Possibly a Himalayan?

[Adam Chandler]

I came across a suspected hooded Champagne in a batch of feeders I received a few weeks ago and liked the color of her so I decided to move her into my breeding program.
Here is what she looked like when she arrived:




Over the last few weeks I've noticed her hood color was getting lighter and lighter, to the point where now she looks like this:



I thought at first she had faded to white, but after taking a closer look I saw she had kept Champagne colored points at her nose and at the base of her tail.
Could it be possible she is a Himalayan and it just took awhile for it to express?

[LotusCorvus]

I had a rat do this to me just recently, haha. Yes, apparently they just take a while to 'develop'.

[snakesRkewl]

The color of the coat will give it away, Himalayan is white and Siamese is light cream colored.
It's one or the other, from your pic it looks like a Himi to me

[Rhasputin]

Looks himi to me! They're so funny as babies, especially if the weather is humid, their coats can be just crazy!

[Simplex]

Never thought id say this.. But that rats kinda cute... Wish they were legal here

[MoshBalls]

Where are fancy rats illegal?

That is exciting I have quite a few champagne, and blue hooded just weaned. I am excited to see what happens with them now.

[Adam Chandler]

I didn't realize there were rat morphs that could start off as hooded and then transform as they grew. Interesting stuff.

Please let me know if I have my genetics straight:

The Himalayan gene (ch) is on the albino 'C' locus. it is recessive and will only express if paired up with another Himalayan gene or the Albino gene (c)

A Himalayan rat (white backround with color points) is a rat with a single copy of the Himalayan gene paired up with a Albino gene (ch c)

A Siamese rat (darker points, overall tan or some shade of brown coat color) is a rat with 2 copies of the Himalayan gene (ch ch)

Both Siamese and Himalayan rats should not have a agouti gene (A), they should have a Black (aa) background. A Siamese or Himalayan rat with agouti washes out the color and points, making it hard recognize as a Siamese or Himalayan.


Since the rat in my original post started off marked as a hooded before (ch c) overwrote it I believe all the genes at work in her are:
aa / ch c / hh

Correct?

[LotusCorvus]

Sounds correct to me, my only comment is that the siamese/himalayan doesn't really 'overwrite' the markings. My girl who started as a cream split mask (body entirely white, aside from her 2 cream face spots), is now a siamese, but the split in her mask is still noticeable since it crosses the bridge of her nose.

[Simplex]

Where are fancy rats illegal?

That is exciting I have quite a few champagne, and blue hooded just weaned. I am excited to see what happens with them now.

Im in Alberta Canada

[Rhasputin]

The rat didn't overwrite the genes, it just molted into it's adult coat.