News

Name Changes

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 17:00:00 -0400

I changed the name on my fawn female and her mom. I noticed that I had the fawn lines theme the same as the blazed line. And that is just confusing on the pedigrees and to myself. So I chaged the fawns theme to Jonny Depp film character names. Those 2 rats were not registered yet anyway. So now it will be easier for me to keep the names/colors straight in my head.

Also I changed the names on 2 of my Harley baby boys. They were not registered either. The theme on the Harley line was the same as the Roans, because I was breeding them together. But once I found out what a mistake it is to breed Roan to Harley I seperated the lines.

So just to let you know what I did incase you were thrown off there.

Nav Bar Drop Down Menu

Fri, 14 May 2010 22:05:00 -0400

I have updated my navigation bar to make it easier for you to use. Just hover over the links for more options. Please log in to post a comment and tell me how you feel about the new navigation bar.

New Litter Posted 5/14

Fri, 14 May 2010 22:00:00 -0400

I have babies! All self, colors of Russian Dove (very unique!), Russian Blue, Burmese, Sable Burmese, Black. Please see the nursery for pictures and availibilities. Also other litters are listed there so that you can mix it up a bit!

New babies born 4/20

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:23:00 -0400

I have new babies that were just born. Please contact me for info and to be placed on the wait list. These are really special babies and I don't expect for them to last long. I have pulled out all of my best rats to make thes babies. Trust me, you don't want to mis out. If your looking for my long lived lines with exotic looks and coats, that is what I have.

New Critter Nation!

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:00:00 -0500

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!

:ohmy:

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

2009 Fortune & Good Health

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:51:00 -0500

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.

:wink:

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.

NARR Registered Rats

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:08:00 -0400

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...

2009 Shipments

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:17:00 -0400

It has been a great year for Camarattery. Our lines are back in full force and better than ever. Their life spans are still twice the average and the type is getting better and better.

We are done bringing in new blood for the year. But we wanted to once again thank the breeders who shipped to us this year.

Connie from RG sent us 2 shipments this year.

Amanda from RAMR sent us 1 shipment this year.

Shari & Dawn of BHR sent us 1 shipment this year.

Thank you everyone! All of the rats came in super friendly and very, very healthy. There was not a single health issue with any of them. We could not be happier with the rats. Of coarse its been quite a while since these rats came in, but we did want to end the season with a big thank you to all of you!

THANK YOU!

Outbound shipments this year went very well also! We did send out several boxes full of babies for other breeders to work with. We are always very happy to help progress the rat breed.

Chocolate From Our Burmese

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 13:17:00 -0400

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.

New Everything, New Rattery!

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:47:00 -0400

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

New Rats Arrived!

Sun, 10 May 2009 21:29:00 -0400

Welcome new rats!

We had another successful airline shipment! I have posted pictures already. We had sent some of our old good lines to Arizona to RAMR for an outcrossing, and we have brought back some wonderfull 1/2 Cama and 1/2 RAMR lines. Since both of our lines have longer life expectancy than the average rat and great helath and lovable temperaments, we know these will continue to lock in those desireable traits. This is the 3rd time we have done this with the RAMR lines and we are always very pleased with the results. I have been working with the RAMR lines since March of 06 and had nothing but the best success with every one of them. So much so that I embrace them as I do my own lines. I know that I can trust them without any doubt.

I want to thank Amanda of RAMR for doing this for us again...! And a big thanks goes out to Donna of GRIM rattery for shipping them to us, and keeping them for a few weeks!

Also I know I speak for Karen of H2R when I say thank you! Karen is just going to love her new rats as well!

Also one last comment, Yay! My old Rex line is back once again! We love our Rex gene because it won't breed bald doubles, just thicker hair but much curlier. You can't get our Rex gene elsewhere. Viva La our Rex Gene!

Line Ending

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:30:00 -0400

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!

Breeding Update & Line Resurection!

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:45:00 -0400

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!

New page

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:36:00 -0400

I thought I would try a new blog to update you on curent happenings. I hope you enjoy! This page is a spin off from my old news page. I have included all of the previous news updates from the old page here. See below...

