ratty pics and pics and pics and ...

Aww, I wuvs them! Cute as heck little ratties! That sausage picture is hilarious. :p

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I love looking at your rat pictures. Cute rats, full focus pictures, and no rat butts.

What did you work on with your genetics? Color, coat, size, disposition, health, conformation?

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Originally Posted by aldebono

I love looking at your rat pictures. Cute rats, full focus pictures, and no rat butts.

What did you work on with your genetics? Color, coat, size, disposition, health, conformation?

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Conformation was my main focus for numerous generations, but honestly many were already pretty nice considering they had been selectively bred for many generations before I got a hold of them.
My main focus after making sure my hold backs conformed as close to show standard as possible was color and coat type.
Disposition is always a factor in my hold backs but in general all of my rats are super sweet and out going.
Pink eyed rats are a favorite, I enjoy making pink eyed blues and pink eyed Siamese.

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Those dumbo rexes are so precious. I miss having rat babies around.


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I would love to start breeding for conformation also, but it's really hard for me to see what the show standard is just by looking at pictures and not having rats side by side. Any tips?

I was trying to keep the blockish square heads, low ears, no pointy noses, correct sized eyes for the head, etc.
There's a lot that goes into the hold back process, it takes multiple generations to correct flaws, so holding back the best of the best is important.

Holding back but not becoming attached too much since even ones you think at first might be primo examples may not be once they mature into young adults.

I always picked them out as they fuzz up and then I would start weeding out the non hold-backs so by the time the litter hits 3 weeks old the mom generally is only caring for no more than 5 kits.
By the time they are weaned they tend to be a bit more developed that way versus leaving all 10+ kits with the mom.

That 3 week mark seems to be a good point to pick out keepers too. For some reason at that age they seem to hit a stage where they resemble what they will look like as adults. That doesn't mean they will stay that way, but a "bad" baby at 3 weeks is not likely to get better as an adult, where a "superb" baby at 3 weeks is likely to at least be "good" as an adult. Before then, you can weed out the obvious ones, such as those who are scrawny or weedy, pinched noses, narrow shoulders, etc. After the 3 weeks mark they go into those awkward adolescent stages and don't start evening out again until 8 weeks and beyond.

Learning what to look for just takes practices. Look at lots and lots of animals and get input on what you are looking at. Ask experienced people to show you pictures and point out the good and bad that can be seen in that picture. Pictures aren't the end all of what the animal looks like (a long head can be corrected in a photo when angled slightly, for example), but it can still help you learn what to look for.

Great looking bunch Jerry! Very adorable. :)

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The cuteness is too much to handle. You've got some really awesome looking rats there!

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Originally Posted by sorraia

That 3 week mark seems to be a good point to pick out keepers too. For some reason at that age they seem to hit a stage where they resemble what they will look like as adults. That doesn't mean they will stay that way, but a "bad" baby at 3 weeks is not likely to get better as an adult, where a "superb" baby at 3 weeks is likely to at least be "good" as an adult. Before then, you can weed out the obvious ones, such as those who are scrawny or weedy, pinched noses, narrow shoulders, etc. After the 3 weeks mark they go into those awkward adolescent stages and don't start evening out again until 8 weeks and beyond.

Learning what to look for just takes practices. Look at lots and lots of animals and get input on what you are looking at. Ask experienced people to show you pictures and point out the good and bad that can be seen in that picture. Pictures aren't the end all of what the animal looks like (a long head can be corrected in a photo when angled slightly, for example), but it can still help you learn what to look for.

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Excellent info :gj:
Pictures really can throw the look off, so it is hard to show what to look for in conformity without seeing the actual rat in person.
After seeing hundreds to thousands of them you can pretty much pick out the exceptional ones at 3 weeks old and hope they hold that look into adulthood.