Hello and welcome to my rattery website! As you have noticed my entire rattery website is in Dutch, as I am a Dutch breeder and most of my pet homes are Dutch. I used to run an English version of the website, but it was perpetually outdated so not really useful to non-Dutch visitors.
Instead I have created this page with the basics about my rattery, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me through Facebook or Whatsapp. I am sometimes slow to respond and even slower over email, so please stick to Facebook/Whatsapp and give me poke if it has been a while!
Litters & applying for rats
If you are interested in getting rats from me, please keep an eye on the planned litters and current litters (Dutch pages, please use a translation tool). I plan my litters well in advance, but I don’t accept new applications until a litter is born and I know how many I will have available of each sex. I do not have litters continuously nor do I have rats available all the time, on average I breed about 6 litters a year. I rarely have adults available for rehoming, only when rats bred by me get returned due to circumstances or I happen to take in rescues – my own rats are not available!
When I am open for new applications you can download the application form on the page showing current litters. Please let me know where you’re from (i.e. an international local or looking to import) and if you are interested in getting pets or looking for breeding stock.
If there is not application form available on the current litters page I do not have any rats available yet. Check the planned litters page to get an idea of when to check back!
About me
My name is Elian and I am a 33-year-old rat lover from the Netherlands. I was born and raised in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, the most south-west region of the Netherlands (at the Belgian border). In 2024 I moved to the other side of the country, the most north-east region: Groningen! I live here with my partner and our menagerie of animals, which includes three dogs, a cat, rabbits, and of course the rodents! The rattery is my hobby and they are first and foremost my pets. I work as a line chef at a restaurant in Groningen city.
About the rattery
Breeding goals
In my opinion it is very important to have a clear goal in mind when breeding, as your aim is to improve rather than just multiply.
My main goal in breeding is breeding well tempered rats, they need to be tame and fun to keep as pets -both for the owner and the rats themselves-! Personally I love rats which are very human-oriented and love attention and cuddles, with a bit of a cheeky side to them. Of course they also must be well tempered towards each other, I do not breed with rats which do not get along with other rats.
Besides that my most important goal is to improve health and longevity. Rats as a species are sadly short-lived and aren’t the healthiest of animals, so I do my best to improve and maintain good health. For this reason I do my best to keep good records of all my breeding stock -and- the litters I have bred. I put in extra effort to receive updates about pet homed animals so I get a complete view of my lines.
A part of breeding for good health is breeding for type and build. A badly built animal or an animal with extreme features can get severe health problems and I want to avoid this at all cost. Learning to recognise well built rats is something that takes time and sadly we do not a have a lot of rat shows in the Netherlands, but whenever we do I usually enter a fair few of my rats to receive critique.
Lastly I do aim to breed for select few varieties. Mostly to avoid breeding all kinds of varieties in one line which can be detrimental to the health of the rats, but of course I did choose varieties which I love to see.
Currently I breed two lines: a hooded/hooded downunder line in Russian blue and black and a silken line in agouti and black – other colours may appear occasionally. I do not breed for dumbo or rex, though they may appear in litters. I do not breed any fuzz/naked, harley, marble, dwarf, etc.
Breeding ethics
I could write a whole separate website about breeding ethics and my views, but I’ll try to keep it short.
Most important thing you should know is that my rats are my pets first and foremost. They get the best care I can give them during their stay with me, which is life-long as I do not re-home any of my pets. Retired breeders or rats that turn out unsuitable for breeding stay here as pets until they die. All rats I’ve bred are welcome back to the rattery for whatever reason and elderly returnees usually stay here for the rest of their life.
All rats get medical care whenever they need it and are only euthanized when there is a medical reason to do so. I do not hard-cull any rats, ever.
I do my best to select the best breeding animals I can, only breeding with animals with sound temperament, good health and good ancestry. I use both line-breeding and out-crossing to improve my lines, using line-breeding to strengthen the qualities of a line while out-crossing to bring in better attributes.
I use pedigrees to keep track of my breeding rats’ lineage and generally only breed with rats with a known background. All baby rats, both pet homed rats and breeding rats, come with a digital pedigree which can be viewed by everyone on the website and in the Dutch rat database.
I do not breed with rats from pet shops, backyard breeders or rescues. I do not breed with or for tailless/manx, fuzz/hairless, or harley/longhair.
Housing
My rats are homed in big cages conforming the standards held in the Dutch rat fancy. I have two custom-built aluminium cages that can be split into parts to house different groups.
I use dried dust-extracted wood shavings as a substrate, a popular and safe substrate recommended around the world and very good at absorbing urine. I also provide them with litter trays filled with Back-2-Nature paper pellets.
Of course the cages are decorated to suit the rats’ needs, including but not limited to plenty of hides, hammocks, wood and chewing toys, climbing ropes, cardboard boxes, etc. Some groups also get a suitable running wheel, mainly the does as they enjoy using them most.
Feeding
I mix my own rat food using the Scuttling Gourmet and my knowledge as an animal tech as a guideline. I believe food plays a very big role in the health of any animal, so I make sure my pets get the best food possible.
I scatter feed my rats my homemade dry mix, which contains a small amount of animal protein as most my rats are either young and growing or will be bred at some point. I’ve found in my situation giving them this mix instead of a vegetarian mix works better for the rats.
Besides their dry mix they also occasionally get fresh food, mostly consisting of vegetables such as chicory, kale, bell pepper, etc. Every now and then I give them some treats, usually as part of an enrichment activity.
Mums and their litters are fed a special homemade mix very high in protein, vitamins and minerals to support the rapid growth of the babies. They also get fresh vegetables and fresh protein regularly.
Maternity care
All litters are born in a suitable maternity cage, which is lower than a permanent rat cage and has small bar spacing to avoid dangerous situations for the babies. They have a floorspace of 80 by 50cm and are about 40cm in height.
The expecting mother is moved into this cage at least a few days before the due date so she can settle in and build a nest. She is supplied with ample bedding and nesting material as well as a partly transparent hide, this way I can easily keep an eye on her while she still feels safe. Often I also give her a litter tray, a climbing rope and some chewing toys, all of which safe to use in a maternity cage.
I handle the babies daily from the first or second day after birth for the first two weeks, making sure they are feeding and growing well. Once their eyes are open and they start walking and climbing I add a hammock to the cage.
Soon enough they will be ready for more space and they will be moved into a bigger cage fully decorated with platforms, hammocks, hides, climbing robes, chewing toys, etc etc. Before long they’ll be learning to use the litter tray and run in the running wheel with their mum.
By this time I will be handling them and playing with them regularly to get them used to being picked up. My goal is for them to be social and human oriented by nature, but I also want to socialise them and make sure they are already familiar with being handled. As they grow up in my living room they will be used to regular household noises.
The girls and mum are split from the boys and moved into another cage when the litter is 4,5 weeks old, as the babies can be fertile from 5 weeks of age. Once split up I can give each baby a bit more individual attention and soon I will be deciding which baby will be homed where.
Past litters
For an overview of my past litters please check out the pages in the menu under “Nesten” –> “Nestverleden”. There is a lot of information available about my past litters, but all is written in Dutch except for the downloadable pedigrees/ancestry.
If you want to know more information about any litters or lines feel free to contact me through Facebook messenger or Whatsapp.