Colorado Rat Breeder-Camarattery

Finally we got our 3rd Critter Nation in yesterday. This one is for the babies. This cage is for the litters and moms. Once the babies reach 2 1/2 weeks old they will move into the critter nation. They will be housed in the bottom portion of the cage. And once the litter reaches 5 weeks old all of the males who are now sexually mature will move to the top compartment. This will prevent them form getting to any nursing moms who remain in the bottom compartment.

So all of our babies are raised in a cage, this will make them used to using one before they go home.

We take great care and attention of all of our rats sparing no expense to do so costing us $1400 in this case. We are very happy to say the rattery is now complete with the latest technology in caging, water systems, and diets. And of coarse they are spoiled completely rotten with tons of toys, beds, hiding holes,hammocks and what ever else I can think of to give them. This is part of why this remodel just cost me so much. But I am happy with it and they are truly worth it! I just love these little buggers!

But shhhhh don't tell my husband what I just spent!

Feel free to read the " Our Rattery" page to learn more about our set up. I will be updating that often.

We are done with our shipping in and out for 2009. The season is over. However we are pleased to announce that all the rats we received were healthy! Every rat came out of quarantine without incidence.

We got rats from a PA breeder and some very unawares people sent a rumor around that we got SDA, and KRV and some other things from this PA breeder. We are going to lay that rumor to rest. It is unfortunate that the PA breeder may have sent out rats to a VA breeder and there was SDA detected, but it may or may not have happened, we don't know. We won't start a rumor there. That was not the same time frame as our shipment. We were not involved with this situation.  We did not find out about this potential SDA scare until 2 months after we got our rats.The rats we received were very healthy, and no problems existed. We ourselves are a victim of the rumors. Some immature people have nothing better to do than start trouble. That is just their nature. And we don't get involved with their type of politics or antics, what ever you want to call it. I am sure they can find something better to do.

Had there been SDA for one, we would not be ashamed, SDA is dangerous yes, but we would be resistant to it at this point if we had gotten it. And that would have been a very positive outcome for our rats as we would not have to worry about it during this upcoming winter. And that would have been fantastic. I wish we were resistant to it, but we aren't. That is what's unfortunate for us.

Although early detection can stop any deaths from this virus, it is not something to be terrified of as newer breeders think. It is treatable and no loses need to occur, should it be treated correctly and early. SDA, had we had it, we would post about it. SDA is nothing to be ashamed of. It can come in under the door from the wind, or walked in on your shoes just like many cat and dog diseases. Also, we would have warned about it. Honestly if everyone out there got it, we would all be better off. Not that I wish that on any rats! And I don't, but it’s true. We just all need to be properly educated on what it is. SDA is not the plague or so terrible that it ruins the reputations of breeders. And the threat of SDA is not a reason to point fingers. It’s not even the breeders fault in many cases.  If anything because it takes agressive treatment because of the secondary infection that comes with it, it would be a positive experience for a breeder to deal with since they would become very efficient at treating rats and identifying the signs of sickness. It would be good information to have.

Not us, but some of the best breeders and club owners out there have had it, and posted it on their club sites for educational purposes. These are breeders who are truly serious and very reputable enthusiasts. It’s just not as bad as people make it out to be. That's not to make light of the situation, but it’s not the worst thing your rats can get. Its not a genetic defect. SDA actually makes their immune systems and resistance stronger, should they pull through. Not all rat health problems can claim to do that!

Also if my rattery got any sickness it would have been shut down for quarantine. But we never needed to since we were not involved with the supposed SDA.

Also SDA attacks old rats and babies primarily. We have many retired 2 or more year olds, they and the babies we breed every month would have been targeted. If you’re smart, you can see that didn't happen here at Camarattery, since we post every rat we have, either retired or brand new born. Rats don’t even disappear off my site unless they were on the adoption page or my nursery for a while and found a home. But then again you can check the status of all of them on the Colorado Rat List. Since our adopters are there on the group. All our rats are accounted for. Not to mention the several dozen adopters who come over here annually, they are my references as they personally see the condition of my rats. And my adopters cannot be disputed.

Fortunately Colorado had no detection of SDA or KRV with this scare. Despite what trouble makers post or spread rumors about.

KRV renders your stock sterile, and or still born babies. And we all know my rats are not that! LOL! Breed well they do! We can be thankful for that. And everyone can see it too.

Are my rats sooo good that they were just resistant to SDA and KRV? Is this why none of my rats had issues? Ahh no. Completely impossible. A few can be resistant to both viruses, but only a very few. I won't claim complete resistance to viruses for Camarattery. I only wish. No my rats live in reality.

