays, if they was from same litter etc they had a lot tho they just let us pick whoever, But this good breeder We got 2 girls after one of ours died, they are lovely, we are following her page and saw rex litters so got 3 rex and a roan 2 she was going to keep but she offered them to us as we had shown previous interest in them and she said she was keeping others back for a different line She is so enthusiastic about genetics, lines and breeding healthy rats We had such great advice from her while we was there and she replies with loads of advice if u have questions about the rats
Your videos have informed me so much I was a about to get a single rat and a tiny cage from petco but after watching your videos I found a rescue, I'm getting 2 Dumbo rats (we're setting up a meet and greet soon) I have a list of all the items I'm getting for them including the cage that I'll be ordering online soon before I get my rats
Thank you so much for this, it's so useful! I am hoping to get rats soon so found your channel while I was researching and have watched most of your videos now 🤣
I got my three boys from a breeder, they feed both feeders and pets but both are bred well and cared for. I was able to see their setup as well. They made a comment about markings, which does they aren't just breeding for feeders. They only offered me a deal because I was interested in a hairless and they had a baby and the dad. Since the dad was so old they would've given me both for 20$. I declined and got three younger rats. The two furred Dumbo's were 10$ while the hairless was 15$. They are very sweet and healthy and warmed up to me very fast. Im very happy I choose the breeder I did :)
I think that the food in the plastic cup in one of the pictures around the 11 minute mark could be mashed peas, not a very suitable option of food for a rat.
I'm living in switzerland and I'm buying my rats from one of these sites you've mentioned in the first part. I had to skim through I bunch of weird listings but there are serious breeders on there. The one I chose required you to send a description of yourself and the place the rats will be living in before selling them to you. They also sell a minimum of 3 rats and wrote in their description that rats are highly intelligent and need a lot of care. They also provided photos of the litter. I feel like you can go to these sites to buy rats, but just really be careful to not just choose any vendor. Saw some concerning things on there unfortunately..
I'm getting rats very soon, next week soon, and being a teenager my mother obviously has most control were I'm getting my rats. I still cannot drive yet so its up to her how far therefore she has most control were I'm getting them. Most thing people do is search "Rats for sale" exactly what she did. This video has helped me a lot and I've been looking for signs. Lucky for us we found a nice breeder near us who has good reviews and does daily updates on facebook/instagram. :) I cannot wait to meet my babys.
I agree with what she says in terms of getting rats in same age pairs. I have 2 boys that are brothers, we later adopted an older male to join them because he was alone in his cage at the shop. Then we adopted a baby to go with them, at this point all the other boys were full grown. Ferguson(the baby) never had anyone to play with growing up because the other boys didn't want to play, now Ferguson is a little bit too aggressive and tries his hardest to be top rat (now that he's fully grown). He has accidentally injured one of the other boys while they were boxing, he got an eye infection. For now we have them separated in the pairs that most get along while he heals from his eye infection, but were are looking into getting Ferguson neutered if he continues to be aggressive. I really do believe this is because he was lonely while growing up, not having anyone to play rough with and did not transition well into a properly socialized rat. Please always getting a sibling pair. I did this with my first 4 rats and both the pairs are super happy, social rats. Learned from my mistakes, though sometimes it can be tough when you want to bring in a rescue. Never give up though, every pet rat should be able to live its happiest life.
I'm so glad that you shared this story because - as a breeder - I refuse to home out kittens not in same sex pairs of the same age for exactly this reason! Kittens are boisterous and annoying and need each other for their social development -- which is exactly what you've observed. Hi-five for being an observant rat parent and noticing the difference between your rats as they grew up!
I've decided to rewatch this video for whatever reason, I had wanted pet rats for the longest time but decided on a dog instead but you helped educate me on animal care and helped me improve the lives of other pets in the family thank you ❤❤
There are many rats and LOTS of mice (and all pets basically) looking for homes in rescues such as the RSPCA - this ensures that you get a vet checked animal from a reliable source and are giving a needed animal a home
I got my two girls on pets4homes but we went round to see them before getting them. So it is ok to get rats on these websites but make sure the breeder lets you come and see them first. The rats I got are beautiful and healthy. I love them so much :3
The link in description is no longer active. Thank you so much for this video. I only have one fancy rat certified breeder near me and she’s no longer breeding, the others are way way too far away, north-east of England doesn’t have as many options it seems, so I’ve been considering these websites and your video was really informative and helpful 🩷
Hi that gave me a lot of info, I am soon getting two male rats. They’re 6 months old. This is my first time owning rats and I have watched all your videos. Thank you so much for the care videos. When I told some of my friends I was getting rats they didn’t agree. I wish rats or just rodents in general were respected a bit more, they are so misunderstood. Btw the rats aren’t from an advertisement they are from a rescue and have been proven to be in good conditions. My mum also knows the person where we’re getting the rats from. 😊
Very important subject, and a great, informative video. Thank you, once again! I'm almost neurotically careful when looking for breeders online, and I've noticed that the search results tend to be much less shady when I type in something like "rat breeder + my country/location" "rat club/society + my country/location" or "rescue rats / rats for adoption + my country or location". This way I usually get the local rat club websites and direct websites of breeders among the first results. Using the word "fancy rat" and adding the official names of the colours, coat varieties and ear shapes can also help clean up the search results, specially if you want to skip the pet stores and craigslist - type sites altogether. Choosing a bunch of promising reputable breeders, and following them on social media helps with the "spy work" - and as a plus you often get first hand news about litters and "leftover" babies (as in, not reserved for anyone yet). And speaking about babies, I know that people often only associate breeders with newborn animals, but in reality, a network of reputable breeders can also be a great resource if you're looking to adopt an adult animal that needs rehoming. Responsible breeders usually want to get regular updates on their animals, and will also want to help with rehoming, if the owner needs to give up their pet for some reason - this is exactly how I found one of my adopted chinchillas :) P.s. Drinking game: take a shot every time I say "breeders" :D
Actually I got my rats from pets at home and they breeded Dumbo rats and we where aloud to look at them before we bought them and my rats are fine except one of the rats are really agressive
In my region of the US, basically all the hobby breeders and larger scale breeders I see with Facebook pages and websites charge differently depending on the genetics and often markings of their rats. I think the general mindset here is just different. Most of them meet all the other criteria you mention. I think that's interesting.
