2. Rats will be bred for the first time at a minimum of about 5-6 months of age, with most rats being 8+ months. I want to breed my animals as late as possible without risking their health and safety. I hope to produce slower maturing animals that can be bred later (giving me more time to evaluate the health of their relatives before breeding.) Female rats will be retired from breeding at around 1 year of age. Females will have no more than 2 litters in their lifetime (and most will have only 1.)
3. We breed only pedigreed rats with at least 3 generations of recorded ancestry on each side.
4. No litter is bred to satisfy a market or produce a product. No litters are bred by request.
5. I do not breed any varieties of rats that are known to be prone to any type of illness, disease, or defect. I do not breed any varieties that require special types of care or conditions to thrive.
6. I do not ship my rats; I always meet adopters in person.
7. I do not practice culling.
8. I try to support rescues in my area. Ways I do this include referring potential adopters to rescues if they express interest, limiting the amount of litters I breed per year to prevent competing for adoptive homes, and keeping careful track of all the rats produced in my rattery.
9. Every rat born here is precious and will receive the highest level of care possible. All rats will be treated promptly and fully by a vet for any arising medical conditions. If I had a rat born who we believe will not have a good quality of life, it would be humanely euthanized by a vet. We do believe humane euthanasia by a vet is sometimes the kindest choice we can make for our beloved pets.
10. I plan to incorporate linebreeding, inbreeding and out-crossing in my breeding plans. Inbreeding has been proven to have no harmful effects upon rats like it does with some other species.
11. FHR is a closed rattery. We do not allow visitors into our rattery. This policy is for the safety or our resident ratties and the rats our adopters already have at home! All new arrivals to the rattery or rats who are returned to the rattery will be quarantined in a separate location for a minimum of 3 weeks. I do not enter/support pet stores that sell live rodents.
12. I will always take back any rats who were born here and then adopted out, if the owner can no longer keep them. As a part of my adoption contract, all adopters must agree to inform me if they can no longer keep a rat adopted from FHR, and I will work with that adopter to ensure the rat comes back to me and/or gets into a good home that I have approved.
13. I am willing to adopt out rats to other breeders I feel share similar ethos and breeding practices. I may want to converse with you for awhile before adopting out rats to you on a breeding contract, to develop some trust and establish a relationship between us.
Breeding Policy
