So.. what should I breed to b/w hoodeds?

Yes, I am asking that. xD

So when I got my 1.2 group, I got a male hooded (he's a sweet heart though, and LOOOOOVES people and exploring), a female hooded, and a Berkshire that I'm waiting on to hit the squirrel trap, because she has some BAD genetics despite a 13 pup litter from her, and the escaping and eagerness to bite now.

The hooded female is doing great though. But, I kept her only two daughters and will be breeding them, once back to dad to see if there's any interesting genetics in there). However, I rather not breed them back to dad continuously, and I'd rather have more than just hooded pups coming out.

So what's a good colored buck I could try to find to breed to the two girls I kept? I found some interesting bucks at Pet Supermarket that were hoodeds, but the hood was cream/off white and very interesting to look at, but still hoodeds. This place also gets local mice/rats, so their stock is never the same, really.

Petsmart usually only gets b/w hooded males, but they get the occasional dumbos males. The last two they got were a plain ol' blue-ish on, and a siamese one. They also get an occasional hairless. I've also seen hooded rats with the hood a tan/light brown color.

The Petco I can get to often only carries female rats. There IS a mom and pop store that has rats, but I'll be dead before I ever BUY any thing there.


So, ideas?

Sometimes rats will carry very interesting things. I bred an amber male to an agouti female and got a slew of babies that were all over the place, color-wise and pattern-wise. If I'm not mistaken, breeding hooded to hooded, will only give you hooded. Breeding a berkshire to a hooded will give you both berkshires and hoodeds. They are a pattern gene rather than a color gene. There are many interesting patterns but finding those genetics can be hard in local pet stores.

Here is a good site for looking up different colors, patterns, and coat types. Find something you really like and try to find a rat that either displays those genetics or carries them. You never know what might pop out.

http://www.afrma.org/fancyrm.htm

Very helpful! Thanks.