# Help me find rats!



## Dimitrius (Mar 19, 2007)

No, I haven't lost any... technically.
I contacted a breeder way back in March and we spoke about her rats, and I told her I'd purchase 2 boys from her April litter. She said she'd be in touch with me and she'd tell me when the boys were born. Since the litter was to be born in early April, I decided to e-mail her, yesterday, and see what the progress was. Well, she told me they were born, but they were all spoken for! I am still a little upset, I've been having some other things in my life get screwed up like this because of other people's mistakes quite a bit in the past month or so. Anyway, since my breeder crapped out on me, I want to find another breeder that I could get a pair of brothers from. I live in South Dakota, in Madison at the moment, but in about 3 weeks (which is when I can have my boys, I can't have them, yet, as I'm still in the dorms.) I'll be living in Sioux Falls. Do you guys know of any breeders in my area? (Southeast South Dakota, Southwest Minnesota, Northwest Iowa, Northeast Nebraska.) I'd hate to have to drive more than an hour or two, but I absolutely don't want to have to consider buying from a pet store. 
I've been trying to find breeders on Google, but it's hard to find up to date breeder lists, and even harder to find a breeder in this area with a website or contact information.
If you don't know of any breeders, what about rescues? Does anyone know of a rescue within 1-2 hours of my area?
I'll keep doing what I can to find a breeder, but I'd really really appreciate it if you guys could share any that you know of with me!!
Thanks so much,
Casey


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## Forensic (Apr 12, 2007)

Have you considered adopting a pair from a rescue or humane society? That may be the next best choice if no breeder is available... Perhaps petfinder?


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## Dimitrius (Mar 19, 2007)

Yes, I mentioned rescues in my post. I've never seen rats at either of the 2 shelters in Sioux Falls, and I go to one of them every week. 
Anyone know of any others in the area that I might have more luck at?


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## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

is this the one you went to? I found it on Ratster.com

Dakota Winds Rattery (DAK)
Clear Lake
Rats, breeder
Shipping-no, but will drive to Minneapolis, Sioux Falls or Fargo to meet you
Member of NARR, Rat Fan Club
Ramona [email protected] 

here is another link http://www.altpet.net/rodents/SD.shtml

you could try posting on this site too http://www.ratrescue.com/forum/

I wil keep looking and if i find anything I will pm you the links


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## Dimitrius (Mar 19, 2007)

Yeah, Stephanie, that's the breeder I contacted back in March. :/ I wish she would have been more clear with me about what all was going on instead of just leading me to believe that I was getting rats when they were really going somewhere else.
Thank you very much for the links, I'm going to check them out, now.


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## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

That is so unprofessional of her! does she have a website? whenever i get a new rat I always check the websites and pick the ones I want and email the breeder immediately. That way when I hear back from them they always mark the rittens reserved for me.


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## Dimitrius (Mar 19, 2007)

Nope, she doesn't have a website. Keep in mind that I contacted her long before this litter was even born, and she didn't tell me anything about them already being spoken for. -_-;
In her defense, there were apparently only 3 born, but still, I wish she had told me there was a chance I might not be able to get any.


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## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

yeah one of the breeders I go to just had a litter of five and one of them passed already. it happens sometimes but still I feel for you. I was in search of a blue boy for the longest time and it took a little over two months of research and dedication to find him now that I have him ohh he is a devil! LoL I love him but aggressive as all get up and go. I know you don't want pet store rats but perhaps you could go to the petstore and ask them if they have a breeder list?


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## Dimitrius (Mar 19, 2007)

That's an idea. I am in a class with a girl that works at the Sioux Falls Petco, I'll ask her if they have anything like that at Petco. I saw a listing for some litters born to pregnant rescue mommies in Minnesota on that ratrescue.com link you gave me, Stephanie, and I contacted the poster to see where she is located. Thanks so much for the links and ideas you've given me!


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## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

here is the petfinder list that came up when I did a search

http://search.petfinder.com/search/search.cgi


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## Dimitrius (Mar 19, 2007)

That is a local link, Stephanie, I can't see your results by clicking on it. :X


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## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

ugh it didn't work hang on here I just emailed it to myself LoL I will post it asap


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## Rodere (Feb 26, 2007)

Unfortunately that is one of the problems when breeders don't have a website. You sometimes forget to convey information through email that the adopter needs. For future reference, as it is usually the same with all breeders, you aren't guaranteed a baby from a particular litter even after you sign onto a waiting list. They have to provide those to people who signed on before you did or to those who didn't get babies from another litter who signed on. 

As many times as they get backouts, they usually try to reserve more than they'll get out of a litter. Or take the chance that there will be a couple extra. A lot of things come into play in circumstances like that.

I don't know of any breeders in your state, but if I come across any information I'll pass it on to you. I honestly wouldn't get any from a petstores breeder. When people talk about the health and personality issues with petstore rats we really mean those with the petstore's breeder's rats. In most cases, they aren't reputable. I'd definately do research on any breeder I am looking into. Ask for references- they should have no problem getting them.

