Sceville Rattery

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Sceville Rattery Ethical rat breeder in Somerset, nr Taunton. Breeding for black, mink & agouti in silken & smooth, dumbo and top ear, and variegated.

A bittersweet goodbye to Sceville Rats. 🐀🤍Today, the last rats from my final ever Sceville litter went to their new home...
20/09/2026

A bittersweet goodbye to Sceville Rats. 🐀🤍

Today, the last rats from my final ever Sceville litter went to their new homes.

Truthfully, I've cried. A lot.

I'm heartbroken that life has changed in such a way that I can no longer continue doing a hobby I've loved so much, continue the breeding line I've spent years working towards, and ultimately continue with rat ownership in the future.

All of the future plans I had for my rats came alongside a future I thought I was building with another person - whom was also heavily involved in the rats lives. A future that included planning a wedding, buying a house, and creating a proper rat room.

But the reality is that those plans were never backed by the commitment or financial investment I believed was there. What I thought was a shared future and shared love and enthusiasm turned out to be something I was planning for largely on my own. I just didn't know it until I got dropped. Silly me believed the future faking.

And now, there's no new home. No rat room. I'm still where I am, with my rats in my bedroom, because affording to buy a house alone as a single person feels so incredibly out of reach.

I've spent years building Sceville Rats, developing my breeding lines and meeting so many wonderful people along the way. To have that chapter come to an end because of circumstances I never expected is genuinely heartbreaking.

To everyone who has homed any of my rats, trusted me to provide them with loving companions, followed my journey...thank you.

I've also kept two gorgeous girls from my final litters: Una (agouti) and Raven (black silken). 🐀🖤

At least I can say that I finally achieved one of my biggest breeding goals: consistently producing black silken rats.

I'm so proud of what I've achieved, but devastated that I won't be able to continue working with the variety, develop the line further or begin my journey with the variegated. There were so many things I still wanted to accomplish, and it's incredibly difficult to accept that those opportunities may now be gone.

I've kept these two girls because I adore them, but also because there's still a tiny part of me holding onto hope that things in my life might change. I'm probably being a little delusional holding onto that hope at this point, but hey ho. Sometimes hope is all you've got.

The best year of my life has somehow turned into the worst, and I'm very much struggling to come to terms with my new present and future. I'm grieving so much more than people realise, and trying to come to terms with a future I never chose.

It isn’t just the end of a relationship for me, I'm losing far more than that.

Thank you again to every single person who has supported Sceville Rats. I'll be forever grateful.

Take care everyone,

Steph 🤍

I've got three bucks from my last litter I've still not homed because I quite simply haven't been in the right headspace...
12/09/2026

I've got three bucks from my last litter I've still not homed because I quite simply haven't been in the right headspace. Their date of birth is 19/06/2026.

If anybody would like to home three bucks and can collect them relatively soon, please drop me a message. I am around for collection tomorrow evening, and various times in the week next week.

If you've not filled in an application form you'll need to prior to homing.

09/08/2026

A little reminder, please.

I am very, very aware of how old my litter is. I know they are at an age where they can be homed. I bred them after all.

I do not need constant messages reminding me of this.

Given my last post, where I shared a very big and devastating life change, alongside coming to the realisation that I will no longer be able to continue my rat breeding hobby or, ultimately, even keep rats as pets, do people genuinely think I need to be constantly pestered about homing them?

This is my last ever litter. That itself is hard to get my head around.

Please, just give me some space.

I will arrange their homing when I am ready and mentally able to sit down and allocate and arrange collections. I am not ignoring them, I am not unaware of their age, and I am not forgetting about them or the homes I have pencilled in.

Right now, I am struggling to process a huge amount of change and loss, and I simply don't have the emotional capacity to deal with constant messages asking when they can be collected. I don't think people realize just how much I am struggling. I feel like I am drowning.

I bred these rats. I know how old they are. I know what I am doing.

Please trust me and give me the space to handle this when I am ready.

26/07/2026

A very difficult post for me to write, but Sceville Rats won't be breeding anymore.

This wasn't an easy decision, but I believe it's the right one.

I absolutely adore my rats, and breeding has been such a huge part of my life for so many years. I've loved watching my lines develop, and am so proud of what I've achieved.

Over the last year, life has changed a lot. Between my full time job, my own health, and everything else life has thrown at me, I no longer have the time or energy that young litters deserve once they're old enough.

On top of that, my fiancé and I have recently gone our separate ways. That means the house we'd planned to buy this year is no longer happening, and with it, the dedicated rat room I'd been looking forward to. Keeping several cages in my bedroom whenever I have litters just isn't something I can realistically continue. It has become overwhelming, and is a huge trigger for my asthma.

I'm not entirely sure what this means for me as a rat keeper. I've found myself going back and forth on whether to keep rats at all for a little while now, and I think I need to give myself the space to figure that out without the responsibility of breeding.

To everyone who has supported Sceville Rats over the years, thank you.

For now, this chapter is coming to an end, alongside many other chapters in my life currently.

If by some miracle, anything changes, you'll all be the first to know.

Just a little update regarding kitten availability 🐀All rats from my current litters already have potential homes in min...
10/07/2026

Just a little update regarding kitten availability 🐀

All rats from my current litters already have potential homes in mind. They will be going to people who have been patiently waiting for a while when I operated my waiting group, homes willing to take bucks that I can borrow back for future breeding, existing Sceville owners, and those who need to maintain a rolling group.

I understand this will be disappointing for many people who have been following the babies' progress and hoping they might become available. Unfortunately, I'll never have enough rats to meet the demand for the homes that enquire.

My priority will always be to place rats where they're the best fit, while also supporting my breeding programme and the long-term future of Sceville Rats. As I work towards keeping fewer bucks myself, I am placing more into carefully selected pet homes where they can be borrowed back for future breeding if needed.

Looking ahead, my next planned pairings will be around September. The plan is to pair three does for my variegated line, with one of those pairings being an outcross to my silken line. As always, plans can change if I feel it's in the best interest of my lines or the rats themselves, but I'll share more details when the time comes ☺️

Happy second birthday to my gorgeous girls, Kabana (aka mini Sausage) and Aspen 🧡My two oldest rats, and so special. Asp...
07/07/2026

Happy second birthday to my gorgeous girls, Kabana (aka mini Sausage) and Aspen 🧡

My two oldest rats, and so special. Aspen was one of three from Denalis litter, and Kabana is the spitting image of my heart rat, her great Grandma Sausage.

Time with Aspen is limited due to her mammary masses growing at a more rapid rate at the moment, so I'm cherishing every day with my gorgeous girls 🧡

The oldest litter, 6 weeks old 🧡
06/07/2026

The oldest litter, 6 weeks old 🧡

Cage upgrade for the littlest ones now their eyes are properly open and they're waddling around trying solid food 🥰
06/07/2026

Cage upgrade for the littlest ones now their eyes are properly open and they're waddling around trying solid food 🥰

2 weeks old. Little eyes starting to open ❤️
04/07/2026

2 weeks old. Little eyes starting to open ❤️

5 weeks old ❤️If anyone is interested in homing the trio of bucks from this litter (agouti, agouti silken Dumbo, black),...
28/06/2026

5 weeks old ❤️

If anyone is interested in homing the trio of bucks from this litter (agouti, agouti silken Dumbo, black), and is happy for me to borrow them back if needed for breeding in the future, please message me for an application form.

Homing will be in 2-3 weeks time.

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Ilminster

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