If they meet all the other criteria that’s okay! I think it’s when a breeder is hitting multiple warning signs that you’ve got to question whether they actually know what they’re doing and breeding rats. To me the pricing thing isn’t the worst thing in the world, like in one of the ads I showed, but if that was combined with them being in a tub, being sold alone and underaged that’s when I’d be like DEFINITELY not 😅
im a breeder and i do sell mine on a selling site. where im from its not really common to get them from anywhere else then a pet store. there are a lot of ratterys but most of them arnt great. my litters get out of the maternity cage around 3 weeks into a somewhat bigger cage, and when they are 4,5 weeks they need to be sepparated from male and females and then they go in normal housing cages, depending on how far the litter is i will give them hight and things to climb on, most liters are ready for that around 5 weeks old, when people buy from me they need to buy 2 or more, and when they come pich them up thay have to bring a carrier my rats dont get moved in boxes, if they dont have one they can buy one from me for 3 euros. they get a birth sertivicate and a goody bag with everything they will need the comming first 2 weeks. i also give them a small self made book on how to care for rats although i also do educate before selling the rats, but the book is just something they can fall back on when they have any questions, almost everything is covered in the book. if they still have questions they can always call or msg me. the only thing i dont do is let people come lookwhen they are not ready to go yet, this is because next to the breeding my life is very bussy and i just dont have the time for that. with pick up day they can ask and see everything also the pregnancy details of the mom rat. all my females that i want to breed have 2 litters MAX most of them have 1. before someone can take the rats i do need a picture of their cage so that they dont end up in a way to small cage. th reason that i sell on those websites is because i didnt get any buyers from my website and facebook, people here are just not well educated on rats. and you cant breed without getting the rittens a new home, that would be way way way to many rats hahaha. well... maybe? hahah
I bought my two boys from a breeder who first told me everything about their care and wanted to see the cage i would put them in. BUT he told me i should keep them in a tub (which i didn't) for the first few weeks to make them tame really fast.
I rescued 3 girls from the shelter. Best choice I made for them. They are non-biting and such sweethearts. When i was leaving someone seen me smiling at the pet carrier. They asked if it was cat or dog. I said 3 rats and their eyes almost popped out their head lol. Poor things were there for such a long time.
Just keep in mind not all of us have the option of buying from a breeder or using a rescue. My old city was hours away from any breeder and the shelter didn't get rodents.
@@Emiology I mean our shelter didn't adopt small animals at all, even if someone surrendered them. And people in that area didn't really rehome rodents.
I hot my boys today! They're so cute and lovely and beautiful and their cage is wonderful but they're very skittish how long should I leave it before I start taming them?
Heather Parramint id day at least give them a few days in their enclosure without touching them but spend time around the cage talk to them some and maybe even offer them a treat. As much as we all want to love our animals when we first get them it’s never worth stressing them out. Good luck!
I am getting my rats from DFW rat rescue I think they are a very good shelter because I have read the reviews and people say they are held a lot and are in good condition so I will be going there and I am super happy and I definitely want more people to go there
hi, i am interested in adopting rats and the foster mom of a rat I am interested in adopting says the rat has been alone his whole life and could/should be kept alone. He is very sweet and not aggressive towards me. any advice?
I don’t know if you already did a video on mice but I’m looking for a place to get a new pet mouse. I live in Arizona so it’s a bit hard. If you have any recommendations of what type of place to get them from please do tell. P.s I love your channel thank you for helping me decide to get a mouse! Keep the good work up! ❤️
I have to get my rats from a pet store because my closes breeder and rescue is 4 hours away and my mom said she is not traveling that far so I do have to get it from a pet store😰
You don’t have to own rats, but it’s up to you whether you want rats from a pet store or not. If I could not get a breeder or rescue I would choose not to own rats 🙂
I’m getting my 3 rats from a nice breeder in 4 weeks!! X she is reputable, but she just puts a couple pictures on preloved. But she also has a Facebook page but she uses preloved just to get them out there a bit. Her living conditions are great and she’s so caring for them and also advises not to get any from people in bad conditions xx and also she knows all the proper names so it’s not just “dark grey”😂 I’m having a cinnamon boy top ear. A Broken Black hooded dumbo Rex. And a Russian blue smooth coat top ear!
there are websites that allow breeders to document their rats pedigree for genetic purposes and documenting stuff. There are rat groups and shows but not everywhere. :( I wish more of them.
Pedigree & registered are two differant thangs. You are confusing them. Pedigree means you know & have records of at least 3 generashions. Registered means they are registered with a club.
I was hoping for some advice if i may, i have had 10 rats in my time and one Lilly has who is now 8 months seems to have had a respiratory infection since ive had her as a kit. Shes had baytril, doxycyline, meticam and a humidifier with f10 solution pretty much all her life. I have an exotic vet who is now saying it could be sonthing wrong with her lungs and theyd like to xray. Although she is poorly she is still happy eating, playing wrestling just like my other girls, im reluctant to put her under with the risk if she is doing mostly ok now. Have you come across this before at all?
I got a boy rat labeled as "rare blue rat", when he is actually just a Russian Blue one. but him being that "rare" colour pulled me in, and i spent £40 on him.....lol. he was the most expensive of the whole litter. the rest were £25
Hi!!! I have a rat question, what can you feed rats less than 6 months? I’m getting 2 baby feeder rats and I already have the adult oxbow food, and I don’t know what to feed them right now. They only have Oxbow adult so do I just crush it up and add some meat baby food for extra protein? (I know this video is fully dedicated to saying no pet stores, my nearest breeder is 1 day away and craigslist has no rats on there)
Hard boiled eggs are a huge favorite, fresh fruits and veggies, and porridge! They love the Heinz baby rice cereal I think its a bit sweeter than then other baby foods. Cooked corn on the cob the LOVE too.
People are such scum-bag's when selling rats and animals, I hate looking to buy new rats because it's sad seeing the neglect in their pictures. I get tempted to just buy them to save them from their poor environment.
I haven't had any rats for a few years because I adopted a dog and when my last two rats died I decided to take a break from them. I got my rats from people who no longer wanted them.
I like the information you're giving here. Only thing I wish you could have done is add at least one ad that you would think is good. It's great to know what to avoid but it is nice to see what looks good too. I know you keep telling us what you wish they would do but I would've liked to see one good add.
I didn’t see any good ads from good breeders at the time of looking but I’ve since seen a few reputable breeders I know advertising on there as good examples!
I have seen lots of rats on Craigslist and most of them are so sad. I’ve seen them in 10 gallon tanks, hamster cages (not suitable for hamster), and by themselves. Unfortunately my mom hates rats so I will not get any living with my mom. But my friend (who I plan to go to college with and hopefully share an apartment with bc we both have animals that will live while we are in college ((bunnies, guinea pigs, leopard geckos, toads, ect)) and we have decided that when we are financially stable we will adopt some rats because we are both in similar situations with our mothers. For now we will just research:)
We got our rats from the first advert you showed on Preloved I don't wanna write too much about them as that could be seen as bashing but as a first time rat owner I'm not impressed with them particularly. One is almost completely blind (something she didn't think to tell us until we brought it up a couple of weeks after buying) and is super skitty because of it, the other is cage aggressive. We have a third rat from pets at home (she was a gift) and she's nicer and more tame then the two we got from the breeder.
