- POLICY -

We will NOT sell rats under the following situtations. 1. Feeder requests. None of our rats will go as feeders- not even the "plain" varieties; please do not ask.   2. Out of State requests. UNLESS you are willing to travel to Maine, PLEASE do not waste time communicating about rats that you have no real intention of getting. I will not ship my rats at this time.   3. Requests for a single rat. We do not let one rat go to a new home; even if you have others already. The baby rat will be going into a new home, with new people, in a new cage. Being entirely alone only adds stress at this time, and a buddy helps keep the rat company during quarentine. For more information visit our "Why More Than One" page above.   4. Requests for babies under 5 weeks. We no longer let ANY rat go before the 5 week mark. You can reserve your baby before 5 weeks, but it cannot leave here prior to that age.   5. We do have an adoption form for a reason. Some people have answered questions, honestly- at least, but have made some statements in their application that suggest improper care/husbandry, etc. When a reply is given after reveiwing an application- no comments are made to insult people, but rather to educate them. Some people cannot take constructive criticism, no matter how gently or politely it is delivered. If you are unwilling to accept advice, or have a serious fear of rejection, please do not inquire about our rats. An adoption application helps to screen for proper and adequate homes. Any home less than that will not be able to recieve a rat. Please do not be offended. It is an ethical breeder's responsibility to see to it that every rat goes into a safe, loving and caring enviornment.   6. Requests to visit the rattery. We are a "closed rattery" meaning that we do not allow any vistors- for disease prevention to our rats and safety/privacy to our family. Sadly, we've experienced difficulty with allowing visitors to the rattery in the past- and there is always danger in doing so when contacted via the internet. We are happy to meet at a local off-site location.   7. Requests that somehow interfere with our policy. Please read this page prior to submitting your adoption application.

If there are any rats you may be interested in, please e-mail right away. I promptly return all e-mails and give out further information on any of the rats I have available.

 If you are interested in putting your name on a list for future contact when the litter arrives, please email me. If you would like to reserve an animal that is already born- you must put 1/2 down as a deposit to reserve it. This deposit is NON REFUNDABLE. This means if you decide to change your mind on the reserved baby, you will NOT get the deposit back. You are, however, welcome to ADD babies to any babies that are already reserved. You can reserve a baby rat as early as 2 weeks of age. I will hold the baby for up to one week after it is ready to go (6 weeks of age.) All other payment accepted for rats is NON REFUNDABLE. Rats are not returnable, refunds will not be made. If you are unable to keep you rat, you must contact me and hopefully arrangements can be made to re-home your pet.

Waiting lists are set up according to what physical traits you are seeking. We are no longer creating seperate waiting lists per breeding. We now maintain one large primary waiting list where we write down which physical traits you are interested in and contact you when the first baby is available that matches your request. If you are interested in babies only out of a specific litter, that's fine- but please specify.  Also- the rattery automatically gets first refusal on any baby born here. ADDENDUM 4-3-08: We've been experiencing difficulty with people "falling off" our waiting lists after litters are already born, sometimes loosing our entire waiting lists due to adopters simply "changing their minds." This poses a huge problem, as we are then faced with entire litters of rapidly-developing rats to try to find homes for. It is not unusual for us to get stuck with babies until they are 6, 12 and sometimes 18 months of age. This is simply NOT feasible as we operate a very, very small scale rattery run only by 1 person who also works 43hrs per week and has other pets to tend, love and pay attention to. Therefore, we are now implementing a paid waiting list only, in which $5 must be paid per rat reserved and this deposit is NOT refundable for ANY reason whatsoever. When the babies are adopted, the $5 per baby will be deducted from the cost. Hopefully, this will help to ensure that only very stable, serious, permanent additions are made to our waiting lists.

If you are interested in reserving a rat that is over 5 weeks of age, I will hold them for up to 30 days with a $10 fee per rat. This fee helps to cover the food, bedding, space, time etc that an already weaned animal will consume in the time it remains with me and ensures that it will be available for you. We do not reserve any rats without first having received payment. We will only mark a rat "sale pending" if the payment is in the mail, or other arrangements have been made and the purchase is 100% definite.

 I am not interested in selling my rats as food. Please do not even ask- no exceptions are made no matter how "common" that baby's variety is. We invest far too much into our breeding program for our babies to wind up that way. Baby rats will leave our residence at 5 weeks of age as a general rule. Whether we decide to keep them longer is our choice as the health of our babies is our primary concern.

All of our babies are sold on contracts. These contracts state that they will be properly cared for (appropriate bedding, food, cage cleanings, cagemates, not breedable, not for feeding, etc) and that the owner contact DRR prior to surrendering their rat to anyone. They also state that DRR must be made aware of health/temperament updates as the rat ages so that we can keep track of our lines. While we do not at this time offer health or temperament guarentees, we do sell all of our rats vet checked prior to placement into new homes, and we only breed rats of superb temperament and health.

We reserve the right to refuse adoption to any person for any reason. If anything is unclear, do not hesitate to email us.