| Trends
By "trends" I don't mean what's "in" or popular. I am talking about statistical trends, graphs, charts, NUMBERS. It is my desire to improve that got me into breeding, and one can only improve and know that they improve if they have something to compare to. I am a scientist at heart, so when I started noticing a few things I thought to be trends, and I realized that I had a lot of "data" (Ooooo... data! Always enticing!) after four continuous years of owning and breeding rats, I decided it was time to start compiling and sharing my data with the world. Before I get into this, I need to note that my rats are raised as my pets and family members. I change litter, cages, food, even environment depending on situations and availability. I take my rats to the vet when I deem necessary. They are not in a sterile lab free from variables. (Of course, neither are your own pet rats -- I'd imagine.) My higher generation rats are bred by me, and my rats are all from the eastern half of the US, mostly from nearby or bred by me. Please keep this in mind. I believe that rats vary by regions and lines, and my data is primarily to help me evaluate the development of my own line and to let my adopters know what to expect. All data can provide valuable insight, but make sure you know the source and the circumstances! (Experiments in labs are not always relevant to our pets; what is true of one line or household is not necessarily true of another.)  What I'm Looking At I decided to start compiling my data on a regular basis starting in November 2005, roughly four years after I first started breeding. At this time, my first generations had passed away and I had raised 16 litters. I compiled data for each rat on spreadsheets, one for rats passed away, one for still living with me, and one for litters and calculations. Before I get to the data, here are explanations of some info I have compiled: Origin: The rattery name where acquired (CU if bred here) Generation: Rats not born with me are designated as "generation 1" and then counted beyond that for each tier of pedigree with me. This value will become important when assessing progression of my line. Color: Also markings, abbreviated -- but you can look those up on my rat pages and their pedigrees. Type: Hair and ear types Birthday: Most cases exact dates, but sometimes estimated. Cause OD: How the rat died to my best knowledge. "Unknown" deaths usually involve heart and/or respiratory "age-related" symptoms. Cancer: Whether the rat had any tumors I knew of. Age: Rounded to the nearest month. Pups: Number of pups born to that rat (for each litter) Other Notes: Important notes go in the last column. I listed the rats that had SDA symptoms when I had outbreaks (to track whether it affected them later in life). Litter data depends on the trends I am curious about. For example, litter size greatly interests me, so I looked at that for any trends. Should be self-explanitory. My Data/Records (This open in a new window and is in .htm format.) Data current to Aug. 3, 2008 | |||