What to do????

[rperry03]

I am trying to decide which male to keep as a breeder based on their color.
So far I have a solid white female and 3 males, 1 solid black, 1 solid white, and 1 white with a brown stripe down his back.

I really want to keep the solid black and find a black female.
So I am trying to decide to between the white and the white/brown. Which of these two should I keep?


Although they are feeders some cool looking offspring would be awesome!

[GoFride]

Stripey boy sounds prettier and more interesting to look at.

[spiderz]

what ever you prefer its all food anyways like you said.... i prefer black rats myself

[Kymberli]

Personally I'd go with the brown/white boy (which sounds like you may be describing an Agouti Hooded, if I'm picturing it right).

[bokuza]

Solid black. If you plan to breed for flashy rats take into consideration that mega-colon has been connected to rats with high amounts of white in their coat. Breeding a solid black line will allow you to avoid that.

If you want more factors for your decisions try finding out if your rats are agouti or black based.
http://www.raffinhouse.com/basic_genetics.htm

[Rhasputin]

Agouti and black are both genes found on the a locus. If you want black rats, breed the black and agouti, because you will get more black and agouti. The solid white one, if it is albino, may also be hiding black or agouti (likely if the parents were either of those colours) so you may also breed that one, depending like i said, on the parents.

[rperry03]

Thanks everyone! And even though they are snake food its still cool to watch them and learn about them.

I took a few pictures of them tonight.


Males I want to keep





and the female that may be pregnant. I have to keep an eye on her and her weight.



Im hoping that this one is a female



and this is all of them in their dirty cage till tomorrow night or monday

[Michelle.C]

Solution, keep both males. Unless you are planning on doing a harem style breeding, the other male will need a friend while he's waiting on the ladies to be ready again. Even if you are doing a harem style breeding, keeping both males is a good idea for genetic diversity.

First male is a Beige Hooded, second is an Agouti (appears to be Irish or Irish/English marked).

Female is a Pink Eyed Albino, next female is an Agouti Hooded.

[Rhasputin]

Female is a Pink Eyed Albino

All albinos are pink eyed

[Michelle.C]

All albinos are pink eyed

Duh.