About Us
We are a boutique, award-winning NFRS-registered rattery based in West Yorkshire, breeding small numbers of pet rats for health and temperament. We breed rats who usually live long and healthy lives, and are proud to say that the same customers come back to us again and again.
Health
We breed only one or two litters per year, which allows us to closely monitor our breeding lines for any health problems. As well as the rats we keep, we also ask new owners to keep us updated with any health issues so we can ensure that any problems are not passed on to future litters.
Temperament
As well as health, we carefully select both parents for temperament before breeding. We have never had issues with our rats in their interactions with humans, and have very rarely had issues with integrations with other rats.
Experience
We have owned rats for over ten years and have been breeding them for around six. We have continued to use the same basic breeding line throughout this time and can track the family tree of our most recent litter back seven generations. On the occasions we borrow a male from another breeder to sire a litter we only use breeders we know and trust.
Part-Wild Breeding Line
One of the things we're very proud of at Queen Rattery is that our main breeding line contains genes from a number of wild rats. These rats live longer, healthier lives than their purely fancy counterparts which is an important breeding goal of ours. They are also incredibly intelligent, even more so than fancy rats in our experience, and very affectionate (especially the males!) if reared correctly from a young age.
Many breeders have understandable reservations about homing wild rats in general, often due to concerns about disease. Any rescue rats who come to our rattery are kept in quarantine for two weeks regardless of their origin and are checked by a vet (including being tested for leptospirosis) before being integrated with the rest of our mischief. There is no increased health risk to humans or other pets from these rats or their offspring.
Award-Winning
Unfortunately it is difficult for us to frequently enter rat shows/competitions due to our location, but we have been fortunate enough to win a number of awards when we have been able to attend. You can view the full list of awards here.
Why Get Pet Rats?
Wondering why you should consider getting pet rats in general? Read a bit more about rats here.