Celebrating 13 years of breeding!
Deer Creek Rattery was founded in February 1997 but did not get it's 'official' rattery name until 2000. It was named after the place I was living at the time. My rattery initials are DCR.
Please note that my policies and ways of doing things may vary from others, but that does not make them wrong. It is up to the individual to care for their rats in the way that works best for them. There are many, many different methods of care available as options for people. Do your research and make your own choices that best suit your lifestyle.
I'm a member of the North American Rat Registry (NARR) and all of my rats are being registered with them.
I'm the
founder and president of the Great Lakes Fancy Rat Association. We are a social club based in
Michigan
that
has fun events such as summer barbecues, holiday parties, dinner meetings and educational
exhibits. We go to several pet
expos every year so we can share our love for rats with the public. Our club is free to join and we
welcome all rat lovers, even if you aren't from the
Great
Lakes
area. We
currently have members from the US and
Canada.
If you would like more
information about the club, e-mail me at glfra@glfra.com Please note that this e-mail
address is strictly for the club. Any questions for availability of rats, litter information and general
rat questions should be sent to deercreekrats@gmail.com
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Closed Rattery, Visitors and the Rat Room
Due to the risk of illnesses from outside sources, I do not allow visitors inside the rat room. If you have rats on reserve from me, I will normally meet you at a separate location such as the Walmart parking lot. I will not bend on this policy as it protects my rats from potential disease.
The rats have their own room in my house. It is a 13' x 15', bright and sunny room with a large 4' window and lots of space for their cages, extra food/bedding and the playtable. I raise my litters in my livingroom so they are exposed to more sounds and sights. They are handled frequently. They have an EcoQuest Living Air Classic Purifier in their room that keeps the air fresh, clean and pollutant-free. This purifier has proven to be a wonderful investment. I highly recommend this product for pet owners as well as non-pet owners. This is a non-smoking household.
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Varieties
Body Types: Standard ears, dumbo ears, manx and dwarf (on a very small scale).
Colors: Russian blue, black shadows, midnight blue, roan, UK mink/cinnamon/pearl, and Russian blue/Russian blue agouti Burmese. I occasionally have seal pt. and Russian blue pt. black-eyed Siamese, black-eyed Himalayan or ivory available. Aussie cinnamons are coming soon.
Markings: Self, Irish, berkshire, shadows, mock-agouti, and tortishell
Coat Types: Standard coats, satin coats and 'Harley-coats' (these are not available to the public currently). I rarely work with rex coats as I do not like them very much.
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Socialization
My rats are handled from day one, sometimes within minutes of their birth. Proper socialization is the key to a wonderful pet. Each rat is given individual attention, out of cage playtime and love daily. Even though I have many show and breeder-quality rats, they must first be pet-quality. My babies are carried in bonding pouches and allowed to socialize with older rats so they can learn proper rat behavior.
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Caging, Bedding and Feeding
My rats are fed a high-quality lab diet with various fresh fruits and veggies. They are also fed a high-quality dog food with a Suebee-type mix to provide a variety of foods. Nursing does, growing rats, and elderly rats are supplemented with extra protein and fat. They are also given fresh water daily.
They are kept on flaked Aspen bedding with strips of fleece for nesting material. All of my cages are large converted Sterilite tubs with wire mesh on the sides and tops. These cages provide the rats with excellent
airflow, plenty of room for hammocks, wheels and toys as well as a safe environment.
These cages are incredibly sanitary, easy to keep clean and portable. While wire cages are great for many people, they are not for everyone. I have tried many types of wire cages and have found them to be exceedingly cumbersome, hard to keep clean and usually have lots of wasted space. I recommend wire cages to people who do not have to care for more than 25 rats at a time. When you have many large wire cages, the amount of time spent cage cleaning can be many hours. Many people do not have hours upon hours of extra time to spend on cage cleaning. I would much rather spend my time playing with the rats and socializing babies than scrubbing wire cages that will be dirty again in mere days. Tub cages are super easy to wipe down during the week, easy to dump out and replace bedding and wash when needed.
Rats here are provided with hammocks, a
hidey-house (usually a plastic igloo), cardboard tubes, a water bottle and a food dish. I make my own fleece hammocks, fleece cubes and other fleece cage accessories for my rats. They also have a large play table with many different toys for more enrichment and out-of-cage time.
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Quarantine and Vet Care
I quarantine any and all rats for a
minimum of 3 weeks in a separate building/location before coming here. My
rats get vet care if needed by a qualified small animal veterinarian. I believe in using holistic medicines whenever possible and disagree with the overuse of antibiotics as I believe it causes animals (and people) to rely too heavily on them rather than building up a natural immunity. When absolutely necessary, I will allow the use of antibiotics on my animals as there are some things that cannot be fixed with holistic methods. I do not remove mammary tumors in the rare case they pop up on my rats. I do not believe they are life-threatening enough to risk putting a rat under anesthesia. Many rats are perfectly capable of living a long life with a mammary tumor should they get one. There are a few cases in which surgery is absolutely necessary to save a rat's life, such as an emergency c-section. When necessary, my rats receive these surgeries.
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Feeders and Culling
I am neither for, nor against, the raising of rats as feeders but I do not sell my rats as feeders. I do, however, feel that it is important that even
feeder rats are treated humanely and killed in as humane a manner possible. Please do not contact me if you have the intention of using my rats to feed another animal.
I am officially neutral on the ethics of culling litters or unhealthy rats. Whether or not
you choose to cull, I feel that any rats that are killed, whether for
feeders or to reduce litter size, should be killed as humanely as possible. I do not and will not cull healthy or tempermentally sound animals. However, I do not believe in keeping tempermentally unsound, aggressive, or chronically ill animals. They are euthanized humanely should they occur. In order to maintain a high-quality breeding group, the best animals are chosen for breeding and the pet-quality animals are placed in carefully selected adoptive homes. I do not adopt out retired breeders. I will occasionally cull runts out of larger litters if I feel they will not grow or thrive like they should. I NEVER cull animals based on color, type, or other frivolous reasons.
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Linebreeding and Inbreeding
I am very pro linebreeding and inbreeding. It has both benefits and
risks and only each individual can choose whether or not they think one
side outweighs the other. I choose to linebreed and inbreed heavily because I've found it has strengthened my lines and improved them through the years. I prefer not to outcross unless the outcrossed rat will help fix a problem or to add a particular gene to the inbred line.
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