@@Emiology it's alright. It was kind of a rush (partner's parents bought us the pet store one as a gift, not knowing they shouldn't be alone) it was the only place we could find that had female rats the right age. Definitely not the vets first experience with them tho
@@Ry-ri6xk Thank you for your insight though! I don't know if you've seen but a few others have commented having had positive experiences with this breeder so it's interesting to see a range of different experiences. Don't feel bad about it though, i've been in a similar position, one of my first rats died suddenly, at just over a year, leaving my other rat alone. I tried every rescue in the area, contacted about 10 registered breeders that I could travel to, and none had babies or even adults available to add in with my lone male who was becoming increasingly depressed, so i had to source my rats from a breeder that wasn't registered. I'm lucky that my boys are 18 months now and don't have health issues and haven't so far, but when i went to pick them up some things about the breeder bothered me (she didnt allow me to see her rat room or other rats), but i couldn't say no and go home empty handed because my other rat was alone and depressed. It could have been a lot worse, but I've learnt from it and have plans in place to make sure I always have new rats coming in to ensure I never end up in the same situation! And from much better sources!
@@Emiology anytime. Yeah we asked about her online in the rat groups and got told by loads of people that they got lovely rats from her. I feel like we were just unlucky. Oh wow :( I'm so sorry that really sucks. That must have bee difficult We tried so many different options too, but only found one other place with young females (other than the breeder we got our two from) but something about the way they spoke about the rats gave us weird vibes. I will say that they both seem healthy, like the pink eyed one is almost completely blind but they both have healthy appetites, are nice and big (genuinely double the size of the pet shop one), they came to us with nice soft, shiny fur and a good weight. They haven't had any issues with their breathing or anything along those lines, either. For someone who was experienced with rats they probs would have been fine. But I'm kind of nervous of them (they're actually my partner's) so I don't think that helps really 😂 I'm more into hamsters and guinea pigs
I am looking for a rat cage on my local page and the amount of rats bought at the beginning of the pandemic being sold worries me... I mean it's better to sell them than to set them free, but some are just 1-1.5 years old. It's not like they will need your attention for 10 more years :( also some of them seemed to be in a cold shed which is very worrying
It's sad but I'm glad people are selling them now rather than leaving them to naturally have one pass away and then leave the other by themselves with no attention, especially if they're already bored of them!
@@Emiology that is absolutely true!! It just reminds me of all the dogs/cats and other pets that have been dumped (in a shelter or on the side of the road) lately because people stopped having nothing to do... So sad
Hello! I k is this is off topic. I have separated parents. And I’m getting rats at my moms house. During the school year I am with my mom on weekdays and dads on weekends. During summer I am with my dads for a week and moms for a week. Any help? My mom would feet and care for the rats but would not play with them.
I got my first pair of rats from gumtree and they were kept in a filing cabinet which we thought was terrible however I got my second pair of rats from preloved and they were kept in cages and we saw the mother and father and they r lovely but rlly shy however my first pair weren’t shy so could u do a vid on how to tame skittish rats coz idk what to do ??? 😍😍
Hey! I have a question. A litter of rats I’ve seen an ad on Preloved saying that the dad is a double res and the mum is a standard fur rat but they said the babies will be standard. I don’t think this is correct tho do u?
Hi I love your video's so much! but I have a question for you.. I know you have mice and rats as your pets. Now I have just read that mice and rats are natural enemies and they can get anxious by smelling each other. My question is how you handle that? Do you keep them in different rooms or how? Asking since I own mice and rats myself. Best regards, Dannique
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
PLEASE READ!
When I filmed this video, my intention was to educate you on some of the issues with rats for sale on these websites, using examples and sharing my opinion of what could potentially be going on just from looking at the photos / description, and potentially warn you from buying from some of these sellers / similar ads. It didn't cross my mind how many of you would have bought your rats from these adverts already.
Hearing your experiences (good or bad) has been valuable in getting an insight into what the conditions, health issues, and behavioural issues with these rats for sale are really like. I'm so sorry that some of you have had such a terrible experience with some of these specific ads, especially if you are a first time rat owner, having to navigate owning a new type of pet but also one that comes with a lot of health or behavioural issues, it's tough.
I tried my best to edit out the names of these sellers, out of respect for not wanting to 'expose' some of their details, as my opinions are only my own and might not be 100% what is going on, but some of you have confirmed my suspicions about the conditions these rats are being bred in. Some of you have had positive experiences too and I'm really relieved!
Just be careful and don't beat yourself up too much if you've purchased rats from one of these ads / or similar if you didn't know any better, we've all been there, and we can learn from it and have a more positive experience when getting our next rats!
If you have any personal experience with any of the 'breeders' in these adverts (good or bad!) feel free to reply to this pinned comment with it, just to give a fair overview from those of you who have first hand experience!
Emiology
The woman who was breeding from Eastleigh is an extremely well informed lady, and takes really good care of her animals.. I have had four babies from her and they’ve all been excellent health and temperaments, I’m pretty certain she said she won’t be breeding anymore and a few of the litters were accidents.. the babies I brought are of good health, the lady even bred rats for Marwell zoo :)) It’s better to not judge just from a picture. Like I said, she takes EXCELLENT care of her animals.. I even entrusted her to take one of my previous males, who after the death of a cage mate, became aggressive with my other males, and so I was forced to try and rehome him (after many attempts to solve the issues of course.) as I just don’t have the space to set up two cages or the money (at the time) to neuter him. ontop of that, I didn’t feel like keeping him on his own or attempting to introduce him to other males. So the lady took him for me, and she’s been taking good care of him for the last few months..
Emiology I brought my 3 boys from one of those breeders your showed, and they were like 1 month old so they weren’t with the mother anymore they were in 2 separate cages boys and girls I went to the boys and they were in a tub with a cage on top it looked pretty good to me and he said that his kids played with them everyday, I bought them for £10 each. At this moment in time they are 6 months old and all seem fine :)
I’m really looking a rat! This is so so helpful thank you so much I’m learning from your content!! 🥰
I wish more people would respect rodents in general.
Agreed. Just animals in general. I went to a pet store for some hay for my guinea pigs and saw a man buying ten goldfish, a betta and four plecos for a five gallon tank. (2L)
As a fish keeper. This is a big No no. Common goldfish can get a foot long and need min of 50 gallons per. Plecos grow up to 3 feet. And betta fish need a heater, and will be eaten by theism fish. Why can’t we resurch, and care about animals. 😖😭
The Soulful Equine omg ten goldfish?! 😭😭😭 I have one baby fantail goldfish in a ten gallon as a **temporary** tank
Yes! Me and my mom went to the pet store to get some items for my rats and my mom goes up to this fish in a small plastic container and says “I wonder if I can keep it in the container, I probably can” and I’m just thinking wtf you definitely can’t keep a fish in a very small plastic container
Yes my gerbils are THE CUTEST when they're cleaning each other and cuddling up against one another
I knoow! Rats, mice, guinea pigs and HAMSTERS!! People dont respect these and they think they are small and dont need as much care as dogs for example. These are real living animals! TREAT THEM LIKE YOUR BABIES!
