about me


 I was born and raised in NJ, and have been an animal lover all my life. In about 1998 I got my first rat - she was a PEW from a feeder bin. Her health was bad and her temperament wasn't great. I soon began the search for a breeder, and found one in my area. I adopted my first pair from her - a champagne and a silver fawn. I got many rats from this breeder over the years, and many were retired breeders or adults. I learned about color, type, genetics, and breeding from this breeder, and eventually bred a few litters myself. I named all of my original rats after X-Files episodes, and also named my rattery Paper Heart Rattery after an episode. Yes - I am an X-Files nut ;)

Several years later, I had plans to get married, and my husband was in the army. I knew that we were likely to have to move overseas, so as my rats grew old and passed away, I decided not to get any more rats until we were settled in one place permanently. We spent several years living in Germany, and came back to NJ for good in 2006. Shortly after, I started my search for rats!

At that time there really weren't any breeders in my immediate area, and I realized that if I wanted to have quality rats, I would need to breed them myself! So I started my search for breeding stock from other breeders, and Paper Heart Rattery was reborn! It took nearly a year to get my foundation stock, but it was well worth it! My first litter was given X-Files names in the tradition of my old rats.

I run the rattery with the support of my husband. He likes the rats and enjoys playing with the babies. I also own several dogs, and train and compete in schutzhund. I also dabble in other sports like Rally-O, agility, herding, earthdog (with my terrier), and dock diving. My dogs are bred to work - and the busier they are, the happier they are. I have trained dogs for rescue and also started dogs for police departments. You can see my dogs on the Rattery Info page.

My Goals

I breed for the "whole" rat. My first priorities are health and temperament. I never breed a litter unless I intend to keep one or more rats out of that litter. Otherwise - what's the point of breeding? Just to make more rats! No - I only breed to improve my own breeing program. If I don't get what I'm looking for in the litter for some reason, I may not keep one, but that is not something that happens frequently.

Health

Rats are delicate animals with average lifespans of only 2-3 years. Many health problems are genetic, at least in part, including respiratory problems, tumors, heart problems, hind-end degeneration, etc. There are also environmental factors to many health problems. For example, if a room is cold and drafty, even a healthy rat will develop respiratory problems. Tumors are affected by diet and excercise. So although there are several pieces to the "puzzle" of rat health, I do my best to ensure that my rats overall are healthy. I also require all adopters to stay in touch about their rats' health. Without this information, I will never know if there are significant problems within my lines. I need to hear about health problems as soon as they happen - even minor things. I also try to send out e-mails a couple times a year to check up on all of my rats - just in case their owners forget to stay in touch. If I find a line of rats that have significant health problems I will stop breeding that line.

Temperament

Temperament is another important aspect of breeding rats. I have found that temperament is very much genetic. Sure, you can socialize a rat as a baby, but if it doesn't have the "genes" for an outgoing temperament, it'll never be as friendly as a rat that does. If you have rats with shy or nervous temperaments, it can take many generations to fix, even if you breed them to the friendliest rats you can find. So I am very picky about temperament, and will only breed the best.

A very interesting article was recently published about the subject of fear and genetics. Check it out! Fear, anxiety, and aggression ARE genetic, at least in part.

Color, Type, Size and Markings

These are goals to work for, assuming that the rats' personality and health are equal. I do NOT breed litters just to make more of a particular color! I go more by the rats' type - essentially their conformation. Markings and color are secondary to type. If pretty colors pop up - that's great! But that is never the sole purpose of a litter. I do not choose my keepers based solely on color, earset, or markings. I have made that mistake in the past, overlooking a typier rat for one that was smaller with poorer type, but it had the color I was looking for. That was a mistake and I've learned not to do that!

I am working to better my rats in all areas, and I hope that some show-quality rats pop up from time to time. It is very much like breeding dogs - you take in mind each individual's strengths and weaknesses and choose a partner for that individual that will compliment both. I will use head shape as an example since it's the first thing I wanted to correct with my own rats! If I have a rat whose biggest fault is a long, narrow head, I will choose a rat with an overly short, thick head to breed to it. In the litter, several will have long heads, several will have short heads, and hopefully a few will have heads that are ideal. Those are the ones I would keep. For next generation, I will still keep in mind the head shape since I know that's not something that is consistent in that particular line, so I will choose another rat with an ideal head. Again, some may have short or long heads, but ideally, more will have perfect heads which gives a bigger gene pool to select rats from and will allow me to focus on other qualities such as markings, ears, eye size/shape, etc.

