Lets get a few things defined first, this should help clear up any confusion.
Open Rattery: open for public visits and viewing
Closed Rattery: not open for public visits and viewing
Sometimes having a "closed rattery" can be seen as a red flag. 9 times out of 10 when someone is buying an animal they want to see how it is raised. At a closed rattery, they never allow anyone into their rattery at any time, for any reason, and insist on meeting adopters at another location. This may be a concern of having strangers know where they live, which in these times can be a legitimate one, but it is usually because they are genuinely afraid of illness being brought into their rattery. In fact, when proper precautions are taken, I believe the chances of a virus being brought in are virtually nonexistent. This is just my opinion of course, I would be suspicious of some people who keep a "Closed Rattery". If the owner of the rattery offers other means of viewing the rattery that is not just photos then I would be more open to them being a closed rattery, but photos can be old or stolen etc.
However, on the other end of the table I do understand the fear for illnesses being passed around from breeder to owner, petshop to owner or whatever else that can happen. It is scary to have things passed, but in reality with the right steps taken I see no harm is allowing clients to come by to pick out babies or see the rattery. I admit to having fears of illnesses being passed from others to my rats, but I have steps to keep my rats safe from any harm that my clients can bring. That being said, I call myself a Semi-closed rattery because of the terms I have set for my clients.
Terms:
-No clients with rats or have had rats in the past month are allowed into the rattery room or on the rattery floor.
-No clients that have handled rats from a pet store or other breeder with in the past 2 days are able to come into the rattery or on the rattery floor.
-No Breeders or other Rattery Members are allowed in the rattery room period. This is because of the SDA possibility, I will however give a full and detailed Skype call showing the rattery to it's full extent.
-All clients must wash and sanitize hands and forearms before and after entering the rattery or holding any babies (Over the age of 3 weeks)
-All clients must follow any instruction while visiting myself, this is to insure the safely of both my animals and you.
-All babies for viewing will be placed into my viewing room, I don't allow members to touch or handle any rats in the rattery room. However I do allow clients to stand at the door and look in.
-No handling adult rats.
I think my terms are fair and logical, although I worry about using hand sanitizer I think it's a good call to do so before you wash your hands and then wash off the sanitizer before handling the babies. Then sanitize hands after holding babies, for your own safety. I allow my clients to hold the babies because I believe it is important for people to make a bond with the rats they wish to have from a young age, its hard to bond with a photo of a pink belly bean. I have yet to have issues with clients following rules about my rats/rattery, which is why I still keep a semi-closed rattery.
I would also worry about an open rattery, because some ricks logical and people who just allow others to come in and handle any rat they wish is very alarming to me as anything can be passed from bugs to illnesses. The perfect amount of both open and closed is what I find to be the best.
-Mikaylah
Open Rattery: open for public visits and viewing
Closed Rattery: not open for public visits and viewing
Sometimes having a "closed rattery" can be seen as a red flag. 9 times out of 10 when someone is buying an animal they want to see how it is raised. At a closed rattery, they never allow anyone into their rattery at any time, for any reason, and insist on meeting adopters at another location. This may be a concern of having strangers know where they live, which in these times can be a legitimate one, but it is usually because they are genuinely afraid of illness being brought into their rattery. In fact, when proper precautions are taken, I believe the chances of a virus being brought in are virtually nonexistent. This is just my opinion of course, I would be suspicious of some people who keep a "Closed Rattery". If the owner of the rattery offers other means of viewing the rattery that is not just photos then I would be more open to them being a closed rattery, but photos can be old or stolen etc.
However, on the other end of the table I do understand the fear for illnesses being passed around from breeder to owner, petshop to owner or whatever else that can happen. It is scary to have things passed, but in reality with the right steps taken I see no harm is allowing clients to come by to pick out babies or see the rattery. I admit to having fears of illnesses being passed from others to my rats, but I have steps to keep my rats safe from any harm that my clients can bring. That being said, I call myself a Semi-closed rattery because of the terms I have set for my clients.
Terms:
-No clients with rats or have had rats in the past month are allowed into the rattery room or on the rattery floor.
-No clients that have handled rats from a pet store or other breeder with in the past 2 days are able to come into the rattery or on the rattery floor.
-No Breeders or other Rattery Members are allowed in the rattery room period. This is because of the SDA possibility, I will however give a full and detailed Skype call showing the rattery to it's full extent.
-All clients must wash and sanitize hands and forearms before and after entering the rattery or holding any babies (Over the age of 3 weeks)
-All clients must follow any instruction while visiting myself, this is to insure the safely of both my animals and you.
-All babies for viewing will be placed into my viewing room, I don't allow members to touch or handle any rats in the rattery room. However I do allow clients to stand at the door and look in.
-No handling adult rats.
I think my terms are fair and logical, although I worry about using hand sanitizer I think it's a good call to do so before you wash your hands and then wash off the sanitizer before handling the babies. Then sanitize hands after holding babies, for your own safety. I allow my clients to hold the babies because I believe it is important for people to make a bond with the rats they wish to have from a young age, its hard to bond with a photo of a pink belly bean. I have yet to have issues with clients following rules about my rats/rattery, which is why I still keep a semi-closed rattery.
I would also worry about an open rattery, because some ricks logical and people who just allow others to come in and handle any rat they wish is very alarming to me as anything can be passed from bugs to illnesses. The perfect amount of both open and closed is what I find to be the best.
-Mikaylah