Hairless rat genetics?

So my girls from Oct I raised are old enough to breed now, and I'm curious about getting a hairless buck since I know Petsmart occasionally gets them (as well as dumbos), and I remember reading that hairlesses ALWAYS have a recessive gene of something.

Any word on that?


Also, someone noted on CS.com that when they had pregnant and lactating hairless girls, a higher fat diet did wonders for them. Anyone else tried than in case I grow up a female or few that turns out hairless?

Hairless don't always carry something?

Don't get a hairless female. They can have lactating problems, and it's better to completely avoid it, than to find out the hard way that yours has lactating problems, and have to start all over, and kill a litter of pups.

Hairless is recessive, so you'll need to breed your hairless buck, to a normal female, then pick a female from the litter, and breed it back to the hairless buck, and you should get 25% hairless pups. They all look the same up until they're about 1 week old, then you can see their whiskers are kinky, and their fur grows in wavy. They'll have the baby fur until they're a few months old.

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Originally Posted by Rhasputin

They all look the same up until they're about 1 week old, then you can see their whiskers are kinky, and their fur grows in wavy. They'll have the baby fur until they're a few months old.

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Actually, you can tell from day 1 who's hairless if you look closely. The whiskers are practically non existant for hairless pinks when they are born. The normal ones have short but straight whiskers. My momma rats don't mind me getting in a count after birthing and nursing them :gj:

I do agree 100% that it would be better to have a hairless buck. Especially if you don't have the time or space (or a need for a steady supply of pinky sized feeders) to dink around and see if your females are capable of rearing young.

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Originally Posted by Rhasputin

Hairless don't always carry something?

Don't get a hairless female. They can have lactating problems, and it's better to completely avoid it, than to find out the hard way that yours has lactating problems, and have to start all over, and kill a litter of pups.

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Thought they did. Rex, I think, because you have to breed two rexes together to get a hairless or something?

The only place I can get females is Petco, so no special stuff there.

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Originally Posted by bad-one

Actually, you can tell from day 1 who's hairless if you look closely. The whiskers are practically non existant for hairless pinks when they are born. The normal ones have short but straight whiskers. My momma rats don't mind me getting in a count after birthing and nursing them :gj:

I do agree 100% that it would be better to have a hairless buck. Especially if you don't have the time or space (or a need for a steady supply of pinky sized feeders) to dink around and see if your females are capable of rearing young.

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*notes that* :p
My girl is also good about me buggin' her for the most part.

That's the plan! I do have plenty of time to screw around with rats though. Not like I have a job or anything.
And the corns never reject a mass of squealing pinks. Nom nom nom.

Here is a great site that explains it all for you

http://www.ratbehavior.org/CoatTypes.htm

Excellent link! Only recessive hairless have/are prone to issues as far I know. So far my recessive hairless have been just as hardy as my fully furred rats so hopefully they will be a viable line of rat to breed as feeders long term.

Btw, I don't know if the whisker trick works on double rex rats since I've never had any :P

There aren't really any health issues with hairless rats, other than possible over heating if your home gets too hot.

Double rex, and hairless both can get dirty eyes, but it's worse on double rex, because the eyelashes and curled fur around the eyes can irritate them, and cause infection.

The whisker trick works with any type of coat curling gene.:)

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Originally Posted by ed4281

Here is a great site that explains it all for you

http://www.ratbehavior.org/CoatTypes.htm

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I think that'll help! I'll look it over later today.

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Originally Posted by Rhasputin

There aren't really any health issues with hairless rats, other than possible over heating if your home gets too hot.

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The problem would actually be being too cool, but since I'm now keeping my males together so I can control breeding better, it shouldn't be an issue. My boys are sweet.

Yeah, I'd be afraid of the baldies getting too cold! lol

However, my two hairless males (who I keep together at all times) have done great out in my garage despite it getting down in the low 60s and maybe high 50s at night. Even knocked up a couple of my female breeders in the cold weather :gj:

I have a hairless girl growing up to test if my female hairless are capable moms. If not, at least I'll get some pinks lol

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Originally Posted by Shenzi Sixaxis

Thought they did. Rex, I think, because you have to breed two rexes together to get a hairless or something?

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True hairless is a recessive trait and has nothing to do with rex.
Hairless to standard coat = all 100% het hairless all standard coats

Rex(curly coat) X Rex can make double rex patchworks like this dwarf boy...
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/PICT1499.jpg
Or this dwarf boy...he regrew his hair and never lost it again...R.I.P. Dufus boy :(
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/a...VelveteenD.jpg