Cleaning, and Pairings

Today I spent a few hours cleaning the rattery. This means cleaning all the cages, and sweeping the floors of the bedrooms where we keep them. I'm a small, home-based rattery, so I have two Deluxe Double Critter Nation cages, two Hendryx Prevue 528 cages, a 110L bin cage, four pairing and birthing units, and a cage that is a bit bigger than Deluxe Single Critter Nation.

After rearranging the rats who have litters so that the litters who are three weeks old now have larger cages with enrichment, hides and hammocks, I then set up two pairing cages.

I'm a couple days ahead, as I'd planned my pairings for the 10th, but that's ok. I've paired up Persy with Reiko, two black rats. Persy (female) is also silvermane. This litter should be black, with some silvermane.

I also paired up Peppermint Patty and Linus, both Agouti. Patty is also silvermane, and Linus is hairless. As they're a brother x sister pair, and Patty carries the hairless gene, I'll see black, agouti, possibly some other colours, and hairless.

The reason for pairing a hairless male with a standard furred female is because hairless mothers sometimes have issues lactating, and can smother pups due to not having fur to act as a buffer while nursing, allowing the pup to breathe. It is safer to pair a furred female hairless carrier with a hairless male to produce hairless offspring.

This will be my second generation of hairless rats, fourth litter.

The pairs will stay together for a few weeks, until pregnancy is confirmed, and the mothers are approaching delivery.

I'm also getting ready to pair my dwarf carriers later this month, and I'm very excited at the prospect of launching my dwarf program. I would personally only breed dwarves, if my daughter didn't want to keep standard rats as pets. I adore dwarf rats more than I can say.

The dwarf carriers were sent to me by my mentor, and are really lovely rats that I'm very much looking forward to breeding. As pets, they've been absolutely excellent, and I'm very in love with them.

I'm hoping for healthy pregnancies and deliveries, and looking forward to the new babies.