Incantation Rattery

Another great informative post 🙂

We don’t have hairless but we do have patchwork, double Rex and double Selkirk plus of course mixed patchy coats.
These aren’t a variety new breeders should be working with and it’s extremely important to have a mentor if taking the task on.
The potential for entropion to occur is just too great, eye shape needs to be worked on over generations and more often than not what you’ll see on gumtree and from byb is poor quality which impacts the rats and the people who buy them. It’s not fair..

There are a small handful of dedicated breeders working on them who have honestly got some really really nice examples.

I had a few here and there while rescuing and personally they are something I choose to stay away from, believing animals should have fur is my main reason plus the risk for the eyes/eye lids not forming properly is another.

I think what breeders choose to work with there needs to be a lot of love for it so it’s equally important to have dedicated breeders who do choose it.

I’ve noticed the hype comes in waves so please do a bit of research and make sure your decision is in the best interest of the rats involved.

HAIRLESS RATS

I've been seeing a lot of interest for hairless rats in the UK online and have had some enquiries mentioning them so I thought it'd be a good idea to make a quick bit of info about them.

There are many variations of hairlessness, each producing different amounts of fur. However, genes impacting fur types (and colour) rarely impact just the appearance of the rat. Hairless genes are also associated with:

- Kidney and/or heart issues
- Poor immune system
- Skin issues
- Eye issues (usually built up debris)
- Inability to lactate

For this reason they are considered an unethical variety to breed. There are no responsible breeders breeding for hairless rats in the UK, which adds on additional potential issues.

If you have your heart set on hairless rats, rescues would be the only way to go. Bear in mind though that hairless rats require a lot of maintenance and therefore may not be a great idea for newer keepers or pets for children.

That looks like a very comfy pillow..wish I could put my face in there lol

The joy rats can bring to children and the responsibility parents can help teach:

Some topics are worth bringing up once a year for a refresher or to help new followers make informed choices and I feel pretty strongly about this one.

I think we’re all familiar with the story “my kids have lost interest now we want to re-home” right?
It’s a very very common reason and one that I’m sure rescues have heard time and time again.

This isn’t the kids fault, they’re excited, they try but ultimately lose interest, something else catches their attention and they end up struggling to follow through with providing care for the animals. This is to be expected.

What’s not fair is parents placing such a task in the hands of children alone, rats are delicate and need specialised care, they deserve the love of the whole family and the adults need to want them just as much as the kids..

I’ve seen so many families flourish together and how wonderful rats can be for some children, especially neurodivergent folk.
There seems to be a very strong affinity, perhaps it’s the feeling of being misplaced and misunderstood which is something rats have also had their fair share of.

Rats can be a strongly positive experience for kids but it’s so important for them to see adults taking the responsibility because children naturally mirror and will remember throughout their lives how their parents treat pets and animals in general and what better responsibility to have than to show empathy and kindness to animals?

I love seeing children be gentle and excited with rats, I love when families visit and see them light up with how adorable the rats little faces are.

I also want to make sure adopting rats is the right choice and it’s partly why I operate via a waitlist, the long wait can be frustrating but it can also provide enough time to really prepare and make sure rats are indeed the right choice for your family.

It’s a safe guard for all involved.
Rats are a wonderful pet and a good learning tool for gentleness and empathy as long as parents are leading the way.

(Thank you to a friend for letting me post this photo, it was too cute not to!)

Things are moving slow at the moment, I’m still trying to decide who to hold back and plan how many more pairings will happen for this round.

Since I expected a lot more babies than are currently in house I’ve again had to brainstorm and change plans so if you haven’t heard back from me this is why, I’m just not sure what I’ll have available and whether I can even add anyone else onto my waitlist for this year until I reach out to everyone in my current one which I’ve started since last week.

I’ve done two more pairings which are due in about two weeks, miss Buttercup pictured below is Lani’s granddaughter who I’d like to pair soon also then it’s really only another spotty litter left which I’ll hold at least half back from with again others going to close homes.

I so very much appreciate all the enquires and interest in my rats but reality is if you do reach out and want to hop on the waitlist it’s highly likely that you won’t receive babies until after the summer school holidays so just please be aware of this.

I highly suggest planning ahead at least 6 months, if you know you’ll need or want rats next year it’s worth letting me know now ❤️

Valuable information regarding diet here, definitely worth a read.

More of a garden theme this time with Max enjoying his new space pod 🙂