Pet Rat Selective Breeding

Pet rat selective breeding is a popular form of breeding followed by a number of breeders who are looking at particular breeds only. Although pet rat selective breeding is a scientific method, there are many positives and negatives to this form of breeding. Pet rat selective breeding is a must to learn if you are looking to become a breeder for rats, whether in one breed or many.

Pet rats were used as sport for terriers in the 18th century. Rat-catchers were known to sell their catch to people looking to buy them and use them as targets for terriers. Thrown into pits, audiences would bet on the time it would take for the dog to kill all the rats. Soon, these rat-owners began picking particular breeds of rats as their trademark. Since supply was random, they decided to breed their own and picked rats that suited their style.

There are two clear sides to the process of pet rat selective breeding. While on one hand, pet rat selective breeding allows rat lovers to gain access to their favourite breeds of rats, it is also said to be the cause for the death of a number of “poor” quality rat breeds.

Many breeders look to enter competitions with their prize rat breeds and the whole purpose behind rearing rats for them is to produce award winning rat breeds. They use pet rat selective breeding as means of using rats, with the features that they are looking for, to breed and produce offspring that have those features only.
In many cases, breeders are simply looking to produce various rat breeds to sell them to hobbyists or pet shops. Pet shops, in turn, sell them off to their customers.

Pet rat selective breeding has come in for some major flak from many fronts as it is said to be a major cause for culling of many rat breeds. In pet rat selective breeding, especially for competitions, breeders look for specific features and if any offspring do not have those features, then they are either sold to pet shops or culled, which means killed off.

At pet shops, if these “poor quality” breeds are not sold due to their unconventional markings or fur, they are used as food for snakes or spiders in the pet shop. As a result, pet rat selective breeding is considered quite inhuman by some parties although, regular breeders are known to take good care of their animals and breed their rats responsibly.

If you are looking to learn about pet rat selective breeding and would like to take it up as a hobby, then it is important to keep in mind the ethics of the hobby and breed rats responsibly. When done right, it is a lot of fun whether you choose to enter competitions or simply breed them for your personal pleasure, so take up pet rat selective breeding and surround yourself with your favourite rat breed.