Anyone bought rats from KKpets

[LisaLQ]

Just out of interest, did this boy have any brothers? And if so, why was he left on his own if you think that his behaviour was down to missing his brothers?

[saxon]

If you had an RI in your rattery you shouldn't be rehoming at all!!!

How old was he when rehomed?

If anyone were to slate another breeder to get 'more business' then they'd be wasting their time I think as I've yet to make any money from breeding rats. Youd' ahve to have a warehouse full as I've said in other threads to make money from breeding rodents.
People return for kitts once they know they are getting well handled, healthy, friendly kitts from a breeder. Not because that breeder tells them the next breeder is selling 'bad' rats.

I hope he gets better for you Rosie.

[rosie75]

Biscuit on the right (from KKpets), Toasty on the left (another breeder)
Biscuit is 3 days younger than toasty

[KathyM]

Neither rat looks tiny - rats from different lines will be different sizes and develop at different rates. I had one line that was huge, very quick to develop, and another that was fairly small as young kittens but matured for longer and reached the same sizes, if you get me. If I put one of my old essex line by the side of those at the same age, it's likely mine would be bigger than both, it doesn't mean a lot. Health and temperament (and if it's important to you, type and size at adulthood) count. Don't get me wrong, I don't find weedy kittens/adults particularly appealing (unless they're rescues of course!) but whatever floats your boat lol.

[kristen]

The boy had brothers, there is one that we are keeping from her litter and he was with him and another rat from another litter until the day he left us.
Sandra had rats which I think she has introduced to him now, so he may perk up.

[saxon]

Originally Posted by KathyM

Neither rat looks tiny - rats from different lines will be different sizes and develop at different rates. I had one line that was huge, very quick to develop, and another that was fairly small as young kittens but matured for longer and reached the same sizes, if you get me. If I put one of my old essex line by the side of those at the same age, it's likely mine would be bigger than both, it doesn't mean a lot. Health and temperament (and if it's important to you, type and size at adulthood) count. Don't get me wrong, I don't find weedy kittens/adults particularly appealing (unless they're rescues of course!) but whatever floats your boat lol.

I agree with you Kathy,
My powder blue line, at the moment, is smaller than my RB lines and my mink lines.
My rex line on the other hand, even smooth coated kitts in the line, seem to be bloody massive in comparison.
They do seem to 'mature' at about the same sizes though. The smaller lines grow for longer than the bigger kitts. Maturing at around 9-10 months for some reason.

[LisaLQ]

My capped line are quite small as babies, so I kept most of mine back til 8 weeks.

Unless you've had the baby rat a couple of weeks, it looks fairly normal for a 6 week old rat. Smaller than the other, granted, but big litters and different lines throw out smaller rats sometimes.

Plenty of good food and he'll possibly catch up. Higher protein foods alongside their dried food (eg. cat food, scrambled eggs, porridge, sardines in tom. sauce), curly kale helps a lot, along with a bottle of lactol on the cage alongside their water (or goats milk if it's easier to find).

[KathyM]

Originally Posted by saxon

I agree with you Kathy,
My powder blue line, at the moment, is smaller than my RB lines and my mink lines.
My rex line on the other hand, even smooth coated kitts in the line, seem to be bloody massive in comparison.
They do seem to 'mature' at about the same sizes though. The smaller lines grow for longer than the bigger kitts. Maturing at around 9-10 months for some reason.

LOL I was panicking about the squirrel litter when they were little, that wasn't a big litter and they seemed small in comparison to my essex lot (who were huge to be fair). Look at Harry and Morton now though, they're chunks. And babies on the way, whoo!

[LisaLQ]

Slow growth is much better than rats who grow very quickly initially then put on fat, like earlier in my mink/dove/hooded line. I've a buck who is nearly 1kg who I cant shift the weight off (my foundation buck), and all those in the first litter turned out chunky verging on obese. Luckily a couple of good outcrosses and this current litter seem to be smaller (but growing steadily and stocky rather than fat).

[saxon]

My Patch, from the rex litter but a normal coat, has settled down now. He's not as massive compared to the others as he seemed to be. They are all catching up to him now.

I have two lines of russian blue as well. One line has smaller kitts than the other line. Even when having the same number in a litter.

I have my big agouti line that I use as an outcross every few generations to get the size going.
It's working upto press so I should be showing again next year.
Not that I've shown much anyway but I'm hoping to get there next year.