About me

Hi, my name is Lizzy, and I live in Coquitlam BC Canada, near Vancouver, with 2 dogs, Simon and Barkly, my degu, Juanita, two feral Berman cats, Muppet and Zorro, and usually around 40 pet rats.  I've been keeping pet rats for over 30 years now, having inherited them from my kids.  After successfully raising 2 children, and spending many years working both full and part time for various charities, I am now retired from the workforce, which means I have plenty of time to devote to the main passion of my life, my pets and my rat breeding hobby. 

Why I became a pet rat breeder

My story is somewhat unusual, in that my experience with pet rats began in the area of rat rescue, and that is what led me to becoming a breeder of pedigreed pet rats in January of 2005.  Over the years, I have volunteered with the SPCA, and the Small Animal Rescue Society of BC, and I currently volunteer with Homefinders Animal Rescue Society,  Little Mischief Rescue Society and Best Friend Rodent Rescue.   During the course of my volunteer work, I raised and placed litter after litter of rescue babies, and sometimes we got lucky in terms of health, temperament and longevity, but more often than not, things seemed to go terribly wrong.  There were many litters where all of the females, and even some of the males developed mammary or pituitary tumours, often before they'd even reached one year old.  Sometimes, no sooner was one mammary tumour removed, than another grew in it's place.  One of the rescue rats I personally adopted had to have tumours removed on 5 different occasions.  Other litters were predisposed to early heart disease, strokes, cancer or chronic respiratory illness.  Despite the best of veterinary care, many of these rats were not making it much past their first birthday, and leaving a trail of heartbroken adopters in their wake.  I know because I personally adopted many babies from these litters and many adult rescue rats as well. 

Then in the early 2000's the rescue I was volunteering with started to see a sharp rise in megacolon, due to more and more pet stores breeding or importing rats that carry the high white megacolon causing gene.  Early onset megacolon is a fatal birth defect that sets in shortly after a baby is weaned.  In order to avoid an excruciatingly painful death, most agree that euthanasia is the best option.  In 2004 Homefinders Animal Rescue raised 3 litters of babies in a row that developed this condition.  Many of the babies, eight out of nine babies in one litter, had to be euthanized at the height of their baby cuteness and playfulness.  This included an adorable pair of boys that I had adopted myself.  It was utterly heartbreaking, and for me, it was the last straw, the one that convinced me that people in the BC Lower Mainland deserved an alternative to what the pet stores were churning out.  

How I prepared to become a breeder

Rat breeding was not something I rushed into however.  I even tried really hard to persuade other local rat keepers to get into it first, but everyone kept encouraging me to do it. Almost from the dawn of the internet, I had been a member of The Rat Fan Club and Rat and Mouse Club of America..  I was also an early member of the yahoo group, the ratlist, going back to it's early days when it was a listserve on a college server.  I even served for a time as a volunteer on their related rathelp group, providing rat health care information to new rat owners.  In 1996, I was privileged to attend 6 European rat shows.  It was getting to meet pedigreed rat owners and breeders in person that inspired me to adopt my own first pedigreed rat.  I drove all the way to a rattery in Tacoma Washington to bring home the great RMR Darth Darby, best known as a Jedi fighter extraordinaire and the eternal webmaster of Sith Rattery.  In 2000, I became a founding member of RatsPacNW,a pet rat club that takes in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia.  I also joined the RatsPacNW yahoo group.  (I highly recommend this discussion group to anyone who has pet rats!)  Soon afterward, I became a moderator and eventually a co-group owner.  In March of 2001, I attended the first RatsPacNW show, and even helped with the judging, even though none of us really knew what we were doing at the time.  Since then, I have missed very few RatsPacNW shows and events.  From that point on, I began studying rat genetics and soon began training and gaining experience as a show judge.  By the time I decided to venture into breeding, at least half my rats were pedigreed.  For about 7 years, I'd kept both pedigreed rats and rescues, and I'd come to realize the advantage pedigreed rats have over pet store bred/rescue rats in terms of health, temperament and longevity.  While it's true there are never any guarantees, I found the improved odds quite astounding.  Contrary to what many people seem to think, having a pedigree is not some sort of snobbish status thing.  All it really means, is that you have a record of the health and temperament history of the line and have a fair idea of what to expect from future litters.

How I started my rattery

I bred my first few litters of rats under the close mentorship of two highly respected, long established ratteries, Curly Whiskers Rattery in Boise Idaho, and Rodents of Unusual Sweetness Rattery in Seattle Washington.  For the first few years I consulted them and other breeders in RatsPacNW before every move I made, eventually gaining the confidence and experience to branch out and make my own decisions... although even today, I often still turn to them, and other experienced breeders in the club, for advice.  All of the rats I've ever bred came from the healthiest possible lines and were pedigreed for countless generations by other ratteries before I even started working with them.  Since then, I have done my best to improve on those lines, completely stopping many of branches of them, whenever the health and temperament didn't measure up. 

My partnership with Small Joys Rattery

In the Fall of 2006, I was approached by someone with whom I had recently placed some babies, about the possibility of doing a joint litter with her.  I remember thinking at the time, having seen so many new rat breeder wannabes come and go, that this kid will probably never last... but I agreed to work with her and she became my evil Sith Apprentice, eventually branching out on her own to form Small Joys Rattery.  Erin and I, now work together in full partnership and have mentored other new ratteries as well.  Since Erin is currently both working and attending school full time, lately I have been handling the adoptions for both ratteries and featuring both our litters on my website.

Where I am at now

After 2 terms as Vice President of RatsPacNW, I am now in my second term as club President.  Locally, I host an annual pet rat show called Ratstravaganza, as well as hold various other "rat free" pet rat related events throughout the year, such as rattery open house parties, holiday socials, and World Rat Day parties.  Having retired from Amnesty International in June of 2010, I have more time than ever to focus on my my rattery goals.  Erin and I are currently working with 6 lines, a mink based marked line, a rex European Roan line, a solid/UK colorpoint line, a Dalmatian line, and a solid dwarf line and a marked dwarf line. Rat breeding is a hobby with us, not a business.  When you tally up all the vet bills, not to mention the basic rat care needs, it's actually a very expensive hobby.  The only way to make money at rat breeding, would be to sell to pet stores, or online, as feeders for other animals.  This is something we would never do.  We got into this hobby for the sheer love of pet rats, and a sincere desire to improve on the lines being bred and sold locally.  Yes, many of our rats have done very well in shows, but our main goal remains to focus on improved temperament, health and longevity above all else.  Our breeding and adoption policies can be found here..  If you have any questions that you don't see answered on these pages, or if you would like more specific information about the history of any of our lines, please don't hesitate to ask.

For more information about SITH and Small Joys Rattery, please see our breeding and adoption policies and our frequently asked questions.

SITH Rattery is listed on The Ratster, and is a member of The North American Rat Registry.