My love for rodents began at a very early age with my first pet rat, Stella, a rescue I brought home in high school. Within a year, I had established male and female rat colonies (with Stella and her own buddy living in my room), and I was diving deep into rat genetics. Around the same time, I also brought home a few female mice from a colony my veterinary academy was breeding as reptile food. These early experiences sparked a lifelong passion for rodents and genetics alike.

In high school, I worked on breeding projects with rats sourced from feeder bins at pet stores and guinea pigs. I was particularly successful in producing very friendly, ultra-curly rex and double-rex rats, as well as a variety of guinea pigs, many of which excelled in 4-H shows. My curiosity about genetics was a driving force behind these pursuits, along with a deep love for these amazing creatures.

After taking a break from breeding, I’ve returned with renewed focus and energy. Now, with better breeding stock, an incredible community, and a deep commitment to animal welfare, I’m dedicated to producing healthy animals with exceptional temperaments, robust health, and unmatched beauty.

Given my background in veterinary medicine, psychology and computer science, my work also extends to researching and tracking behavior, exploring connections between environmental variables such as enrichment and outcomes related to health and temperament, and addressing health issues that impact specific varieties such as recessive hairless, marble, and dwarf rats. These pursuits align with my ultimate goal: to learn as much as possible about these unique animals while enhancing their lives and the lives of the people who love them. 

Our Facility

All of our animals are kept in our dedicated rodentry located in our home, in enriched, species-appropriate enclosures. Our rodentry is spacious, temperature controlled, has lighting on timers so all of the animals are on a 12-hour light schedule, and we run multiple air filters to reduce any dust, ammonia, etc. We have a separate space for quarantine to prevent any cross-contamination from new arrivals. We are a closed rodentry for biosecurity reasons but do have friends from non-rodent keeping homes visit and interact with the animals both for socialization and to expose them to normal, everyday pathogens for immune system development. We do not keep a "sterile" environment as we want our animals to have robust immune systems, but we are very careful about exposure to wild, or pet rodents and potentially contaminated items from outside of our facility to decrease the likelihood of disease spread. 

Rats

We use Critter Nations for adults, Prevue 528 wire cages, or homemade bin cages as quarantine, hospital, pairing and nursery cages (with appropriate ventilation and height). Our cages are highly enriched, include climbing and digging opportunities along with a variety of toys, chews, etc. (see care page for more information).

We do not use racks for rats, although some breeders do and that may be what's best for them and their animals. Our numbers are relatively small, but it still takes a significant amount of time to clean 3-4 critter nations, a couple of maternity cages and a couple of breeding, or grow-out, cages every week along with all of the mouse tubs and enclosures. Every breeder has different needs and goals, so we do not judge, but racks would defeat the point of all of the hard work we put into cognitive development.

Mice

Our female mice are kept in large, homemade bin cages with ventilation on the tops and sides, deep substrate, tons of clutter and other enrichment as to encourage natural behaviors and social structures. For male mice, nursing does, quarantine and "grow out" mice we use smaller homemade bin cages (smallest is about 10-gallon footprint), rat racks (large, deep bins, we do not overcrowd and this is usually shorter-term housing) with adequate lighting and ventilation and glass tanks (typically 10 gallon for bucks). 

Our Approach

Rats

We handle rat babies and adults on a regular basis using peer-reviewed techniques to increase neuroplasticity, reduce neophobia and increase curiosity and overall intelligence. All of our rats get time out of their enclosures either in playpens or wandering around the rodentry for our older kiddos that we trust to be out and about. We expose rat pups to different sounds, textures, smells and even lights both during their play periods each day and causally in the rodentry throughout the day (think podcasts, music, etc).

Temperament is heavily influenced by genetics, so we avoid over-handling our rat pups before 2 weeks. We do handle pups daily from day one to check on health status and to note down which pups have naturally "calmer" nervous systems (this is typically apparent from the pinky stage). This also gives us the opportunity to check for signs of maternal aggression in our does. 

At around 2 weeks when the pups' eyes start to open we start exposing the pups to "enrichment tubs" starting out very small and working up to larger, more enriched playpens. These playpens not only offer the pups a chance to burn off energy, but introduces them to new textures, sights and smells during play. Examples of items we use are:

• fluffy craft balls in a tub for digging/playing

• ping pong balls in a tub 

• bells, or other items that make noise

• "star" light that changes color and  moves

• podcast softly playing in the pen with different voices (men, women, children, animals)

• pieces of turf type grass (made for animal enclosures)

• kids toys with different textures ("spikey" balls, baby toys with buttons that play music, or sounds, etc)

• heat sanitized natural wood pieces 

• empty food containers (cleaned, but they still have scents on them)

• rat safe scents - vanilla, cinnamon (tiny amounts applied to an item and then shaken off as to not have them breathing in cinnamon powder), lavender, peppermint, almond extract. Typically, a tiny amount in a bottle, or on a small piece of cloth, that is then hung on the side of the pen. 

• dog and cat toys that have been scented by our animals 

• sanitized rocks

• human clothing

• different shaped hides, ladders, ropes

• new foods, either hand fed, sprinkled about, or even smeared on the wall of the pen to encourage them to "find" it

• small animal water fountain

• food dishes with peas, or other frozen goodies for "fishing"

• dig boxes with coco fiber + live bugs

• puzzle toys
  
  

Temperament tests

We do not do a single temperament test. Rat pups are watched from day one for behaviors that signal increased nervous system response. Typically, around 2.5 weeks we'll do an informal check on all pups to see who is the most relaxed with different handling such as being rolled onto their back, picked up, "tickled", etc. We interact with our pups daily, so it is quite obvious who is the most curious, confident and friendly as they grow, but catching the early nervous system responses helps us to select for the absolute best genetic temperament that we can. We do a more formal 5-6 week temperament test before making any final decisions about who we are keeping, adopting out, etc. A more formal, quantified temperament test helps us to track trends in lines and correlations between early behavior and adult outcomes. 

Mice
We are relatively hands off with our mice to prevent masking poor genetic temperament. We do regular health checks on pups and during this time we select for the calmest pinkies and for the least flighty hoppers, which typically correlates to calm, stable adults over time.

Our mice are offered plenty of novel experiences in their enclosures along with the ability to practice natural behaviors such as foraging, climbing and digging. If we have adult mice who want to come out and say hi, they certainly get the opportunity to do so.  

View our different lines here