Over time, the rats' type will improve overall and become more consistent. This is when you know you're making progress!

More About Type

The AFRMA Rat Standard say only this:

GENERAL DESCRIPTION - Rats should have a long racy body maintained in good weight, large bold eyes, long clean head showing breadth and length, large ears, long tapering tail, and an average body length of 8-10 inches.

The RMCA says this:

The rat should be of good size; females should be long and racy type; males should be of larger build, arched over the loin, muscular, well-toned, with long head, but not too pointed at the nose. The eyes should be large, round, clean, and full of life. The ears should be of good size, round, well formed, and widely spaced. The tail should be cylindrical, as long as the body, thick at the base, tapering to a fine point. The ears, feet, and tail should be covered with fine hair. The coat should be smooth and glossy (except Rex and Hairless). Males have a longer and coarser coat than females.

Well - that is not very descriptive! The best way to get an idea of type is to attend a rat show. You can talk to judges and other competitors and see what, exactly, that standard means.

It is difficult to illustrate good type over the internet, because rats are not easy to photograph. A rats' head may look too long from one angle but perfect from another. But I will try to illustrate some of the faults commonly seen in rats, and also some examples of excellent type. But remember that even if a rat has some structural faults, it does not make it any less of a wonderful pet. I will only keep the best looking rats to breed (assuming temperament and health are there), and the majority of rats in a litter will not be breeding quality.

In rat shows, rats are evaluated on:

  • Color, Marking, and Variety (50 Points)
  • Temperament (15 Points)
  • Condition (5 Points)
  • Head (5 Points)
  • Eyes (5 Points)
  • Ears (5 Points)
  • Tail (5 Points)
  • Size (5 Points)
  • TOTAL 100 POSSIBLE POINTS

Heads

In baby pictures, the head can be easily evaluated. Once rats are older they can be evaluated for other faults.

Head is long and narrow.

Head too short and pointy.
Eyes are small.

Excellent Head

Excellent Head

Excellent Type

Type is something that is very objective. Every person can interpret the rat standard differently, and what is a perfect rat for one person may not be as attractive to another. The following rats are closest to what my "vision" is for type. This is what I am looking for in my breedings and what I hope my rats will continue to look like. Rats DO change a lot as they mature. Some things can be spotted at a young age, but as the rat matures it will change. Sometimes it will end up looking completely different than expected from its baby pictures, but a lot of the time it will return to the type it had as a baby. I have found that 4-5 weeks is a great age to evaluate type. After that - they can get a little wonky for a while ;)

Ben
Excellent male. Very strong head.
My only complaints are that his
eyes and ears could be larger.

Payday
At 3 months is showing everyyhing
I like to see. Gorgeous head and
body, decent ears. Very nice girl.

Hershey
Excellent type. Although the
photo doesn't show it, he has
excellent ears. He has a strong
head and a nice arch to his back,
a very thick tail and excellent
self markings.

Bella
Bella has a long racy body.
Nice headshape, ears could be better.
Very nice female.

Ears

Dumbo ears are too small
and are wrinkled. Head is long
and narrow.

Ears should be set higher on head.

Very nice ears placed on the top
of her head. Nice large eyes, very
pretty rat.

Nice dumbo ears - large, round, and
smooth. Nice head shape, type
and eyes. Overall a very nice gir!

Through the Generations

I thought it would be fun to post some photos of each generation of my own rats. I started out with a few separate lines, and am gradually combining them.

I am not sure the best way to display this since I do have other unrelated rats. But here is the line I've been working with since I started breeding. I may refer to rats in the present or past tense...most of these rats are still alive, but since they were adopted out after retiring, I tend to refer to them in the past tense.

I feel like each generation has been an improvement on the last. Occasionally when doing an outcross (like bringing the harley line in) I will take a step or two backwards.