Amy

3/15
We have not had a litter in 7 weeks, but we are happy to say we are back and we had a new litter born yesterday. Please email for reservations. Thanks for your patience while we had our scheduled time off.

2/6
February is our month off from breeding, and we are on a full shut down of the rattery. Right now its is no rats leaving the house and no rats entering it. Once our month off is over we will post new babies as they were from our January breeding's and they are weaning now. At that time we will also post pictures of the new rats. We will have a few babies that we need to adopt out from before we shut down. As for our site it is just kind of taking a rest as are the rats and our family. We are just enjoying some play time and rest and relaxation. Please feel free to email us for your spot on our wait lists for when March comes.

11/21
Cama Homecoming was born to Cama Christie Road X Cama King For A Day on 10/26/2008. She is Colorado's 1st ever down under dwarf. She is one of only two known in the world. For some reason dwarf and down under don't like to end up on the same animal. Down under are easy to get and so are dwarf, but both together is a rare find. Congrats to Cama Homecoming! Appropriately named as I have tried for years to get this combo and also I name all of my hooded rats after Green Day songs.

9/21
I am back from the California AFRMA show. I wanted to thank everyone for their hospitality! Thank you to Karen Robbins for training me for show judge and putting all of the time into that which finalized our club as an official AFRMA affiliate, so now we are locked in for that. As most of you know our club has been an AFRMA affiliate since June, but now we are official with a trained show judge. So now we can hold shows and have the AFRMA best in show affiliate club title, so that is very respectable. Anyone who shows a rat in Colorado at the ACRE events will receive the official titles approved by AFRMA. All show standards are as per AFRMA rules as we are their affiliate.

I also wanted to mention that Karen is a very, very precise and excellent teacher. I learned a ton from her. I will enjoy visiting the AFRMA shows on a more regular basis as well as any further training I can receive from Karen.

I also wanted to thank Ken and Connie of HGLR for their hospitality when I was in CA. They did a ton for me and the the club and saved us money in the process.

Also while I was there I wanted to thank Hilloah from RRLM, Amy from FAR and Brian from SHFR for the new rats! They are stunning! It was also nice to finally meet some of you as well as Rachel, Mikey and Debbie.

9/4
Colorado's 1st Mink Merle dwarf was born in my rattery. He was adopted to Donna at GRIM rattery in Los Vegas NV. Congrats to Donna! I still have not seen another Merle dwarf anywhere!

6/27

I also have new blazes in my rattery! I had many adopters asking for blazes since they have not been able find a breeder for them here in Colorado in years. I now have some lines are are free of any known health issues that I am very happy to be working with! They are also very long lived! They have been worked with by well known breeders dating back ten years. So the health history is very well documented and traceable on NARR. It took me years of searching to find the perfect lines that I wanted to ship in!

6/8
I wanted to take a minute to post about something that is very saddening to me. I had adopted 2 rats to a breeder under a non breeding contract and that was not followed. 1 rat Cama Black Sheep a hooded down under was put under strict contract not to be bred for down under and I registered him with NARR with NO breeding rights. He has been bred. I posted about this below at the 1st of the year. At that point the breeder removed my prefix from his name and his pedigree off of her site because she was guilty. She then planned to breed him 2 times and has done at least one of those breeding's and the babies are almost 2 weeks old, DOB apparently is 5/28/2008. I want to remind you that they are illegally bred!

The second rat is Cama Back In Black. He was put under strict contract not to be bred for dwarf to this same rattery. He was bred just for dwarf and these illegal dwarf babies are posted to this breeders site, there are now 2 generations from him at this rattery, his children and grandchildren. I want to remind all of you that if you see these rats on any websites, this is a sad and illegal situation.

When I contract my rats, and in this case it was by the preference of this breeder that I contract her in this way... I expect that to be followed. Either by written or verbal contract. And either asking to breed the rats after you already have done it or not asking when contracted not to breed them is not honest. From a breeders perspective contracting is the safest way to make sure your rats are handled properly and the way you the breeder see's fit. And when another breeder cannot follow a contract that is really sad. To break contract just to cut corners and get fast results without the hard work does not benefit the animals involved in any way. It just displays dishonesty. And it's very bad Karma if you believe such a thing.

