09/07/2025
Someone recently reached out and asked about what we prioritize in our breeding program and for details about our goals regarding temperament, personality, and overall health. These are great questions, and this is a topic I've been meaning to write about for a while now. So, let's talk about goals 💜
__Our Goals__
Rat genetics are very complex, especially personality and health expressions. Every single rat won't be able to meet these goalposts, but the end goal is to keep increasing line stability so more and more do. Our various lines are at different points on the way toward these goals or stabilizing them.
__Temperament__
Our goal is to select for genetically based predispositions toward squishy handleable animals, curious and outgoing reactions towards new stimuli, a complete removal of bite reactions for any reason, and rat to rat introductions involving only positive interactions and easy group bonding. These behaviors and reactions should be based in their genetics, which leads to more stable and predictable individuals than using masking, training, and desensitization through excessive handling.
__Personality__
Personality goals vary by line. For most of our lines we are selecting for human attention seeking and cuddly personalities as the priority. Some lines are more laid back and cuddly, some are more playful and interactive. In a couple lines we are testing out selecting for intelligence, curiosity, and confidence - mischievous natures, trainability, entertaining personality quirks. We prefer to see personality and desires in our rats, rather than aiming for stuffed animal levels of apathy.
__Health__
Our current health goals for all standard sized rats are to select away from any displayed health issues before 2 years of age. Eventually we'd like to push that to 2.5 years. For dwarfs, the goal is 2 years 3 months currently, with an eventual goal of 2 years 8 months. Hopefully we'll be able to keep pushing those goals further.
__Structure__
While color, marking, and coat goals vary by line, across all lines our goal is to have well-structured heads with wide muzzles, rounded noses, as little pinching behind the whiskerbed as possible, and wedge-shaped heads. Eyes should be large, round, and clear. Ears should be wide, round, and sturdy with thick skin. Bodies should have notable muscle and substance with smooth contours and a smoothly arched spine over the hips. Hips should be wide and taper smoothly into the tail. We select away from thin, bony bodies, thin hips, pointy and thin snouts, and squinty eyes. Structure goals are to improve the health of the rats, not for pure aesthetics.
For photo tax, enjoy a few of our current favorite breeders 💜