Very informative. I feel sorry for the rats in poor living conditions though
I know! I want to adopt rats even more when I see that they’re not getting taken care of :(
When the seller says that she can provide you with ‘pedigree information’ I’m pretty sure she is referring to a pedigree chart which is basically a family chart that shows the occurrence of a gene throughout the different generations, it’s basically used as a guide to help the breeder breed out certain genes from their lines.
Yes, when I was into the field of breeding Parrotlets, that is how some breeders did it too,when it came to pedigree. It was to show the genetic/family line and where/who it was bred from.
I saw a sketchy advert for rats, so phoned the number and asked lots of questions. I ended up with vague answers like ‘I can’t remember’ or ‘not sure’. I asked ‘why are you keeping your rats in a plastic box?’ and they hung up.
That’s pretty sad.
i think a series where you look at and react to these ads and break them down would be very educational and super helpful in promoting proper rat keeping!
Ugh I’m ashamed to admit that I fell for ads like this when I was first starting to own rats. Looking back, I should have confronted the breeder I got two of my girls from, because they sold them to us at only around 4 weeks old. I was new to rat owning so I had no idea they were so young; it took me getting them home and my friend seeing them to find out that they were so young. The breeder also didn’t show us the mum or anything, and the babies were in a plastic tub like in most of these pictures. I love both of the girls I bought from them immensely, they’re the sweetest girls, but I know I’ll never fall for ads like this ever again. Also one of the girls has had multiple health issues, so I imagine their genetics aren’t super good anyway. Thanks for making this video Emi, it’s good to educate people on not buying rats from ads like these!
Honestly don't worry, we've all been there and i fell for it too! I think it takes experiencing it to learn from it and not go down that path again, or from hearing others experiences so hopefully this will help a few first time rat owners not have the heart break of purchasing rats that end up dying young etc :(
My heart is aching for these poor rats :’( I would adopt them all in a heartbeat if I could
Hey can you do a video about the questions you should ask breeders? That would be great. Good video by the way.
I wish I had known how to find breeders when I got my first pair. I ended up buying an already pregnant female. Luckily, she was a really good mommy, and all the babies are really healthy.
Same here , I got one girl that was pregnant even though they said she was “alone” for months.
Aww.... what do you do when this happens? Omg
The rats I owned when I was younger were from a pet shop but that's because my father could see how much I wanted them and he knew i'd take care of them, the reason my father wouldn't go to rat breeders is because he did attempt to purchase two dumbo sisters for me from a reputable breeder that he knew, however my father is a pest control technician (to clarify he is not cruel, and when my rats got sick he took them to the vet, he put a lot of money into them) the breeder wouldn't sell my dad these rats because they assumed that because of his job he would...I don't think i need to say it...anyway that breeder contacted all the other ones they knew and they wouldn't sell him rats either (which is wrong because he loved them as much as I did) so he was resorted to buying from a pet shop which he really didn't want to do but he didn't want to disappoint me.
Sad part of it is my rats even from a pet shop lived nearly 3 1/2 years and they had a good life, even if one passed from cancer, we made her comfortable when nothing more could be done for her. The rats he tried to get from the breeder went to a school friend of mine and lasted around 4 weeks because she let them play with her dog (which is why I am a serious advocate for not letting so called "prey items" like rats mix with dogs or cats, because as cute and fluffy as your dogs and cats are to you, you're not natural prey and you don't look identical to a dog toy.)
Same! When I was young we always got them from pet stores.. Now I know better and get them from a breeder but they were actually all very sociable and lived quite long from what I remember.
Rats only live about 2½ years, 3 us pushing it. I don't really believe they lived that kin,g but my apologies if I'm wrong.
Just going to comment I've recently brought 3 girls from the second breeder that had the long description - had absolutely no problems at all! She was telling me all about how she keeps many animals and is really into animal care and does educational parties about them etc. The girls I've got are so loving, straight away they were friendly and have had no problems at all. I was sceptical about getting rats from sites like these, but I recently lost one of my girls and had a lone rat that was really beginning to act differently so it was urgent that I got her some friends.
“I can’t quite figure out what food they’ve got in that bowl”
Me: *squints* “hmm looks like peas or something”
“It kinda looks like weed to me”
Me: well... O.o
Please could you do a video of some breeders you would recommend throughout the UK.
Please would you consider doing a video on some good examples? Mine came from a pet shop before I realised it was bad, because I was scared of local adverts.
You actually covered an ad I got my rats on aha. They’re a breeder and the rats currently have absolute no health problems. They were kept with such care and love and still are. 😅 also pictures of my rats were on this video lmao
I’m glad to know they have no health problems at the moment ☺️ hopefully it was from one of the better adverts I came across that just had slight wording in the description that when combined with other things is usually something to look out for
Emiology yeah :) im glad too. The people breeding were actually a self run pet store business and they have all their own animals for Sale which they breed in a wonderful way. They’re the tamest animals I’ve met and so affectionate. I was shocked to see my rats faces on this ad😂
Which ad was it? Was it the last one? I'm just curios
@@cheyenne5926 I am interested to know where too. Id like to maybe get a very tame baby mouse.
@@cheyenne5926 you will say which ad it was
A pedigree in itself can just be recorded lineage, so it can refer to rats as well as dogs; just not in the same sense as Kennelclub. Love these 'react to pet ad' videos. This is the first rat-specific one i've seen. :)
Whenecer I see concerning ads I get their address and report it to a shelter so they can let the person know that this isnt okay and help them, or if the pwner isnt willing to change, find them new homes
I agree with pretty much everything- but as someone that fostered a mama and her accidental litter- male babies can only stay with their mom’s until 5 weeks and some of the listings seemed to show babies older than that. And I found with my female that she seemed to get very stressed with her girls after 5 weeks as they were still trying to nurse when they should have been fully weaned by then so if she had shown any aggression towards them I would have definitely separated her babies from her. I think that those babies in the listings were probably living in those small bins- which is a shame. I don’t think you should breed rats if you don’t have the space to give them proper enrichment/care until they’re no longer yours. If they’re trying to sell or rehome babies, they should at least make the post presentable with detailed information regarding the care they’ve already been given to set a standard for potential buyers and posting a slightly more professional looking picture might make it seem less sketchy as well.
Agreed! And omg when i was searching for some of these ads again to make the thumbnail, i found another one where it was a tiny tub, babies that all seemed to be about 6/7 weeks old, and two adult rats. I'm presuming one of these adults was the father, and the other was the mother because she was already very pregnant again and literally about to pop :( so sad that they're having to live in a box, with no enrichment, and just continuously breeding back to back :(
I got my rats from somebody who kept them this way, but your videos really helped me improve and now they're a lot happier and healthier
I just got my two baby’s because of your videos! They helped me so much with research and I’m so glad I found your channel!
