About Me

My Rattery- how it all started...

Hi! My name is Meghan. I am a low scale rat breeder. As a breeder, it is my goal to raise rats that will make wonderful pets! The health and personality of my ratties is what matters most to me, not their color/markings. I work to better the rat.

People have asked me why I chose to open up a rattery. It's a lot of work, right? Yes, it is a lot of work, but I really enjoy it. Rats are so much fun! They are intelligent, playful, clean, and, best of all, they always bring a smile to my face! But this is not what really inspired me to open up a rattery. No, there is a little more to it than just that...

About four years ago my mom read that rats make great pets. Although she was not very keen on these long-tailed rodents, she really wanted a good family pet. Well, we decided to give it a try. After doing a little research, we bought three rats from a local pet store. The owner told us they were wonderful rats, but, after a few months we knew this was not the case. Although our experience was a bad one, we decided to try again. This time we sought out a breeder! We happened upon one in West Virginia and adopted a Hooded rat. 

Me, being the animal lover that I am, fell in love with him right from the start. He was such a sweet, little guy. He was always giving kisses and absolutely loved being held.  After some consideration, we decided to name him Marty. I liked that name fine, but it didn't exactly fit his personality. Feisty, yet sweet and calm...no, Marty would never do. So, I decided to call him Atto. It's a rather odd name, but it suited him perfectly.

It didn't take long for Atto and I to become attached. He was such a fun, little rat! I held him all the time and he came to really enjoy it. Actually, he enjoyed it so much that he never let me forget to give him his 'out time'. Every morning and evening (that was when I usually held him) Atto would sit at his cage door and wait for me. He would not stop waiting at his door until I gave him that 'out time'. I always remembered to hold him, but occasionally he would have to wait a little longer than he wanted to. But, even so, he never stopped waiting for me.

Atto was young and healthy when we adopted him. He loved to explore and never seemed to get tired. Well, Atto really started to slow down after he turned two. Rather than running around in his cage, he started sleeping a lot more during the day and didn't play with his toys quite as much. But what shocked me most was to see the usually energetic Atto 'rest' every now and then during his free range time. Atto never did that!

Well, that is when I knew I wanted to start breeding rats. I wanted people to know what wonderful pets they make. I wanted people to enjoy these furry creatures just as I have enjoyed Atto. After quite a few months of research (and whole lot of work) I did open up a rattery - Riverside Rattery. And I will never forget that Atto is the one who started it all. :-)

*My Little Boy and I*
Atto passed away on March 2nd, 2015. :-( 
He was a very special ratty...I will never forget him!