If you see my 2 rats in any pedigrees, these are ILLEGAL breeding's! These rats do not have the right to have been bred! Keep your eye out! I am not asking to much for any contracts or agreements to be followed. I am not a tyrant for thinking such a thing is bad. But I also will not sit there and watch these things go one right in front of me and say nothing.

Once I had posted about their breeding status in January and these rats were bred anyway, by this breeder posting certain babies from them is an effort and public display to make me look bad. When in fact the breeder who broke contract is in the wrong. And although I am not the revengeful sort, everyone should know what the situation is. As long as the breeder does the right thing and desists breeding my 2 family's of rats illegally like is happening right now, that will be the right and honest thing to do. This breeder actually asked me not to post anything on my site months ago when I approached her about the dishonest breeding of my dwarf (she said she wouldn't post anything either), well to post his litters and me just sit here and say nothing is not right. I am saying something now. Asking me not to say anything so you can get ahead and still adopt out the illegal babies you have bred and posted is not ok.

If the pedigrees on a certain site get shortened so that my rats are no longer posted there I will post the family members of that line after my rat's disappearance in the pedigrees so that the public knows what to watch for. This way we are all on the same page.

4/15
Colorado's very 1st born real genetic Satins were born this week here at my rattery! This is very exciting! It has taken me a long time to achieve this and a drive out of state 5 months ago to get the breeding stock. And now that the parents are finally breeding age I have a litter! The baby Satins from this litter will stay here to make more for next time.

Satins are many times mistaken for rats who are not genetic Satins nor do they carry the gene. They are just shiny rats. Many who breed Rex mistake shiny Rex for Satin and they are not actual Satins. I have had those myself. All they are is a good quality coat but not a recessive Satin. Mine are genetic recessive Satins. All Satins are very heavily pedigreed and not in unknown stock at this time. There are not many of Satins in the rat community right now. The only way to say you have a Satin is to have a pedigree proving it. And in that pedigree they will not pop up out of no where, it is recessive so both parents have to at least carry the gene.

Here is an example of a Shiny rat that is a Rex, it is not a Satin. Just because the hair shines does not make it a Satin! This rat is one of my double Rex's.

(My double Rex do not loose their hair, they have more of it!)

4/9
Colorado's 1st Dwarf X Dwarf litter was born today! I have a beautiful litter of very small, fat and healthy dwarf babies.

3/21
I have posted a new litter, it is a very exciting one for Colorado! Thanks to Ratz Realm Rattery for making this litter possible! This is Colorado's very 1st litter of hairless dumbo dwarf rats! Here is the link:
http://www.freewebs.com/camarattery/rrlmastroxrrlmcold.htm
Now that we finally have a wonderful foundation to our dwarf hairless in the state it will not be a problem to make more! I already have a wonderful assortment of hairless carriers to breed them to! I have 10 hairless or hairless carriers to make that possible, they are all dumbo of coarse! So I am well on my way to having lots of pink piggies like everyone loves and has been asking for.

1/30
On January 4th 2008 Camarattery had the world's 1st genetic Rex dwarf born in our rattery! Her name is Cama First Blood. Fitting name! Congrats to the parents Cama Nick of Time (mom) and Cama Ruff Stuff (dad)!

1/4
Cama Back In Black & Cama Black Sheep are now officially registered with NARR with a non breeding status. This is per my verbal contract limiting the way in which they can be bred.

Update: I didn't catch Back In Blacks registration in time and he is not registered with NARR as unbreedable, his papers went through before I caught it, but he is contracted as non breedable. Not that this makes a difference since he cannot be bred as per the agreements myself and the adopting breeder have made.

1/1/2008
February of 2008 to Feb of 2009 is the year of the rat! Yay the rats need some recognition! The year of the rat does not start in January because the Chinese calendar does not coincide with the newer calendar we use today. So starting in February lets celebrate our rats!