I literally spent about 2 hours yesterday looking at rat adverts on those websites (I can’t yet buy rats) but was getting some practise of looking for good vs bad adverts, it’s so so sad some of the conditions rats are raised in, and also how many people are giving rats away after only owning them for a couple months and obviously not having done their research before hand. So it was a coincidence but also confirming to what I was thinking that you uploaded this video today :) I think you should do more videos like this in the future, but looking at other rat ages too
POV:
You're driving to a breeder you've been talking to for 2 months, and you're really sure that they're great. You've been sitting in the car for an hour when you pull up into their driveway. You and your mom walk up to the door. You take a deep breath and ring the doorbell. The breeder opens the door and smiles, and they gesture for you to come inside. You and your mom walk inside their messy home. There's clothes everywhere, and there's trash all over the floor. "This way," the breeder says, walking into a room. You and your mom follow them into a big room full of tubs of baby rats. There's poop everywhere, and the conditions are horrible. You look at your mom with a frightened expression. "So which one do you want?" The breeder asks, picking up one of the baby rats by its tail and holding it up to you. You quickly took the rat out of her hand and held it gently. "Wait, you're letting me get one?" You ask. "You know you're supposed to get atleast-" as you're trying to explain the rules to the breeder, your mom puts her hand over your mouth. "We want six," your mom says. The breeder raises their eyebrows and gawks. "Okay! Which six??" They ask. Your mom looks at you.
Situation 1 - you back out and try to tell your mom that you don't want to get rats from this breeder. (Scroll down a lot)
Situation 2 - steal the rats! (Right below this)
Situation 2:
I choose to get a tub of six rats. "I just want this whole tub" you say, pointing down at a bin full of skinny little rats. "Okay! Can do!" The breeder says, picking up the tub and handing it to you. They get out a clipboard and look at it. "So.. six.. that will be..." They think for a moment, and you run out of their house carrying the tub of rats with your mom. You hop in the car as you see the breeder chasing after you. Your mom slams on the gas and you drive all the way to a rat rescue and leave the rats there.
Situation 1:
"Mom.. I don't wanna get my rats from here," you whisper in her ear. She makes an awkward face and looks at the breeder. "Hey, I think we'll probably need more time to think. We'll be going now," she says, her voice shaky. Your mom starts walking towards the door, and then the breeder says, "I don't think so," as they press a button on a remote that locks the doors. Your mom turns around, startled, and then the breeder pulls out a knife and holds it to your mom's neck. "You're going to buy my rats, no matter what I have to do!" They say. Then they kill both of you.
Sorry i made this i just rlly felt like it
Audrey With A B why
this was... a rollercoaster.
@@freethegays omfg i forgot about this akakkcv 😭😭😭
I actually had this happen....
@@aLiCe-ex4rh did you die 😏
Super informative video. A lot of these red flags can apply to other animals listed on these sorts of sites as well!
Unfortunately, me and my partner had a very bad experience with and old ad from the same advertiser you speak about at min 10:30 (the Warrington one)
We contacted Mark (the “breeder”) through another ad he had before and he invited us to go visit him and see the babies. Once we got there, the conditions are way worse than what it looks like.
Long story short, and our bad completely, we got three boys... though one of them happened to be a girl and I contacted him again to let him know and to rehome the girl as we could not keep her with all our boys without neutering her (and I rather not do that unless completely necessary) - after picking up the phone once, Mark promised us he would be meeting us to get the girl and since then... nothing! Thousands of calls, messages and we even went to his house but he ignored us completely, leaving us stressed and the poor baby on her own until we managed to find her a great home to live in.
I have reported his ads on all websites I could but he has created different profiles and keep posting... DO NOT GET ANY RATS FROM THAT GUY IN WARRINGTON - rats live on very crowded cages or tubs and are given away before they should (3 and a half weeks and around then).
(Sorry for the long comment, needed to warn everyone about this person)
So sorry you had to go through this ☹️ it makes making this video worthwhile despite the few who think people like this are fine - hopefully it prevents what happened to you happening again!
Thanks. This is really helpful. Researching ready to get a pair so I can make sure their home will be as good as possible. Your videos help and I am now researching breeders.
I got my past girls from a reptile breeder who breed them for food, and they were taken better care of than some of these babies. (The breeder told us we HAD to have more than one and was using an alright food)
Honestly, a lot of people who breed them for food will take pretty good care of them because they're still a living thing. Just because they're going to be fis that doesn't mean they don't deserve a good life. My feeder animals get exactly the same setup and food as my pets. Actually my feeder mice might have it even better than my pet rats Haha
Hi Emi :) I love your channel! I got my rats from pets at home and they where extremely friendly and staff would often hold them so they where very tame when I got them. I never knew it's better for rats to be bought from rescues or breeders, so thanks for mentioning that detail. I am glad my boys are fine after getting them from a pet shop :)
Yeah, all chain petstores get them from mills :(
@@sjsosokdksksk even pets at home that'a sooooo sad :-(:-(:-(:-(😢😢😢😭
Oh no, this will be hard to watch. All my rats come from kijiji and i tend to get the ones worst off and give them a group and a large cage with plenty of interaction and toys. Im currently trying to get one of two who were dumped at a ladys house. She caught one but has no clue how to care for it. Im known to be the one to take in the badly injured or who have aggressive behaviours and work with them
Also on these websites 90% of the time i find them theyre accidentsl litters so there are barely anyone ive seen that claim to be breeders but would rather get the babies out because they didnt want that many
Those rats are very lucky to have you! Make sure not to support the breeders by giving buying loads of rats from them. Good job though!!
The_Blockster no worries! I avoid getting baby rats just because they have a way higher chance at a good home than the older guys i get, no one where i am actively breeds rats for kijiji luckily so i end up taking lone rats or pairs most of the time from people who just dont care for them
Ok, that’s amazing! Not many people would do that, those rats you save are so unbelievably lucky 🍀
The_Blockster thanks! My animals are my everything so anyone i can save and look after, i will:)
I'm pretty certain that the second advert wasn't using any of its own photos
Me and my friend always check the pet adoption/selling sites during our breaks at college(we study animal care), thankyou so much for bringing this to the light❤
Omg I got babies from one of these breeders
She directed us straight to her page to talk on as her account wouldn't let her send pics properly
Our 6 babies are just amazing we keep going back 😂
Think she is waiting to be on the nfrs rat list and her and her family run a rescue and animal centre which is fab
So worth the 2 hour drive
Think some smaller breeders use these sites untill they are more known
Best experience I've had when getting rats we got to spend time with them before we took them home, I've got 11 overall now as I lost one pets at home rat at 9 months old so definetly sticking to proper breeders
Which one? :o
It's good that you've had a positive experience though!
