# Breeder vs Pet store



## heavenlydemonick (Mar 16, 2012)

I really want to get a little friend for my lone rat and there is a breeder near me that I have a baby reserved at, unfortunately the owner has been INCREDIBLY rude to me and I am very put off by that. Unfortunately there are no other breeders near me and I'm wondering if would really be that bad to get a rat from a pet store or if I shoud just bite my tongue and get the baby I have reserved. Any thoughts?


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## 1a1a (May 6, 2011)

Oooh, that's a tough one. How good is this breeder's rep?


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## Ruairidh (Aug 29, 2011)

Search for a rescue in your area. If there is, contact them, if not, then, send a polite note to the breeder telling them that you feel that they're being rude. Wait to see what comes from that. The petstore should be your last resort, since they're horrible and buying rats from them supports feeder mills, which are also horrible. 

/my two cents.


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## gourdrats (Mar 9, 2012)

My experience is this; I've never had the opportunity to buy from a breeder, but I've always loved ratties..when I was small (old enough to raise a rat tho) I bought/rescued a "feeder" rat from a pet store for $4 - she was prolly about 8 weeks old I'm thinkn.. she was an Albino with ruby red eyes.. she never had a single respiratory issue or anything, seemed to be in tip-top health..which in retrospect I guess is miraculous given where she came from & the fact she lived in a 10 gallon aquarium at my place (then again I always had her out, too) anyways - at the age of about a year & a half she got a harmless type of tumor, & passed away a few months after, living to be just a lil over a year & a half (R.I.P Nicademus <3 ) I think her lifespan was cut short because she was under stress for quite awhile, when wild rats moved into the house. She was always freaked out after that.

I just recently bought to young ratties from Petsmart -they looked extremely healthy & they came home with "a mild upper respiratory infection". A week of 0.03 ml baytril has them healthy & totally none sneezy  they were also pretty well socialized from the get-go.. 
I just made sure to pick the ratties that ran up for me & didnt hide. 

good luck in whatever you do!!


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## Maiden (Mar 9, 2012)

I have found that if you find a small pet store they have good rats.

There is one pet store that I go to often and They breed their own hairless for pet ownership only.

They do have a few options for feeders but the people that work there are smart enough to know the difference between the feeder rats and the fancy rats.

I like that they breed their own because they are smart enough to keep track of the linage and if I ask to see the mom or dad they will bring him or her out from the back of the store.

In short, if you don't want to work with a breeder try and find a small pet store, if you can't find a store selling "pet rats" not Feeder rats.


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## heavenlydemonick (Mar 16, 2012)

I've talked to a friend of mine who has gotten 6 rats from this breeder and she said even though the lady's attitude is horrible it is worth it to get a baby from her. I really do not want to support a pet store so I guess I'll just bite my tongue and hope I don't have to deal with this lady that often.


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## GhostMouse (Sep 6, 2011)

The issue with pet stores is not necessarily the health of the rats you can see, or their care in the store. The issue is mill breeding. No responsible breeder who cared about their animals or their breeding lines would allow their rats to be sold to just anyone off the street, with no idea where they are going, how they will be cared for, or how to contact the new owners to find out about any health issues that might pop up in their lines (important to know if you're trying to breed healthy rats).

Sorry you're having to deal with someone like that, Heavnelydemonick, but I think you're making the right choice to through a breeder rather than a pet store.


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## Babs (Jan 26, 2012)

Obviously if you're in America it's very different, but here in Ireland there are no real big "mills" for pet rats. A few fellas I know of will breed rats for feeding reptiles, but they gas and freeze them humanely and that's that. I'm friendly with a few breeders that sell to pet shops, and all of them treat their rats fine. They love them, breed them for health and certain colours/features and then when they're old enough, they give them to the local pet stores. That's just some, mind. I'm not about to stand up and say that every pet shop in Ireland buys from kind hearted breeders with the rats best interest in mind, but it's just in my experience buying direct from the breeder can very often be the same as buying from a store. 

Personally, I wouldn't buy from someone who's being rude. The rats might be great, but it doesn't excuse someone being an a*shole You can be protective of your animals without being a d!ck about it - I quizzed everyone who took one of my oops babies and they all still came away thanking me for being pleasant. If you can, maybe inquire at the pet store where they get their rats - if they say a local breeder, ask what day they come to deliver and then wait for them and quiz 'em. It can be worth it to support someone who does something because they genuinely love the animals and the process, rather than because they get off on acting superior about being able to do it "right".


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## TobyRat (May 24, 2011)

Can you give an example on the breeders rude behavior? If a breeder was being consistently inappropriate and rude to me, I would not adopt from them.


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## heavenlydemonick (Mar 16, 2012)

TobyRat said:


> Can you give an example on the breeders rude behavior? If a breeder was being consistently inappropriate and rude to me, I would not adopt from them.


Well I was asking her a lot of questions and she was giving me short answers and telling me to just read her site and the thing that really got me was I was asking her about her pick up times because one of the pages on her site said Sunday through Thursday and another said Monday through Thursday and instead of just telling me she forgot to update one of the pages she treated me like I was stupid and went and changed the page right away and said they both said the same thing and I should read better next time.


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## RatzRUs (Feb 5, 2012)

She sounds like a piece of work!


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## SamIAm (Feb 22, 2012)

Well maybe she hates people but loves rats ;D or is just tired of answering the same questions all the time. Still gives her no reason to be rude. I got my rat at a reptile expo the didn't know anything about her all they told me was she was pet quality. At the time I really didn't know anything about rats and didn't know getting 2 was a important. Shes a good rat though I haven't had any problems with her.


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## Flashygrrl (Feb 8, 2012)

I tend to take people like that with a grain of salt. They do what they do best and if they annoy a few people they generally don't care. As long as the quality is up to par with the 'tude, it's all good.


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## Babs (Jan 26, 2012)

I don't know, I just honestly feel that there's really no excuse for being rude, and there never is regardless of how great a person is, or thinks they are.


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## TobyRat (May 24, 2011)

heavenlydemonick said:


> Well I was asking her a lot of questions and she was giving me short answers and telling me to just read her site and the thing that really got me was I was asking her about her pick up times because one of the pages on her site said Sunday through Thursday and another said Monday through Thursday and instead of just telling me she forgot to update one of the pages she treated me like I was stupid and went and changed the page right away and said they both said the same thing and I should read better next time.


Can you post the link to this breeders website? If she is truly a good breeder than it's really up to you, but in my opinion, both her attitude and the fact that she is avoiding your questions are red flags that maybe she isn't the top-quality breeder she says she is.


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## heavenlydemonick (Mar 16, 2012)

www.camarattery.com


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## kamii (Mar 14, 2012)

I work in a franchise pet shop and all of the staff, bar about two people, are really knowledgable about all of the animals and we take good care of them (plenty of attention and snacks, haha) but I know not all pet shops are like this. I agree with the smaller pet shops probably being better but we have 2 fancys and 4 dumbos for sale at the moment, with two more dumbos out the back.. And none of them seem to have any problems whatsoever. Although, my previous rats were originally pet-shop bought and both had varying degrees of respiratory problems.

I'd say make sure they get a good health check before buying pet-shop, maybe..?


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