Here at Stellar Rattery, temperaments testing is extremely important — and a fun way to bond with our babies, as well! We’re constantly playing with the babies as soon as their eyes open at two weeks old: handling them, taking food out of their mouths, as well as offering them treats, and generally socializing them. The medbay where mama’s and their kits are born and live for their first four weeks of life is parked in our living room, so they have near-constant socialization and get used to the everyday noises of an active household.
We pride ourselves with producing funny, confident little rat kits. In particular, my 9 year old son really enjoys temperament testing the babies, and takes his “work” very seriously. I encourage him to handle the babies starting as soon as their peach fuzz comes in (around 6 days old), so the kits get used to little hands and a bit rougher or less gentle handling, under direct supervision by an adult, of course. We make notes about which kits tolerate and seem to enjoy his brand of chaos and potentially go to families with small children, and which kits might do better in adult-only homes or those with older children or responsible teens.
At three weeks old, the babies are brought out for their first “free-roams” in my bathtub as a group, all together. A blanket is placed down for comfort as well as a place to play and hide. Fisher Playskool toys like play houses and vehicles are placed down for the babies to explore and climb on. They are removed from their mother during this play for longer periods of time (about half an hour, once or twice a day) to gauge how they do without her influence. We watch and assess if they’re cautious, anxious, confident, curious, etc. Different personalities are bound to occur in each litter, and this lets us begin taking notes and gauging which kits might do better in what environments when adopted out.
At 5 weeks old, the babies experience The Great Ratling Migration, in which baby boys are removed from the medbay they’ve grown up in and move away from their mother, then placed into my converted birdcage, known as “The FRat House,” where they’ll stay as they grow up, until they’re adopted out at 8+ weeks old. Here they meet their babysitter, a related adult male rat who loves taking care of babies (usually either their uncle or their father), and he continues to teach the baby boys how to be respectable young rats. For the baby girls, they leave their mama and move into a Pawhut tall cage with resident babysitters, Roxy & Chica, who have phenomenal temperaments and personalities. Mama rat is returned to my resident adult female SCN, where she gets to finally relax! Her job is done.
At six weeks old, we begin The Wiggle Test in earnest. What is The Wiggle Test? It’s adorable, I’ll tell you that much! I want my rats to be comfortable with being picked up and handled. Ideally, they should “tuck,” going limp in your hand and tucking their back legs up to their belly. You should then be able to literally wiggle those babies! They should flop and allow their form to be wiggled and jiggled, like assessing a good glass of wine 😉 Delicious!
We take pride in offering great temperaments to the public for adoption, and can guarantee that while the kits are here in our care at the rattery, they have shown no signs of fear or aggressive, and have never, ever bit to draw blood.
If there is any concern, the rat kit is not offered for adoption. If we think they’re too cautious or shy or generally scared of life, they will not be adopted out. If we think, on the other hand, they’re too cocky or just generally a bully or a dick, they will not be adopted out. If at any time, a kits temperament is called into question, they will not be adopted out. Any sign of illness outside a few sneezes or beyond a small cosmetic issue, they will not be adopted out.
What do we look for in our keepers or holdbacks:
In choosing which rat kits from a litter we might consider holding onto for further assessment, we look for a few different things.
Body type. I want to breed thick units 😉 I want my girls to be big girls whose bodies will be able to handle getting chunky and the demands of pregnancy, labour, birth, nursing, and rearing litters. I am also working toward different conformation & standards, involving ears, head shape, and colourations in coats.
Temperament is equally as important. I will choose the squishiest, most easy-going and chill babies of the litter to consider as holdbacks for my breeding program. But I will also keep in mind requests and needs expressed from potential adopters – specifically, if there are small children in the family who will be handling/playing with the kits, or there are certain disabilities involved (motor, cognitive, or otherwise), I may choose the most potato-like of kits to go to them, instead, and choose to keep another kit from the litter for my program who still expresses an ideal temperament for a potential breeder.
Holdbacks continue to be assessed as they age up. I do not breed my does until they are 5 months old and an ideal weight. My bucks hold off on their honeymoons usually until 6 months old, so I can assess their full adolescence and any personality changes due to hormone influx that may appear. If at any time, I decide that a heldback kit doesn’t quite meet my standards, they’re offered up for public adoption.