Now this is weird....

I thought I was going crazy for the past week. I thought I had a blue baby, then I thought maybe black, then I thought some weird version of black brown gray. Now I'm really confused! This baby has a different colored head than its body! :rolleye2:

Hopefully you can see it, it's the baby on the right.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...rats/005-4.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...rats/007-3.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...rats/009-3.jpg

Cute :love:
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...rats/004-5.jpg

I have no idea what it is.
But thats cool! The color gets darker as it goes down its back.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DZ Reptiles

I have no idea what it is.
But thats cool! The color gets darker as it goes down its back.

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Oh good you can see it! It's so weird! Her back is black like her sister, but in the close ups of their heads you can see how different her head color is. Some sort of gray/brown color. I hope she keeps it, she's pretty neat!

That would be cool if she keeps it, maybe pass it on to her babies???

Thats is cool! You just made a Gradient Hooded Rat! :banana:

It's like a Hooded Calico!!
How cool.

If it's not just an effect of molting, then what you have is likely a somatic mutation. It can show up in lots of different patterns of random colours together, where the animal is partially one colour, and partially another (a good example would be a lab that has a somatic mutation, causing it to be part yellow lab, and part black lab).

If it grows out, then it was probably just molting.
If it stays, I say somatic mutation.
Somatic mutations are NOT passed on to the offspring, unfortunately!

Her head has been a different color since she was a fuzzy. I was wondering if she would loose the color. I suppose we'll see. That sucks that it doesn't get passed on!

Very cool! It looks like a blue merle. Definelty keep us updated as it grows.

It's weird that the lighter spot is patchy. How many were in the litter?
You should check the others for light, and dark spots closely. :)