About Our Rattery

This page was last updated in April 2013.

The 28th Rat is an Australian rattery established in 2008. We're located in North Brisbane, QLD and will also freight rats interstate.

Our Vision

Our vision is to establish a friendly, healthy line of large sized rats with self markings, rex and standard coats, in a variety of different colours.

Our Values

  • Breeding for Size & Good Condition: We strive for our rats to be naturally big boned, shiny and healthy.
  • Breeding for Friendliness: We use very careful selection to ensure only the friendliest of rats are bred from.
  • Honesty: We respect our rat adopters and the rat community by vocalizing any problems in our breeding program.
  • Working Together: We help and work with the rat community to improve the fancy.
  • Raising Awareness: We promote rats as pets at every opportunity.
  • Pets First: Above all our rats are our loved pets; not our breeding experiments.

A Little Disclaimer

Please keep in mind that our vision and goals are just that - something we're working towards. As we are only a new rattery, not all of our rats are going to meet our standards along the way. We will vocalize any problems with our baby rats whilst they are in our care; however we can't guarantee their health or size after they leave the rattery. We encourage our rat adopters to give us their feedback so that we can continue improving on our lines. Hopefully some time in the future we can remove this disclaimer. (:

Our Rat Set Up & Approach to Rat Care

Our Set Up
Our set up in August 2012.

We have a number of rat cages set up under a covered area of our balcony. The balcony is the coolest area of our house during summer, and as we live in humid Brisbane, it doesn't get too cold for them during the winter months. Please note that pregnant and nursing does are kept indoors, except during the day in summer where it is cooler outside.

Rat Cages and Accessories

Our set up consists of two large cages; one for the boys and one for the girls. These cages have deep trays (keeps the mess at a low), small bar spacing (young rats can move straight in) and will fit roughly 8 adult rats each. The cages host a range of different toys, accessories and hammocks to keep the rats busy. These include various igloos, tubes, boxes, greenies, wooden chew toys, Dapper Rat hammocks, 28rats.com hammocks, peg basket hammocks and anything else fun that we can think of.

Bedding and Cleaning

We use Hysorb Woodshavings as bedding for our rats. Whilst there is speculation that shavings may cause respiratory problems, I began using it after many Australian rodent breeders reported no harm being caused to their animals. For those worried I would also recommend reading "The Truth about Pine Shavings" By Corinne Fayo. If you have any questions about this please don't hesitate to ask and I also encourage worried people to visit my rattery and use their own judgement as to how healthy my animals are.

We feel that Hysorb Woodshavings keep ammonia at a minimum, reducing the amount of cleaning days - and as a plus our rats love to dig in it. (: We clean our cages whenever we notice them getting dirty. This varies depending on the amount of rats we have at the time, but generally it's once or twice a week. We keep two sets of each hammock and they are always washed on Sundays. For cleaning we use a mixture of vinegar and water because we feel it's less irritating for rats who are experiencing respiratory problems.

Our Rat Diet

Our rats have a mix of lab blocks and other additives available for them to munch on at all times. They are given daily fruits and vegetables, and twice a week they are given beans, sweet potato and oysters. (Yes, our rats eat better than we do!) Some of their favourite treats include yogurt drops, strawberry syrup and creamed cheese. Learn more about our rat diet here.

Playtime and Handling

Our rats are our only pets, so they are nothing short of spoiled rotten. We LOVE playing with our rats! We let them run free and follow us around in our rat-proofed "family area" almost every day (although some of them prefer to sleep under the lounge cushions ;)). They cruise around on our shoulders as we do chores around the house, and partake in plenty of hand wrestling sessions. In addition we also have a very large balcony with concrete walls, so this is a great opportunity for the active ratties to safely run free in a big open space.

Medicating Rats

We use (and strongly recommend getting a copy of) Debbie Ducommun's "Rat Health Care" Booklet as a reference for our rat's health problems. If we come across a problem we can't fix ourselves, we are always quick to make a vet appointment. We use Dr Peter Fields of Everton Hills Vet when we need help with our rat's health.

We follow the Rat Fan Club's approach to rat medication very closely. As most rat lovers are aware, respiratory problems are very common in rats. Usually our course of action is to try these three medications in order until one of them is effective: Amoxicillin, Doxycycline (VibraVet) and lastly Enrofloxacin (Baytril). For rats who seem to be particularly struggling to breath, we boil a bowl of water with a dash of Eucalyptus oil and Vicks VapoRub and let them breath in the steam. We will often do this once or twice a day and we find it helps them breath easier.

For rats who seem to be struggling we also give them Echinacea as an immune booster. We give them high protein foods such as soft kitten food, boiled eggs and baby food. Sick rats are kept inside except during the day in summer where it is cooler outside.

Our Rat Breeding Practices

There's a lot of diversity in the practices of Australian rat breeders; everybody does things differently. There isn't any right or wrong approach to rat breeding, so long as the animals have a good quality of life. Below we have our general guidelines. If you have any further questions feel free to contact us.

Our Rat Breeding Set Up

Pictured to the right are our rat breeding tubs. We have constructed the tubs ourselves by cutting out the sides and adding wire for ventilation. The tubs are housed indoors in a quiet, cool area not to disturb mothers and bubs. Mums are supplied with plenty of shredded newspaper to nest with, and a selection of different hidey holes to choose from.

Rat Selection & Breeding

Every time we decide to breed our rats, we refer to our vision and values. This ensures that we don't get sidetracked and keep working towards our goals. Currently these are the things we consider when we decide to pair our rats:

  • Size: Our ratty parents must be large in size (stocky, not fat).
  • Friendliness: Our ratty parents must be friendly towards humans and other rats.
  • Health: Our ratty parents must appear healthy, with shiny coats and no signs of wheezing.

Additions regarding variety and conformation may be added to these considerations as the rattery progresses over time, but at the moment these are our three guidelines for parents. Variety isn't being focused on at the moment. Please note that even though we take these things into consideration, it doesn't guarantee that the bubs will take on the attributes, due to variation throughout litters. Our rat bubs aren't perfect.

We like to wait until our female rats are at least 6 months old before breeding. We make sure they are of decent condition and size - this can vary between females. For males we ideally wait until they are at least 12 months old, but this may not be possible for some litters. Mothers are given at least two months after a litter is weaned before being bred again. Wherever possible we like to breed two litters at once - this way if something goes wrong with one litter, there's another nursing mum available.

A Little Disclaimer

Please keep in mind that our vision and goals are just that - something we're working towards. As we are only a new rattery, not all of our rats are going to meet our standards along the way. We will vocalize any problems with our baby rats whilst they are in our care; however we can't guarantee their health or size after they leave the rattery. We encourage our rat adopters to give us their feedback so that we can continue improving on our lines. Hopefully some time in the future we can remove this disclaimer. (:

Caring for Mums and Bubs

Our pregnant/nursing mums and baby rats are given high protein additions to their diet to help them thrive a couple of times per week. These treats include soft kitten food, baby food, yogurt and boiled eggs. Contrary to popular belief, we believe baby rats do not require lots of handling to become friendly. Genetically friendly animals will be friendly whether they are handled or not. As such, we only handle our babies a few times a week. If you have any questions about this please don't hesitate to ask and I also encourage worried people to visit my rattery and use their own judgement as to how happy & friendly my animals are.

Baby rats are separated from their mother at 5 weeks old, and leave the rattery for their new homes at 8 weeks old.

Adopting Rats

If you are interested in adopting rats from us, visit our rat adoption page.