Hello, friends, I have been meaning to make a formal blog post with a few notable updates to my program for several weeks now, so let’s dive in!
First of all, in an effort to refine and redirect progress with the Marten/Siamese line, I will be discontinuing using black-eyed rats from MMRS pedigree as breeders going forward and solely working with the c-locus. I ask all previous adopters who have rats in this line specifically to keep in touch with me regarding any significant or minor health issues that may crop up throughout your rats’ lifetime, as well as inform me when they pass away and what the cause is (illness or old age, etc).
To that end: All black eyed standard and dwarf rats produced from the Marten/Siamese line for the time-being will be adopted out on strict pet-only contracts.
Secondly, I am raising prices to accommodate the increasing cost of living in this economy- and while I am streamlining my program as much as I feel comfortable, I still have many tiny mouths to feed at any given time, and as a reminder: while all proceeds brought in go right back to the rats’ care, I am never breaking even financially in this endeavor, let alone making any sort of profit. Look for a post about raising prices coming shortly, before the Valentine’s litters are born, when the new prices will take effect.
On that note, I am continuing steering Stellar Rats towards a dwarf-heavy emphasis, and I will continue to primarily choose dwarf bucks as my holdbacks to consider for my breeding program going forward. I will be choosing dwarf-carrier females as holdbacks/potentials to continue lines- this applies to the c-locus line, as well as the Maryland line.
I intend to really settle down and focus on conformation and temperaments. They’re both equally important to me, steering my rats to show-quality (even though there are no rat shows here in southern Ontario, sadly); as well as raising well-rounded, squishy, friendly, confident rats. I want to put significant emphasis on these two qualities this year, and truly lock in what a Stellar rat is capable of being.
Lastly, I maaaaay have put in a reservation with my sister rattery, Bewitched (WTCH) to reserve two siblings from WTCH Pikachu x WTCH Garfield, as a very exciting addition to my house line to introduce hairless genetics to my program in a few weeks! I hope the public is as excited for them as I am! I can’t wait to welcome these two little babies home to meet their extended family here!
Thanks so much for reading. x Taylor