Welcome to The Rattery
We have been avid keepers and enthusiasts of fancy rats since mid-2011, keeping them on and off over the years.
In October of 2019 we acquired our first breeding rats from close friend and fellow breeder Silver's Rattery and Pipistrelle Mouse & Rattery.
We decided to start our own rattery with the intention to show our stock. We are registered with the LSCMRC and have intentions to show both our rats and our mice starting from October 2023.
We also show our stock at the small animal show held at Expo Houten near Utrecht in the Netherlands.
Fancy rats come in a huge variety of amazing colours and coat types, all of which can be found on The Rat Variety Guide which is a public resource built by our good friend over at Igloo Rats.
We work with a few varieties, both common and slightly uncommon (relative to availability in the UK), and our lines have attended and been placed in some small shows in the Netherlands.
Our rats have been exported to continental Europe and can be found in Denmark, The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Hungary.
We produce a mix of both top eared (standard) and dumbo ears in each of our varieties.
Most of our varieties are limited to one size. For example, we only work with standard sized Cinnamon and dwarf sized Black-eyed Siamese and Marten.
This is subject to change, as with time new projects will arise and you can stay up to date on our planned projects via the blog (remember to subscribe to our mailing list!) or through our social media.
We will only ever breed animals that we like, as our breeding projects are for ourselves and exhibition first and foremost. We don’t and never will breed for public demands.
All examples of our varieties can be found on the Rat Variety Guide.
These are the standards we breed for as far as coat colours and types are concerned. Body type is at our own discretion.
We generally aim for a heavy set and strong top line, large eyes with a suitable distance, well rounded ears free of crinkles and kinks (sometimes called "elf ears") in dumbos, and a broad head with a short snout.
Generally, it is preferred our bucks are >500g and does are >300g in our standard sized rats.
There is no lower size limit on our dwarf bucks, we prefer our does to be >100g and 6 months old before attempting to produce a litter.
Black-Eyed Black Marten // Black-Eyed Agouti Marten - in self only, dumbo and top-eared, standard and dwarf size.
This variety is part of the same line as our Black-Eyed Siamese and are often bred together.
Black-Eyed Siamese - in self only, dumbo only, standard and dwarf size.
This variety is part of the same line as our Black-Eyed Black Marten and Black-Eyed Agouti Marten and are often bred together.
Agouti // Cinnamon - in self and downunder, dumbo and top-eared, standard size only with plans to add dwarf.
Our Agouti and Cinnamons are often bred together and we work with these in the same project.
Light Phase Pearl // Cinnamon Pearl - aiming for self, dumbo only, standard size only with plans to add dwarf.
There is a bit of intermingling with our Cinnamon and Agouti lines. The Pearl gene is only expressed on a Mink-based rat, so will be visual
Downunder (DU) - on variegated and occasionally hooded. We mostly aim for variegated with our DU. But, as DU is a semi-dominant, if one parent is a DU then every kit has a 50% chance to also be DU, visual or not.
This means that a self or undermarked irish/berkshire that is genetically DU won't display the signature belly spots.
DWS (Dominant White Spot) - more commonly seen in our dwarfs in the way of Badger, Cap Stripe, and Lightning Blaze. It has also caused Odd-Eye and is something we like to work with.
Marble - in standard and dwarf, mostly on a black base.
Coat Types
Velveteen & Double Velveteen - originally imported to our rattery from Germany in 2020. We've been working with velv and double velv ever since. Eventually they ended up completely replacing Rex for us.
Harvel (Harley Velveteen) - two copies of the Harley (longhair) gene and one or two copies of the velveteen gene. This is a work in progress and there will be no kits of this variety available to the public until 2024 or later.
Harley - Harley is regarded as the standard "longhair" gene. We have been working with carriers of this gene since 2022 but it remains a private project and no kits have been available to the public.
This variety can sometimes require a specialist diet void of animal derived protein. This is an ailment we are aiming to breed out due to the complications in housing Harley rats with other rats without dietary requirements.
Silvermane - can be found mostly in our Agoutis but also occasionally our Cinnamons.