Good luck. Sometimes you get the best results after a lot of waiting


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

sorry to hear that, same thing happened to me just yesterday. talking to this lady (thru her site and e-mail) about a baby rat. she had a couple potential adopters come in and they happened to take home every female baby rat she had. she would have reserved one for me but didn't check her e-mail to see which one i wanted until after the adopters left. grr...

good luck, i guess it's just a guessing game on whether you'll get one, and when. picasso is going to be an old lady before she gets a girlfriend if these breeders don't be consistent with their e-mailing, etc.


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## ladylady (Apr 5, 2007)

Wow I cant belive the ratty shortage in some places


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## Dimitrius (Mar 19, 2007)

The midwest is ridiculous when it comes to availability of... well... pretty much anything.
Rodere, I do feel that I was treated unfairly by her. When I contacted her, she was still looking for homes for her March litter, but I told her I couldn't have any rats at all until the middle of May, so she told me about her April litter, and I told her I would purchase 2 boys from her April litter. So she said she'd keep in touch and that she'd call or e-mail when the litter was born (which didn't happen.) When I contacted her in March, she was still looking for homes for her March litter, so surely her April litter wouldn't have been already spoken for, if she already had rats that needed homes. Then, I contacted her in early April and she said someone had taken the rest of the March litter (I'm assuming for snake food, since I believe she had like 9 left, and it seems unusual to me for someone to adopt 9 plain black rats at once.) So I feel that even though I had asked for rats from the April litter before anyone else, she still gave them to someone else. But what's done is done. No sense dwelling on the past.


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## Dimitrius (Mar 19, 2007)

Hey everyone, thought I'd add a little update, here. Thanks to Stephanie's endless sharing of links with me, I was able to come into contact with a woman with some rescues about 4 hours away from me. She sent me pics of some of her boys, I told her which ones I wanted, and she's going to meet me halfway in a few weeks so I can get my new boys! I'm so excited, and I'm so glad I'm getting rescues instead of breeder babies anyway!
I'll post the pics she sent me, later, my friends and I are going out.


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## ladylady (Apr 5, 2007)

yay!


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## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

that is so awesome Dimitrius!! congrats on the new kids!!


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## LizLovesRats5 (Mar 28, 2007)

Make sure you post some pics when you get them...


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

oh yay! you're so dedicated in making sure you adopt from a breeder! with only two that i can find in the state of colorado, i caved and bought a petstore rat when 3 weeks of e-mails proved in vain. oh well, it's not always their fault. maybe someday when i'm wise and old and have too much time on my hands i'll become a rat breeder too. seriously, i always wanted to breed giraffes, but i'm pretty sure that rats would just be easier to come by...


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## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

YAY! I can't wait to see pictures XD


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## Rodere (Feb 26, 2007)

Congrats on your boys  I hope you enjoy their company and they yours. 

What I said about breeders still stands though, for anyone who reads it. I've missed out on two or three litters myself because too few were born for the waiting list. The latest, that I signed onto last year was born last week and only 3 survived (of 4). Soo, I missed out since there aren't enough babies. But I understand. You can't always tell how many they'll have. The range is so big it's risky either way. Not enough adopters.. or too many.


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## Dimitrius (Mar 19, 2007)

The breeder I talked to before actually e-mailed me the same day the rescue lady got back to me. The breeder said she was planning on a litter being born in 10 days and I could have my pick from the litter if I wanted. I told her I found some rescues, though, and I feel better about adopting rescues than buying rats when there are rats already needing homes.

Anyway, here's the boys:








The one on the right.








Not an excellent pic.








Side pic of the second boy.

I'll post LOTS of pics once I get the boys in a few weeks!


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## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

aaaaawwww steals the masked and puts him in my pocket LoL


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## ladylady (Apr 5, 2007)

hehe the dark one is so wind in the willows


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## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

LoL i agree completely ladylady! such beautiful kids! I am so excited for you Dimitrius! i am so glad I could be of some help! *swells with pride and happiness for you*


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## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

OMG! Look at the SQUISH! Those boys look awesome! How are they likeing their new forever home?

edit: Oh sorry you havn't got them yet. My bad lol.


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## LizLovesRats5 (Mar 28, 2007)

Very good looking boys, and they look well socialized too. SCORE!


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## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

Aww, I would be a sucker and take home the Berky too but that's just me lol.

Two more big eared boys going to a good home!


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## Dimitrius (Mar 19, 2007)

Believe me, it was hard to get just 2! There was a beautiful chocolate hooded (or bareback, the pictures were mostly face shots, not sure) that I would have loved to get. But I fell in love with the "blazes," and the cage I'll be getting could fit 3 with some of the work I'll be doing on it, but I'll start out with 2, if GGMR strikes, we'll see what happens.


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## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

I started with one, then got Odin. It was a good thing I got Bastian cause Joshu died young so Odin had a companion. I just believe three is a good number for that reason personally. I like my animals in threes, I have three ferrets, three rats and soon to be three cats XD


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## RatMama13 (Aug 20, 2011)

I have two males that need homes and a litter on the way that was not planned. I am from the lincoln(NE) area and can deliver to that area or meet you at a certain point. This litter should be super friendly! PM if you are interested


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