First Generation

The first generation were not bred by me. Both had nice type. Pearl's head was slightly narrow, and Ben had slightly small ears and eyes, but otherwise they were gorgeous rats.

Ben

Pearl

Second Generation

Pheonix was a big, thick girl with very attractive type. Her ears weren't great, and her head was a bit short, but I've found it's easier to correct a head that's too short than one that is too long. Pilot was more medium-sized, with a smallish head and ears but otherwise was very nice looking.

Pilot

Pheonix

Third Generation

The type of this generation was all over the place. Zelda and Echo were sisters, but looked very different, each with some structural faults. Echo's ears and eyes were a little small but otherwise she was gorgeous. Zelda had the same faults but she was also a little too round and her head was small. Bella and Lacey were also sisters who looked very different! Both were bred to Hershey to help set the type. Both litters were stunning.

Lacey

Bella

Echo

Zelda

Monkey

Fourth Generation

Sera, Trouble, and Stanley were the result of Bella and Lacey's litters with Hershey. All are very stunning rats! Twilight and Dewdrop were Zelda's daughters, both with some structural faults which required carefully chosen males. Topper is Echo's son with Indy. Although he is still young, he is looking gorgeous!

Sera

Double Trouble

Stanley

Twilight

Dewdrop

Top Hat

Fifth Generation

Ditto was the result of a loose linebreeding on my first generation. My goal was to bring back some of Ben and Pearl's beautiful type. I feel that the litter was a huge success and overall was VERY nice.

Payday, Jelly Belly, and Junior Mint were the result of an inbreeding on Hershey. His type was gorgeous and I was very pleased with the quality of this litter! The goal was to integrate this line with my self siamese and burmese line and also to bring more of Hershey's type into my marked line. I got very nice self and marked rats so both goals were accomplished! The rats from this litter are truly amazing and I hope to produce more like them!

Lucy and Bailey are the result of an outcross to my harley line. Bailey got his grandsire Dart's earset but he is otherwise a great improvement on the harley rats. The harley line is in need of major improvements on its type (and size even more so than type), which is why I chose one of my strongest lines to outcross it with. Overall I am happy with the outcome, although I realize that it will take time to improve the type of the harley rats. The temperaments are great though!

Stanley was bred once to Chanel, producing Lolita and Adeline. The parents are stunning rats, and the two girls I kept from this litter are both gorgeous girls!

Lolita

 

Ditto

Jelly Belly

Payday

Bailey

Lucy

Adeline
  

Sixth Generation

Bailey was bred to Sterling, who is a gorgeous rat with a wonderful personality. I am very happy with the overall outcome of this litter.   Jaida is a clone of her mother - their build is exactly the same and it's beautiful. Coraline and her brother Blue were from a litter between Jelly Belly and Ditto. This litter was outstanding and produced several stunning rats. Look at those gorgeous eyes and heads!
Buttercup was from a breeding between Lucy and Hoover, which was an inbreeding on the harley line of rats. Their size still needs a lot of improvement, but otherwise they are very nice rats. They have come a long way already since I first got them!

Jaida

Coraline
Blue Hawaiian

Buttercup

 

Current goals for the next generations:
  • Increase size and type, especially in the harley line.
  • Improve ears. I have made huge improvements in my dumbo rats' ears. At this point 90% of my dumbos have good to excellent ears. I would like to get them to the point where they are excellent - round and smooth with no creases.
  • Continue strengthening heads all around. My marked line has a tendency to produce some fairly narrow heads, but I think I am finally getting away from that.
  • Breed out the "bad" rex - I am almost there! I only have 2 rats remaining with "poor" rex coats, the rest have very nice rexing.
  • I am also working on breeding out any white markings in my siamese and burmese line. I have made major progress, but if I have a choice between a very nice rat with a little white, or an average rat with no white, I keep the nice rat! So it may take a little longer to breed out the white. I have had to do a lot of outcrossing and blending of my lines to get the "look" I want, which did bring some white into my siamese/burmese line. I have finally achieved that look and can focus on perfecting the markings. I think in another 2 or 3 generations all will hopefully be perfect selfs.