A Colorado Blue Rat Breeder, A Colorado Rattery

 

   Here is Camarattery's rattery. Its' not very big but I am proud to say it's very clean. As you can see my rattery is very well lit. And there are lots of toys that are rotated frequently to keep things fun, I also have a wheel in every cage. Because my rats love to run!  The lights are full spectrum so they give the rats the ability to utilize the vitamins they eat by duplicating the sun at noon time. They produce the UVA and UVB that the sun does. Plus it's just depressing to be in the dark. My rattery and home are equipped with heppa filters that also de-ionize the air. This keeps the air free from germs and pet dander that may bother the animals or my hubby's athsma. My husband feels that the heppa filters are a heaven sent for his over all respiratory health, so I see it as the same for the animals. If it makes life pleasant for him then it does the same for the rats.

   The cages on the right are my boys cages they are connected, with the Nursery on top, and the cages on the left are the girly's cages, they are also connected to make one big cage. In addition I have three 10 gallon tanks that I use for mom's who are about to give birth. I leave mom in the nursery tanks until the babies are about 2 1/2 weeks. That's when they are up and running around and beginning to eat. You don't want to put mom in a huge cage when she has new babies as they can easily get separated from mom and get lost. So 10 gallon tanks are very roomy for mom but small enough to keep the babies safe. At 2 1/2 weeks the babies move to the large nursery cage pictured below. That is the cage located on top of my feed bins.

   My rattery is a lot of work! But I am not alone. I have my son who is 5 years old and he helps me socialize the babies. So my rats get a lot of attention. They are very used to children!

The Nursery

(My Nursery cage that sits on top of the feed bins. It measures 30"L X 18"W X 30"T.)

All of the rats in my rattery are treated with the utmost respect and love. They are my pets before anything else. I am a small rattery so I am able to give each one of my rats a great deal of socialization and love.

All of the pregnant moms are placed in the nursery cage and fed a higher protein block to insure that they are getting all of the nutrients a pregnant rat needs to make a healthy litter, I use Harlan 8604. This is done right away after conception and she will continue to be fed this diet while she is nursing. After the babies are weaned they will remain on the Harlan 8604 until they are 3 months of age to ensure that they get what they need to grow into healthy strong adult rats. After that they are put on the adult formula as per the certified rat nutritionalist at the Harlan labs.

The Play Place!

My Boys	My Girls
My Dwarf Boys	My Nursery Babies & Moms

My Happy Girls Napping	Close Up Of My Girls Sleeping
My Boys Playing	Close Up Of My Boys
Deeds & Others Eating At McD's	Sam Hall Eating At McD's

My rats have a pool they play in every day for play time! Each cage of rats gets to come out for one hour minimum every day, sometimes I leave them in there for 5 hours or so. My pool is set where all my family members can reach in and grab a rat and socialize with them and love them up. This keeps them sweet and makes them so happy to see us every day! All you have to do is walk by the pool and they come running to see you! I also rotate the toys and tunnels to keep it fun and interactive. I find that the pool is great for their fine motor skills and coordination because of all the jumping, and running they do in the outer edge of the pool as well as the wrestling they do inside and playing in the tunnels.

The play place is a great place to feed them treats and try new things. They spend so much time in the pool that it also keeps their cages cleaner, plus the pool is simple to clean. It takes like 2 minutes to tear down, wash and set back up.

The babies are also raised with pool time. The nursery cage which is full of lively weaning aged babies that get their hour or so of play every day too. This way when you come to pick up your babies they are already used to free play and are very excited to see you.

Outside The Rattery

(Clickable Link)

My ratties get lots of exercise!