The one with the long description on pre loved
She gave us so much information and still message her with questions
She took such good photos she showed us when we was there
And sent us videos of rats we was interested in, she spent a lot of time with us which was good as another place we went to wanted us in and out very quick so we missed out on asking questions we wanted like birthdays, if they was from same litter etc they had a lot tho they just let us pick whoever,
But this good breeder
We got 2 girls after one of ours died, they are lovely, we are following her page and saw rex litters so got 3 rex and a roan
2 she was going to keep but she offered them to us as we had shown previous interest in them and she said she was keeping others back for a different line
She is so enthusiastic about genetics, lines and breeding healthy rats
We had such great advice from her while we was there and she replies with loads of advice if u have questions about the rats
Your videos have informed me so much
I was a about to get a single rat and a tiny cage from petco but after watching your videos I found a rescue, I'm getting 2 Dumbo rats (we're setting up a meet and greet soon) I have a list of all the items I'm getting for them including the cage that I'll be ordering online soon before I get my rats
This makes me so happy to hear!
Thank you so much for this, it's so useful! I am hoping to get rats soon so found your channel while I was researching and have watched most of your videos now 🤣
I got my three boys from a breeder, they feed both feeders and pets but both are bred well and cared for. I was able to see their setup as well. They made a comment about markings, which does they aren't just breeding for feeders. They only offered me a deal because I was interested in a hairless and they had a baby and the dad. Since the dad was so old they would've given me both for 20$. I declined and got three younger rats. The two furred Dumbo's were 10$ while the hairless was 15$. They are very sweet and healthy and warmed up to me very fast. Im very happy I choose the breeder I did :)
@ 11:30, I think the "food" they have in there is just dried peas and lentils. They probably bought some sort of mix from a grocery store
I think that the food in the plastic cup in one of the pictures around the 11 minute mark could be mashed peas, not a very suitable option of food for a rat.
I’m driving three hours on Saturday to pick up a rat from a reputable breeder. Thank you for your insight.
I'm living in switzerland and I'm buying my rats from one of these sites you've mentioned in the first part. I had to skim through I bunch of weird listings but there are serious breeders on there. The one I chose required you to send a description of yourself and the place the rats will be living in before selling them to you. They also sell a minimum of 3 rats and wrote in their description that rats are highly intelligent and need a lot of care. They also provided photos of the litter. I feel like you can go to these sites to buy rats, but just really be careful to not just choose any vendor. Saw some concerning things on there unfortunately..
I'm getting rats very soon, next week soon, and being a teenager my mother obviously has most control were I'm getting my rats. I still cannot drive yet so its up to her how far therefore she has most control were I'm getting them.
Most thing people do is search "Rats for sale" exactly what she did.
This video has helped me a lot and I've been looking for signs.
Lucky for us we found a nice breeder near us who has good reviews and does daily updates on facebook/instagram. :) I cannot wait to meet my babys.
It's so sad rats deserve so much more Emi you are so kind to highlight this issue 😢🐀♥️
I agree with what she says in terms of getting rats in same age pairs. I have 2 boys that are brothers, we later adopted an older male to join them because he was alone in his cage at the shop. Then we adopted a baby to go with them, at this point all the other boys were full grown. Ferguson(the baby) never had anyone to play with growing up because the other boys didn't want to play, now Ferguson is a little bit too aggressive and tries his hardest to be top rat (now that he's fully grown). He has accidentally injured one of the other boys while they were boxing, he got an eye infection. For now we have them separated in the pairs that most get along while he heals from his eye infection, but were are looking into getting Ferguson neutered if he continues to be aggressive.
I really do believe this is because he was lonely while growing up, not having anyone to play rough with and did not transition well into a properly socialized rat. Please always getting a sibling pair. I did this with my first 4 rats and both the pairs are super happy, social rats. Learned from my mistakes, though sometimes it can be tough when you want to bring in a rescue. Never give up though, every pet rat should be able to live its happiest life.
I'm so glad that you shared this story because - as a breeder - I refuse to home out kittens not in same sex pairs of the same age for exactly this reason! Kittens are boisterous and annoying and need each other for their social development -- which is exactly what you've observed. Hi-five for being an observant rat parent and noticing the difference between your rats as they grew up!
I've decided to rewatch this video for whatever reason, I had wanted pet rats for the longest time but decided on a dog instead but you helped educate me on animal care and helped me improve the lives of other pets in the family thank you ❤❤
Can you please do a video on rat rescue centres in the uk? Or ratteries you recommend. I’m interested in rescuing rats in the future!
I think the second one you looked at which spoke about horse bedding was where our boys came from!
There are many rats and LOTS of mice (and all pets basically) looking for homes in rescues such as the RSPCA - this ensures that you get a vet checked animal from a reliable source and are giving a needed animal a home
I got my two girls on pets4homes but we went round to see them before getting them. So it is ok to get rats on these websites but make sure the breeder lets you come and see them first. The rats I got are beautiful and healthy. I love them so much :3
Rat-Tastic very true!
The link in description is no longer active. Thank you so much for this video. I only have one fancy rat certified breeder near me and she’s no longer breeding, the others are way way too far away, north-east of England doesn’t have as many options it seems, so I’ve been considering these websites and your video was really informative and helpful 🩷
Hi that gave me a lot of info, I am soon getting two male rats. They’re 6 months old. This is my first time owning rats and I have watched all your videos. Thank you so much for the care videos. When I told some of my friends I was getting rats they didn’t agree. I wish rats or just rodents in general were respected a bit more, they are so misunderstood. Btw the rats aren’t from an advertisement they are from a rescue and have been proven to be in good conditions. My mum also knows the person where we’re getting the rats from. 😊
11:30 the stuff that looks like weed might be peas that have just gotten dried up? Lol
Pls do another one it’s very helpful
Very important subject, and a great, informative video. Thank you, once again! I'm almost neurotically careful when looking for breeders online, and I've noticed that the search results tend to be much less shady when I type in something like "rat breeder + my country/location" "rat club/society + my country/location" or "rescue rats / rats for adoption + my country or location". This way I usually get the local rat club websites and direct websites of breeders among the first results. Using the word "fancy rat" and adding the official names of the colours, coat varieties and ear shapes can also help clean up the search results, specially if you want to skip the pet stores and craigslist - type sites altogether. Choosing a bunch of promising reputable breeders, and following them on social media helps with the "spy work" - and as a plus you often get first hand news about litters and "leftover" babies (as in, not reserved for anyone yet). And speaking about babies, I know that people often only associate breeders with newborn animals, but in reality, a network of reputable breeders can also be a great resource if you're looking to adopt an adult animal that needs rehoming. Responsible breeders usually want to get regular updates on their animals, and will also want to help with rehoming, if the owner needs to give up their pet for some reason - this is exactly how I found one of my adopted chinchillas :)
P.s. Drinking game: take a shot every time I say "breeders" :D
That's a great point! Thanks :)
Actually I got my rats from pets at home and they breeded Dumbo rats and we where aloud to look at them before we bought them and my rats are fine except one of the rats are really agressive
Even if your rats are fine it’s still not ethical as you’re supporting rodent mills.
