Hey We Got Promoted!

With the recent birth of our first megacolon rat, we've removed Lighting from the breeding rotation and "promoted" him and one of his yet-unweaned healthy sons to pet status. As soon as sonny boy is weaned, he and dad Lightning will be installed in a nice big enclosure in Mikey's room to live out their lives as pets.

Lightning and the kid (as yet unnammed)....
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ngSonFeb07.jpg

What a face!...
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...gsonFeb071.jpg

He's got an interesting color to him, quite brown but not agouti yet his face is a totally different shade than his body markings...almost brown/grey (hard to see in this pic but obvious in the one above)....quite odd and I've not a clue what to call it LOL (hey Becky...any ideas???)...
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...gsonFeb072.jpg

Awww, he's adorable, Jo! They are going to make a nice pair for pets!

Thanks Robin. Mikey's been asking for awhile for his own pair of pet rats so it seems a good time and a nice pair of good looking males available for him to have his wish.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so cute!!! how about lightening and flash!

Hey that sounds good! I'll suggest that to Mikey though I have a sneaking suspicion it's going to be called "Junior". He's gone nuts lately over Nascar and is big into hero worshipping Dale Jr (number 8 rules dontcha know! LOL). He doesn't know he's getting this second rat yet as it needs more time with it's momma and 5 year olds are not particularily a patient breed. :)

Aww, what pretty boys. Lightning's son looks like a mink or chocolate wedge-blazed husky. And also something I would die to have here :)

You need to get set up to ship rats, woman! Some of your babies turn out so nicely marked, I'd want to include them in some of our lines(for outcrossing the inbred strains, such as harley).

Too cute, and great name! Junior is very fitting :)

Well it would make sense with the mink thing as his momma was one of our three female minks. Just odd that his face is so much lighter than his body but maybe that will change as he matures. Thanks for the compliments Becky, coming from you that means a lot. We've never really bred for looks specifically but then you know how I am...if I'm going to bred a rodent of any sort...it's got to be a decent looking one. LOL I didn't even think about shipping live rodents. Is there information out there Becky on how to do so safely?

I'm not sure, Jo - but I believe I've read that they have to have a certificate of health from the vet before shipping. Not sure the rest of the regulations.

Thanks Robin I'll have to do some research on this though it's unlikely we'd ship any unless it was to someone like Becky that just took a specific liking to a certain baby rat we had. Though I'd love to know anyways just in case I want one of your pretty baby blues when they pop out LOL.

Edit: Just found this link and shipping is pretty much out of the question at around $200 for a box of rats...ack!

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

Yep, he'll probably change back to his normal color after he molts for the first time.

And yes, shipping them can be a bit expensive, but the vet visit isn't as they just look them over and make sure everyone is healthy and can stand the trip. We've gotten a few shipments via Delta from California and they went well :)