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FeedersAny and all issues about raising rats, mice, or anything else that you feed your cornsnakes.
I'm not planning on breeding them as feeders because I know the females don't do well as mother's what with there nipples not working right and all that. I just want one or two as a pet, but my question is: Are hairless rats worth more than regular rats? I went to the local Petland to check out their animals and saw a couple of hairless rats in with the regular rats with hair. They were all about $4. Is this a good deal on a hairless rat?
I had hairless rats in the past, and they were selling for $10-20 each from a breeder, pet stores charged more. $4 is a great deal from a pet store, most still charge at least $10, while you can sometimes get them for $3-5 from breeders in areas where hairless rats are common.
I got my first hairless rats at Petco and they were the same price as the coated rats. Its not that their nipples don't work right, its that the rat pup's toe nails hurt, scratch and cut the female hairless bellies. OUCH! To get more hairless breed a hairless male to het females or het males with het females. Sell or keep the hairless females as pets or snake food.
Actually, the hairless gene in rodents does often make them unable to produce milk.
I strongly advise against purchasing ANY kind of pet (especially rodents) from pet stores. They're too often inbred, unhealthy genetically, and not well taken care of. If you're going to buy a pet it's best to do it from a breeder.
I did accidentally breed one of my hairless rat girls and she did fine nursing for the first couple of days. Her babies had nice full bellies. But after a few days I could see the scratches starting on her belly and she did not want to nurse (I don't blame her) so I put her pups in with a coated rat mom. I don't think she had a lack of milk, but she was clearly in pain when her pups were scratching her.
Every "reputable" rat breeder will not sell their rats to people that have snakes. And they have you sign a contract saying you will not feed their rats to snakes or their babies. Those same rat breeders will sell their surplus rats to wholesalers that supply Petsmart, which is why at Petsmart you will find hairless, dumbos and other "fancy" breeds of rats. My first breeder rats were from another reptile breeder, but they were not handleable and were more inbred than the ones I got form Petsmart.
Inbreeding rodents is not a bad thing. If you bring in a new male or two every once in a while it keeps the litter sizes up and no two headed rats are born! By breeding your own line of rodents you can select for things like being able to handle them without being bitten. My rodents have been selected for that and I always choose the most friendly males (and females) as my breeders for the next generation of feeders. They don't bite me, which is more than I can say for the ones I started out with!
Well now I have something new to add to my own thread... I found another hairless rat at a different pet store for $15. So at one pet store they are $4 and at one they are $15. Its rather interesting. I just like them because they are unique.
I would say almost hairless, a little less hair than a double rex but enough fuzz not to be baldies.. At least thats what I can tell from your pictures.. Curly whiskers are cool...
LOL...they are actually from a hairless x rex pairing. I look forward to them being big enough to breed so I can see what babies I can get from them. I will most likely NOT breed them to each other. Oh yeah...the female has one dark eye and one ruby eye. It's pretty cool!
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