How We Started:
For as long as I can remember, I've been nicknamed the "animal whisperer" by everyone that knows me. I can never be around them enough. All throughout my childhood I was always involved with them in one way or another, training horses, breeding and showing livestock, raising pocket pets like rabbits and cavies. Over the years I've only become more and more passionate about them, leading me to expand my interests to more species such as reptiles. Now I'm a huge advocate for awareness and knowing where everything comes from, especially when it comes to the food myself and my animals eat. So naturally when I started keeping reptiles, I wanted to raise my own feeders so I knew they were healthy and well cared for. As you can guess, I absolutely fell in love with the rats and mice I was raising. I started reaching out to the community to learn more and found out so much! I took a huge interest in showing as well as pets, and started mentoring with established breeders to learn everything I could! I was breeding feeders for myself for several months before really starting to learn and work towards better husbandry, temperament, and conformation. So I like to say I truly started breeding towards a goal in the beginning of 2018. From there I have continued my founding lines that were purchased from feeder stock, and have added in several lines from other well respected breeders. 

 

 

Why We Breed:
First and foremost I breed for myself, this is my passion and hobby, my goal is to better the species and any money made in the process in just a bonus and not a goal. The health and well being of my animals takes priority over any breeding goal I have in mind. So my very first goal in breeding is health; color and conformation are only secondary to animals that live long, happy lives. After health is temperament, animals that are skittish and nervous suffer from being stressed and don't make safe or happy pets. I put a lot of emphasis on the temperament of my animals, as temperament is genetic I only hold back and breed the sweetest, most confident animals without handling to breed and adopt out to families. After health and temperament, I select for conformation, then color. Conformation somewhat goes hand in hand with health, while an animal bred to show standard is beautiful in its own right, it also impacts their health. The way their body is built can change the way weight is placed and can help prevent joint issues down the road, facial structure impacts the way they breathe and can prevent certain health problems down the road, and so on. So while I aim for conformation because of looks, I am more concerned with the health reasons that were taken into consideration when the standards were written. Color is generally just for aesthetics, but is most definitely one of my favorite things to work on! My personal holy grail is black self, there's just something about the pureness and depth of a perfect black self is so incredibly beautiful to me. To ensure we're consistently producing healthy, happy, and beautiful animals we employ both line breeding and out crossing when its appropriate. Line breeding is a hot topic and has a lot of negativity surrounding the idea of it. If you have concerns about the safety of using line breeding, please take a moment to read through the article I have available in the Learning Corner detailing all the science and reasoning behind it as its an important tool for a successful breeder. Please note that line breeding is species specific, as its not safe to line breed all rodent species and is only used if it is safe to do so.

 

 

Our Ethics and Husbandry:
Good husbandry is so incredibly important to me, and its the very reason I wanted to breed my own feeders in the first place! Countless hours have been spent in researching, asking questions, and observing other knowledgeable keepers and breeders to give my animals the very best life. All of our rodents are kept in the most suitable cages and are on the very best diet I can offer. I have a full transparency policy and am completely honest about how I raise and keep my animals. That being said, I am a huge bin cage advocate. This is a very hot topic, and a lot of people are very much against them. If this is you, I have a whole article outlining the science behind it you may be interested in reading located under the informational pages in the Learning Corner. My rodent room is kept immaculate with full cleanings every 5-7 days, with deep cleanings of everything (water bottles, bowls, toys, hides, bins, etc) once a month. I also treat preventatively for lice and mites, and keep meds on hand for emergencies. Additionally I have multiple sources of ventilation and air purification, as well as daylight timers with full spectrum lighting to allow for ideal light cycles. Humidifiers and dehumidifiers are also used, respectively, to control the air quality further in addition to temperature control. Another incredibly important part of my husbandry practices is disease control, so routine random testing is done every few months to evaluate current residents. While testing and treatment are important, preventing any illness from happening in the first place paramount to a good breeding program. For that reason, I keep a closed rodentry so that nothing that can infect my animals is brought in on accident by visitors. In the case of new or ill animals, I follow strict quarantine protocols to ensure new animals are healthy and ill animals don't infect any other animals. The quarantine room is set up similarly, but on a smaller scale in a separate building. Just because I don't allow foot traffic through the rodentry, doesn't mean you won't get to see behind the scenes! Again, full transparency policy, so I will gladly answer any questions you may have and will keep updated pictures and information up on the site for your viewing pleasure. If you have a question, just ask!