In my region of the US, basically all the hobby breeders and larger scale breeders I see with Facebook pages and websites charge differently depending on the genetics and often markings of their rats. I think the general mindset here is just different. Most of them meet all the other criteria you mention. I think that's interesting.
If they meet all the other criteria that’s okay! I think it’s when a breeder is hitting multiple warning signs that you’ve got to question whether they actually know what they’re doing and breeding rats. To me the pricing thing isn’t the worst thing in the world, like in one of the ads I showed, but if that was combined with them being in a tub, being sold alone and underaged that’s when I’d be like DEFINITELY not 😅
Today we’ve requested a form to get onto the waiting list with our nearest breeder so I’m watching these 😂
im a breeder and i do sell mine on a selling site. where im from its not really common to get them from anywhere else then a pet store. there are a lot of ratterys but most of them arnt great. my litters get out of the maternity cage around 3 weeks into a somewhat bigger cage, and when they are 4,5 weeks they need to be sepparated from male and females and then they go in normal housing cages, depending on how far the litter is i will give them hight and things to climb on, most liters are ready for that around 5 weeks old, when people buy from me they need to buy 2 or more, and when they come pich them up thay have to bring a carrier my rats dont get moved in boxes, if they dont have one they can buy one from me for 3 euros. they get a birth sertivicate and a goody bag with everything they will need the comming first 2 weeks. i also give them a small self made book on how to care for rats although i also do educate before selling the rats, but the book is just something they can fall back on when they have any questions, almost everything is covered in the book. if they still have questions they can always call or msg me. the only thing i dont do is let people come lookwhen they are not ready to go yet, this is because next to the breeding my life is very bussy and i just dont have the time for that. with pick up day they can ask and see everything also the pregnancy details of the mom rat. all my females that i want to breed have 2 litters MAX most of them have 1. before someone can take the rats i do need a picture of their cage so that they dont end up in a way to small cage. th reason that i sell on those websites is because i didnt get any buyers from my website and facebook, people here are just not well educated on rats. and you cant breed without getting the rittens a new home, that would be way way way to many rats hahaha. well... maybe? hahah
I bought my two boys from a breeder who first told me everything about their care and wanted to see the cage i would put them in. BUT he told me i should keep them in a tub (which i didn't) for the first few weeks to make them tame really fast.
I rescued 3 girls from the shelter. Best choice I made for them. They are non-biting and such sweethearts. When i was leaving someone seen me smiling at the pet carrier. They asked if it was cat or dog. I said 3 rats and their eyes almost popped out their head lol. Poor things were there for such a long time.
I need help, I caught a mouse from my coop that kept eating my chicken feed, idk what to do with it.
Take it far far away and let it GO to be free once again
U can either keep it or release it
I may have to do something about mine, I've had them 2 months and they still bite me
It took me over that time to tame mine but they are completely tame now... just keep trying!
This was also very helpful thx :)
Just keep in mind not all of us have the option of buying from a breeder or using a rescue. My old city was hours away from any breeder and the shelter didn't get rodents.
Personally if I didn’t have access to either of these I’d either wait for the animal to come up for rehoming or just not get them at all ☺️
I mean that's your opinion and I respect that. But not all pet shops are bad.
@@Emiology I mean our shelter didn't adopt small animals at all, even if someone surrendered them. And people in that area didn't really rehome rodents.
I hot my boys today! They're so cute and lovely and beautiful and their cage is wonderful but they're very skittish how long should I leave it before I start taming them?
Heather Parramint id day at least give them a few days in their enclosure without touching them but spend time around the cage talk to them some and maybe even offer them a treat. As much as we all want to love our animals when we first get them it’s never worth stressing them out. Good luck!
@@carliej4354 okay thank you!
Heather Parramint no problem
I say offer them treat IMMEDIATELY and there after as well.
12:16 that’s a small bird cage (I’ve got for travel)
There arent any breeders in my city, even on those websites youve gone on there arent any for sale in my city its weird
I am getting my rats from DFW rat rescue I think they are a very good shelter because I have read the reviews and people say they are held a lot and are in good condition so I will be going there and I am super happy and I definitely want more people to go there
hi, i am interested in adopting rats and the foster mom of a rat I am interested in adopting says the rat has been alone his whole life and could/should be kept alone. He is very sweet and not aggressive towards me. any advice?
How is the rat doing now?
i wanna get two female dumbo (or dumbo rex) rats can you recommend any breeders in the uk?
I don’t know if you already did a video on mice but I’m looking for a place to get a new pet mouse. I live in Arizona so it’s a bit hard. If you have any recommendations of what type of place to get them from please do tell. P.s I love your channel thank you for helping me decide to get a mouse! Keep the good work up! ❤️
I have to get my rats from a pet store because my closes breeder and rescue is 4 hours away and my mom said she is not traveling that far so I do have to get it from a pet store😰
You don’t have to own rats, but it’s up to you whether you want rats from a pet store or not. If I could not get a breeder or rescue I would choose not to own rats 🙂
Only one breeder around...about an hour + away. They are AMAZING, fortunately. Josephines's Rattery in South Florida. Best ever.
Love all your videos new subcriber here... just adopted 6 rats and I'm going to get the pet planet rat cage you've got !
Hi Chloe didn't know you had them
I’m getting my 3 rats from a nice breeder in 4 weeks!! X she is reputable, but she just puts a couple pictures on preloved. But she also has a Facebook page but she uses preloved just to get them out there a bit. Her living conditions are great and she’s so caring for them and also advises not to get any from people in bad conditions xx and also she knows all the proper names so it’s not just “dark grey”😂 I’m having a cinnamon boy top ear. A Broken Black hooded dumbo Rex. And a Russian blue smooth coat top ear!
there are websites that allow breeders to document their rats pedigree for genetic purposes and documenting stuff. There are rat groups and shows but not everywhere. :( I wish more of them.
In Russia we have a very good forum named Ratmania, and there is no srange or suspicious ad, so I definitely recommend that (if you are from Russia)
It sucks the way they are living, thanks for spreading the awareness
Pedigree & registered are two differant thangs. You are confusing them. Pedigree means you know & have records of at least 3 generashions. Registered means they are registered with a club.
We have gumtree in Australia and we always have a huge number of rats for sale
I got my rat 2 days ago and his name is Oreo and he's hooded black and white he is 5 months old.
U shouldn’t keep a rat alone
I had 2 rats and I got 1 2 days ago
So now I have 3
Oh sorry good
Luck
The introduction the went great
I was hoping for some advice if i may, i have had 10 rats in my time and one Lilly has who is now 8 months seems to have had a respiratory infection since ive had her as a kit. Shes had baytril, doxycyline, meticam and a humidifier with f10 solution pretty much all her life. I have an exotic vet who is now saying it could be sonthing wrong with her lungs and theyd like to xray. Although she is poorly she is still happy eating, playing wrestling just like my other girls, im reluctant to put her under with the risk if she is doing mostly ok now. Have you come across this before at all?
