Everyone is talking about blues!

Well I finally crossed blue x blue after producing blues by doing het blue x het blue.

http://www.madmarsh.com/pics/blueDifference2.jpg


and

http://www.madmarsh.com/pics/blueDifference.jpg

I dont know a lot about blues (these are american Ive been told) but the hets have all turned out much darker and grey, while the blue x blue have all been lighter and more silvery.

Im interested to see if blue x blue (newer lighter ones) will produce even lighter variations, but that will take a while as I have to outcross them several generations and then do this again. The blues I crossed to make all blue litters were already separated by many generations (thanks to being produced by hets)

There are about 5+ types of "Blue". Russian Blue, American Blue, Sky Blue, Powder Blue, Blue Beige, Blue-Based Platinum(pink eyes), Blue-Agouti(I guess would be considered agouti, but can be had if you breed agouti and a blue), I believe Lilac is also a blue dilute, and then you have silver blue.

So yeah :)

Breeding blues to blues should get you american blue and maybe some dilutes. Add a PED(pink-eyed dilute) carrying rat into that mix and you can get platinums, powder blues, etc. It's alot of fun!

Pretty blue rats.. perhaps you could resize those pics a bit? They're making the page go all wonky with scrolling. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shelby

Pretty blue rats.. perhaps you could resize those pics a bit? They're making the page go all wonky with scrolling. :)

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Got it.

Im on a widescreen so I never am good at noticing that :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

There are about 5+ types of "Blue". Russian Blue, American Blue, Sky Blue, Powder Blue, Blue Beige, Blue-Based Platinum(pink eyes), Blue-Agouti(I guess would be considered agouti, but can be had if you breed agouti and a blue), I believe Lilac is also a blue dilute, and then you have silver blue.

So yeah :)

Breeding blues to blues should get you american blue and maybe some dilutes. Add a PED(pink-eyed dilute) carrying rat into that mix and you can get platinums, powder blues, etc. It's alot of fun!

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What is a dilute?

Dilutes (at least I know dilute genetics with horses) are genes that 'dilute' the color of the animal. For instance a dilute black may be a gray (or blue) and a dilute agouti may be a tan.. dilutes in horses are co-dominant so a double dilute is even lighter in color than a single (heterozygous) dilute.

Don't know if it's the same for rats.

Well, You start with American Blue, and use a dilute to lighten up the color, and you get sky blue. Use another rat with the dilute gene(showing or carrying) and you get powder blue. Use yet another dilute, and you get platinums.

Hair coat and eye color get lighter and lighter with each dilution. I have pictures of most of those colors. I have a blue-agouti harley dumbo male(long haired), an american blue dumbo rex girl, a platinum rex girl, and I did have a powder blue rex top ear girl but she passed away from congestive heart failure.

Just be careful breeding blues into marked rats like blazes, wedge-blazes, husky, etc. Blue mixed with any high white marking usually results in megacolon issues. That color just has a higher incidence of megacolon than any other color when mixed with high white markings.

If you want to see pictures of some of my silly looking rattums, let me know :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Well, You start with American Blue, and use a dilute to lighten up the color, and you get sky blue. Use another rat with the dilute gene(showing or carrying) and you get powder blue. Use yet another dilute, and you get platinums.

Hair coat and eye color get lighter and lighter with each dilution. I have pictures of most of those colors. I have a blue-agouti harley dumbo male(long haired), an american blue dumbo rex girl, a platinum rex girl, and I did have a powder blue rex top ear girl but she passed away from congestive heart failure.

Just be careful breeding blues into marked rats like blazes, wedge-blazes, husky, etc. Blue mixed with any high white marking usually results in megacolon issues. That color just has a higher incidence of megacolon than any other color when mixed with high white markings.

If you want to see pictures of some of my silly looking rattums, let me know :)

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Please! :)

Yes please Becky! Bryan I'm am totally jealous of you! I want some blue hooded rats and you have TONS of them! Dang!

Kk, here we go!

MoMo, Platinum rex top ear english irish:
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/1...0037mh5.th.jpg
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/6...0038kk6.th.jpg
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/1...0039dw8.th.jpg
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/2...momoud2.th.jpg

Georgia, Powder Blue split capped top eared rex(deceased):
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/3...oto1ie5.th.jpg

Starscream, Double Blue dumbo rex:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/1...0030mv1.th.jpg

I will find pictures of Romulus, my blue agouti harley boy. He's a love and just so pretty. I'll also be getting a Black Eyed Siamese rex girl soon(Thank you UK breeders), a burmese, a seal point siamese rex girl, and a black eyed seal point siamese rex girl, wootie :) They should be interesting. Can't wait to make Harleys and Dwarves out of those colors!