OK that last sentence was pure sarcasm on my part. Forgive me for that. I normally don't feed off of rumors, but this one was just to amusing to avoid.

So I have always registered my breeder rats with NARR and since this summer I have done major updates to my registered rats, health info if there is any, pictures and life spans and so on...

However there are so many ways you can use NARR. And I choose to only register breeder rats. I don't see any need to register every baby from every litter. Some breeders do and that is ok, but pointless for me. If there is a health problem with babies in litters that are registered with every baby this can be beneficial... but I get the same results by registering a litter mate should a problem arise and health info needs to be posted.  And at that point I register the rat, list the health issue and update that the line of rats was ended because of the health issues. This keeps my lines healthy. I have a very low tolerance for health problems in my lines, so this is how I feel comfortable doing things.

Also I update all health issues and temperament ratings on every rat bred in my rattery. This gives breeders who adopt my lines a perfect idea of what is happening with the rats they have in their pedigrees.

I don't want to have to either name every rat born in my rattery, or use the names from my adopters and then risk some being named the same thing, which makes confusion. Also at times I borrow rats from adopters to breed once. And I want to register that rat at that time with a name that I choose just for my pedigrees, and the adopter keeps the pet name. This keeps to my musical themes. And I like my pedigrees to look just so. So this is a good reason that I don't name the rats and register them all or register with the adopters names. Also I don't want my breeder adopters to have to weed though hundreds of rats to find the info they are looking for. That would irritate me to no bitter end.

I have tried registering one whole litter lately, just to see how it works. But the whole litter was kept for breeding purposes. And I may do it again if I am keeping all of the babies. This litter happened to be from a dwarf mom and a small litter.

Anyway, just some info on how my rats are registered. I know, I am an obsessive compulsive NARR updater...

We have pulled the Chocolate out of our origional Burmese that we had gotten from RG in 2006. We knew the gene was there because Pendragon told us it was years ago.  Also due to the fact that someone else pulled the color from them as well. Our old girl Cama Little Darlin' passed this trait onto all of our new Chocolates.

We have had 2 litters with Chocolate this month. So as far as we know 4 of our rats carry the gene from Cama Little Darlin'. Since these Chocolates are from our 100% UK blooded origional rats, our Chocolate gene is not related to any of the other Choco's out there. So this will be a nice addition to the exsisting Chocolate rats in the U.S at this time. A very nice outcross for them.

We have a brand new rattery! Everything has been replaced! For details please visit the rattery page!

Due to the CA breeders sever concern about many of their American blues haiving the Hemophilia bleeding issue we have chosen to end the American blue lines out of CA here at our rattery. One of the very breeders some of our new blues came from is discontinuing breedeing them herself, so this is a red allert for us.

This is not a risk we want to take in our rattery. Our blues are very healthy, and very much the most loved line of blues in Colorado, so we don't want to ruin that. It is unfortunate and we do not balme any breeder for this. It's just one of those things that happens when you breed, health issues will happen at times. But the better breeders will end a line if there is such repeted concern. And we have had many CA breeders tell us that they are seeing these issues poping up after 5 or so generations of having a line. We have decided to heed their warning and not breed more of the same here. Our goal is to improve rats, not to continue to breed a color because its a pretty color. There are always better options to help the rat as a whole. Since we do adopt to other breeders, it would not be wise to spread this sort of gene into the rat commuity.

This does not mean that every American Blue line in CA has the issue, but we were told by the adopters of our line that this was the case in those lines. This includes the Russian blue and Chocolate lines that were shipped to Colorado in 2008. Since they are all related, they have to be adopted out.

To learn more about the issue the California blues are dealing with in many cases please see this article:

http://www.afrma.org/med_bluebleeding.htm

But alas! We have our line of healthy blues to offer still! We even have more to offer after a new shippment! This will only strengthen the American Blues here at Camarattery!

Welcome Back Quillo!

(AKA Cama Hay Jude)

Cama Hay Jude is visiting us for a couple of weeks. Terren was kind enough to let us borrow him back again. Jude is the brother to our lovley Cama Golden Slumbers. After some outcrossing in 2008 we wanted to bring back some of our old wonderful and much loved Rex line, this is our famous long lived and very large bodied line. Jude has been enjoying some time with the ladies and seems to be very happy to be helping us out!
 

Thanks again Terren for letting us borrow the big man! Terren will also be helping us bring back our old UK Burmese and BES line. He has one of our origionals from our 2nd ever litter of UK blooded rats. He is a wonderful 3 year old Burmese self male from RG Long View and Cama Carlene. We are very excited to be doing these breedings!

We Also wanted to congratulate Cama Ain't Ahe Sweet for giving birth to Colorado's 1st ever Straight Coated Harley's! Good job momma!