SBM Project- Moving Forward

We have been rather quiet since our positive SBM result, but we haven't stopped working here at the rattery.  Once we got over the initial shock of our diagnosis, we pulled up our britches and made the decision to forge ahead with proving out the theory suggested by Charles River Labs, that we could clean our lines using cross fostering with pathogen free rats.  Here is where we are at so far:

1. Pathogen free rats are currently housed at Oak Grove Rattery in Columbia SC.  They are breeding the two pair we received, and we have 2 litters on the ground, and two 'brewing'.
2. 'Dirty' rats are housed here at Evolution Rattery for both ratteries.  We are breeding to keep our lines going until clean fosters are available to take the litters as they are born.  We are keeping the two operations at separate locations to avoid cross-contamination.
3. We are hopeful that the stars will align this week (October 7th) and a clean mom will give birth, and a dirty mom will have her litter a few days behind her so we can foster the dirty litter onto clean mom.  
4. Once our first fostered litter reaches 6 weeks of age, we will test them (and clean mom) to make sure they remained pathogen free.
5. Any confirmed negative babies (aside from holdbacks) will be offered to adopters, so stay tuned, and like/follow our facebook pages for updates.
6. We have decided that after the lines at EVO have produced a litter that has successfully been cleaned, the parents will be offered for adoption to previous adopters ONLY, and with the express knowledge that these rats may be SMB positive. Please submit a contact form (here) to let us know if you are interested in adopting a retiree. If you are reading this but have not had rats before, please please do your due diligence in researching the rattery/breeder you decide to purchase from. Ask if they have had their colony tested, and ask to see results.  Its important to note that a colony can contain both Positive and Negative rats. Unless they have tested every single rat, there is no way to know if the colony is fully negative.
   
7. We will be offering trios of clean rats to other breeders at a minimal cost so they can also try this method to clean their lines.  Please contact us to get on our waitlist.  We will also be publishing the procedures we used.

Lastly, with no adoptions having taken place since the beginning of July, funds to  maintain our lines are running precariously low.  Please consider donating directly to Evolution Rattery via one of the following methods,
​any help will be so gratefully appreciated:
CashApp
VENMO
For Zelle use:
evolutionrattery@gmail.com

Pathogen free BABIES!!!