13:47 this is too real
I’ll be in a call and then CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK, currently drinking rn
I got a boy rat labeled as "rare blue rat", when he is actually just a Russian Blue one. but him being that "rare" colour pulled me in, and i spent £40 on him.....lol. he was the most expensive of the whole litter. the rest were £25
Hi!!! I have a rat question, what can you feed rats less than 6 months? I’m getting 2 baby feeder rats and I already have the adult oxbow food, and I don’t know what to feed them right now. They only have Oxbow adult so do I just crush it up and add some meat baby food for extra protein?
(I know this video is fully dedicated to saying no pet stores, my nearest breeder is 1 day away and craigslist has no rats on there)
Hard boiled eggs are a huge favorite, fresh fruits and veggies, and porridge! They love the Heinz baby rice cereal I think its a bit sweeter than then other baby foods. Cooked corn on the cob the LOVE too.
People are such scum-bag's when selling rats and animals, I hate looking to buy new rats because it's sad seeing the neglect in their pictures. I get tempted to just buy them to save them from their poor environment.
I haven't had any rats for a few years because I adopted a dog and when my last two rats died I decided to take a break from them. I got my rats from people who no longer wanted them.
Thank you for rescuing them
They're bred for feeders.. People are not spending 20#s on feeder rats.
Facts
I like the information you're giving here. Only thing I wish you could have done is add at least one ad that you would think is good. It's great to know what to avoid but it is nice to see what looks good too. I know you keep telling us what you wish they would do but I would've liked to see one good add.
I didn’t see any good ads from good breeders at the time of looking but I’ve since seen a few reputable breeders I know advertising on there as good examples!
I have seen lots of rats on Craigslist and most of them are so sad. I’ve seen them in 10 gallon tanks, hamster cages (not suitable for hamster), and by themselves. Unfortunately my mom hates rats so I will not get any living with my mom. But my friend (who I plan to go to college with and hopefully share an apartment with bc we both have animals that will live while we are in college ((bunnies, guinea pigs, leopard geckos, toads, ect)) and we have decided that when we are financially stable we will adopt some rats because we are both in similar situations with our mothers. For now we will just research:)
my cage is 52 cm long by 36 cm wide and 37.5 cm high. is it good ?
I would love to see another video like this one but about mice
theres a lot of breeders on craigslist. Thoughts on that?
We got our rats from the first advert you showed on Preloved
I don't wanna write too much about them as that could be seen as bashing but as a first time rat owner I'm not impressed with them particularly. One is almost completely blind (something she didn't think to tell us until we brought it up a couple of weeks after buying) and is super skitty because of it, the other is cage aggressive.
We have a third rat from pets at home (she was a gift) and she's nicer and more tame then the two we got from the breeder.
So sorry you didn’t have a good experience 💕
@@Emiology it's alright. It was kind of a rush (partner's parents bought us the pet store one as a gift, not knowing they shouldn't be alone) it was the only place we could find that had female rats the right age.
Definitely not the vets first experience with them tho
@@Ry-ri6xk Thank you for your insight though! I don't know if you've seen but a few others have commented having had positive experiences with this breeder so it's interesting to see a range of different experiences.
Don't feel bad about it though, i've been in a similar position, one of my first rats died suddenly, at just over a year, leaving my other rat alone. I tried every rescue in the area, contacted about 10 registered breeders that I could travel to, and none had babies or even adults available to add in with my lone male who was becoming increasingly depressed, so i had to source my rats from a breeder that wasn't registered. I'm lucky that my boys are 18 months now and don't have health issues and haven't so far, but when i went to pick them up some things about the breeder bothered me (she didnt allow me to see her rat room or other rats), but i couldn't say no and go home empty handed because my other rat was alone and depressed. It could have been a lot worse, but I've learnt from it and have plans in place to make sure I always have new rats coming in to ensure I never end up in the same situation! And from much better sources!
@@Emiology anytime. Yeah we asked about her online in the rat groups and got told by loads of people that they got lovely rats from her. I feel like we were just unlucky.
Oh wow :( I'm so sorry that really sucks. That must have bee difficult
We tried so many different options too, but only found one other place with young females (other than the breeder we got our two from) but something about the way they spoke about the rats gave us weird vibes.
I will say that they both seem healthy, like the pink eyed one is almost completely blind but they both have healthy appetites, are nice and big (genuinely double the size of the pet shop one), they came to us with nice soft, shiny fur and a good weight. They haven't had any issues with their breathing or anything along those lines, either. For someone who was experienced with rats they probs would have been fine. But I'm kind of nervous of them (they're actually my partner's) so I don't think that helps really 😂 I'm more into hamsters and guinea pigs
11:37 that is definetaly not weed. You buy the buds and they’re not that bright green.
are there any good breeders in Nottinghamshire?
is it ok to get a rat from the pet shop if its healthy?
I am looking for a rat cage on my local page and the amount of rats bought at the beginning of the pandemic being sold worries me... I mean it's better to sell them than to set them free, but some are just 1-1.5 years old. It's not like they will need your attention for 10 more years :( also some of them seemed to be in a cold shed which is very worrying
It's sad but I'm glad people are selling them now rather than leaving them to naturally have one pass away and then leave the other by themselves with no attention, especially if they're already bored of them!
@@Emiology that is absolutely true!! It just reminds me of all the dogs/cats and other pets that have been dumped (in a shelter or on the side of the road) lately because people stopped having nothing to do... So sad
Hello! I k is this is off topic. I have separated parents. And I’m getting rats at my moms house. During the school year I am with my mom on weekdays and dads on weekends. During summer I am with my dads for a week and moms for a week. Any help? My mom would feet and care for the rats but would not play with them.
Ideally rats need at least 1-2 hours of interaction and free roaming time outside of the cage. Could you not take them to your dads with you? ☺️
Emiology sadly no😕 my dad doesn’t like rats. I talked to my mom and she said that she would play with them for an a 3 hours a week because of her job
I got my first pair of rats from gumtree and they were kept in a filing cabinet which we thought was terrible however I got my second pair of rats from preloved and they were kept in cages and we saw the mother and father and they r lovely but rlly shy however my first pair weren’t shy so could u do a vid on how to tame skittish rats coz idk what to do ??? 😍😍
Hey! I have a question. A litter of rats I’ve seen an ad on Preloved saying that the dad is a double res and the mum is a standard fur rat but they said the babies will be standard. I don’t think this is correct tho do u?
Hi I love your video's so much! but I have a question for you.. I know you have mice and rats as your pets. Now I have just read that mice and rats are natural enemies and they can get anxious by smelling each other. My question is how you handle that? Do you keep them in different rooms or how?
Asking since I own mice and rats myself.
Best regards,
Dannique