Experience with Dwarf or Siamese Rats?

[MrLang]

Hi - I'm wondering if anyone has experience breeding dwarf or siamese rats. I just got 2 male black eyed siamese dwarf rats and am very excited to start breeding them. They are absolutely tiny and adorable at the moment.

I know I need to breed the males to standard females that are on the small side (for dwarf) and are as solid black as possible down to the toes if possible (for the siamese)

This should produce all black (hopefully down to the toes) double hets - which will be bred back to the dad once they're breeding sized.


How will I know if I hit on the siamese? Will the babies be all black except the siamese, which will be fawn-ish tan?

How will I know if I hit on the dwarf? At what point will they be noticeably smaller than the others? Any other features that will differentiate them? Do I need to remove the normal sized babies so they don't get malnourished/smushed/bullied? How do you go about raising dwarf babies with a standard sized mom?




Any info or dialogue you have on the topic is appreciated. We can take it to PMs if needed.

Thanks

[Simple Man]

Hi - I'm wondering if anyone has experience breeding dwarf or siamese rats. I just got 2 male black eyed siamese dwarf rats and am very excited to start breeding them. They are absolutely tiny and adorable at the moment.

I know I need to breed the males to standard females that are on the small side (for dwarf) and are as solid black as possible down to the toes if possible (for the siamese)

This should produce all black (hopefully down to the toes) double hets - which will be bred back to the dad once they're breeding sized.


How will I know if I hit on the siamese? Will the babies be all black except the siamese, which will be fawn-ish tan?

How will I know if I hit on the dwarf? At what point will they be noticeably smaller than the others? Any other features that will differentiate them? Do I need to remove the normal sized babies so they don't get malnourished/smushed/bullied? How do you go about raising dwarf babies with a standard sized mom?




Any info or dialogue you have on the topic is appreciated. We can take it to PMs if needed.

Thanks

I don't think you need to worry about Dwarf rats breeding any sized females. The dwarf kits are about the same size initially but grow slower. I've never had to separate or do anything different with dwarf kits. You can confuse them with runts until they are larger. I usually try to keep them with siblings to make identification easier. Once the siblings are "small" sized it becomes very obvious. Dwarfs really slow down at this size and runts catch up once they can eat as much food as they want. Dwarf sizes vary so you can have larger and smaller Dwarves. That's why the comparison with siblings makes things so much easier IMO. In terms of other features, sometimes their tails look kind of disproportionately small. Their ears are very large compared to their overall size (at least with my rats all being Dumbo). Their muzzles are a bit more narrow than my typical stock. Good luck!

Regards,

B

[MootWorm]

Awesome!! I'd love to get my hands on some dwarves Although it seems kind of counterintuitive when breeding for feeders lol.

[MrLang]

Thanks Brian.

These little buggers are so damn cute it's outrageous. I got them from a local breeder and was able to meet the parents. The mom was probably 175g tops and the dad was around 150. These guys are 6 or 7 weeks old and are barely the size of a mouse (maybe 50-60g). By comparison, a regular rat at that age is pushing 100 or 150g.

[MootWorm]

I don't think you need to worry about Dwarf rats breeding any sized females. The dwarf kits are about the same size initially but grow slower. I've never had to separate or do anything different with dwarf kits. You can confuse them with runts until they are larger. I usually try to keep them with siblings to make identification easier. Once the siblings are "small" sized it becomes very obvious. Dwarfs really slow down at this size and runts catch up once they can eat as much food as they want. Dwarf sizes vary so you can have larger and smaller Dwarves. That's why the comparison with siblings makes things so much easier IMO. In terms of other features, sometimes their tails look kind of disproportionately small. Their ears are very large compared to their overall size (at least with my rats all being Dumbo). Their muzzles are a bit more narrow than my typical stock. Good luck!

Regards,

B

How long have you been working with dwarves? I've read some conflicting information in regards to health. Some say they are as healthy/healthier than normal rats, others say they're more prone to health issues, shorter life span, etc. I'd love to see what your experience is with this.


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[Sita]

I can't really help you with any of your questions, but I'm currently trying to produce Siamese Dumbos. I lucked out with a Craigslist Dumbo that happened to carry Siamese, and I've only just bred 2 of his Himalayan daughters back to him to see what I get. They're due the week after next.

I hadn't come across the info about breeding them with full black selfs, but luckily I'm already working on getting that color as well. I did read something about to get better blacks you should breed them with a blue, so I have a blue top-eared male that I saved from a litter that will replace one of my black hoods.

[MootWorm]

I can't really help you with any of your questions, but I'm currently trying to produce Siamese Dumbos. I lucked out with a Craigslist Dumbo that happened to carry Siamese, and I've only just bred 2 of his Himalayan daughters back to him to see what I get. They're due the week after next.

I hadn't come across the info about breeding them with full black selfs, but luckily I'm already working on getting that color as well. I did read something about to get better blacks you should breed them with a blue, so I have a blue top-eared male that I saved from a litter that will replace one of my black hoods.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya!! Man, I really want some dwarves now. But I just got my first pair of double rexes, so I guess they'll have to hold me over lol.