My new ratties.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JBallPython

More than $25 a week on rats to feed my snakes is getting quite straining on the pocketbook, so I figured I can easily lessen the strain by breeding a few of my own.

---

Nice rats Jason! But I would have to question why you are carrying a pocketbook. :)

Hm I thought husky was a berkshire modifier gene. Rat genetics are a bit confusing since each rat typically has a few things going on.

I'm going to cull out some from my colony so I don't have issues with megacolon.

Thanks for the information everyone! I have no idea really about rat color variations and such, so its good to know! I had to wait until today to separate them, picked up a 10 gallon for the female, and she'll be getting a female companion next week so no worries about breeding them too young.


Becky, thanks for the info on the megacolon issue, I'll read up a little more on it. I plan on getting a few more ratties, the first male is going to be more of a pet than anything. We have a really friendly good looking male hooded at work. By the way, you were dead on for Inari's age she's 5 1/2 weeks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jglass38

Nice rats Jason! But I would have to question why you are carrying a pocketbook. :)

---

It's very European. ;)

Our current stud rat, Casanova. He's actually a lot bigger now...I'll have to weigh him LOL (gotta keep the breeder males from being too chubby...not good for them at all). He's a big black hooded and most of his females are either beige or black hooded or self (all one color) and one albino (great breeder but they tend to be nippy and very protective mothers). We did just get a litter of 16 from crossing this black hooded to a black/white husky female (no blaze) so I'll watch for indications of megacolon and let you know how that went.

Glad you are getting them both cagemates as rats seem to just wilt if left alone in a cage. Whenever Casanova is between females we just give him one or two of his sons from the feeder/grower tubs to hang out with and it keeps him occupied till ummmmm duty calls (LOL....nice way to put that I thought!)

Here's Nova in all his big ole boy glory....
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...t-Casanova.jpg

One of his ladies (HoneyChild) with her litter of 15 from a few months back....
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...honeychild.jpg

Flash a few days before delivering her first litter from a breeding with Casanova (11 nice ones out of that group if I remember right)...
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...ytodeliver.jpg

Glad you are waiting to breed the female till she's properly grown. I haven't been breeding rats for years or anything, but I am finding, at least for a small home breeder, that the time spent to properly and humanely care for my rat colony pays off in consistently big, healthy litters with almost zero losses of any sort (we've only lost 1 rat at birth so far other than the wreck of a litter we got from our pet store preggie rescue Alita a few months back). I think happy rats make better babies and better babies make for happy snakes :) (plus I'm a big softie and I love my breeder rats....very neat creatures!)

How can you tell if it's a husky if it has no blaze?

Darn I like my lightning bolt faced rats.. but I don't need megacolon.

Far as I've ever known April being a Husky has nothing to do with having a blaze face or not. Blaze is just the face marking though pretty common in Husky, not all have it. Some Husky's have a face blaze others don't. Husky refers to the white areas of the body being much different than the Berkshire.

My understanding is a Berkshire should have a lot of white on the belly but never extending up the sides of the body as it does in a Husky. Also with Berkies the front and back feet/lower legs have some white but again not extending to the sholders/hips as is common with Husky marked rats.

As far as megacolon and Husky's. I've always been told to avoid Husky to Husky and Husky to High White or Albino matings and you'll cut those odds way down. Not sure how scientific that is though.

Dang wish I had my camera unpacked as my black/white Husky and black/white Berkshire are perfect examples of the difference in coat pattern.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by frankykeno

Oh he's a nice Husky with that blaze face on him and she's a lovely little Beige Hooded though with those dots of color rather than a stripe I don't know what the rat experts would call that exactly LOL. We have a couple of female Husky's and I do really like those markings. Just make sure your female gets some size on her before you let her have her first litter....big momma's make big babies LOL.

---

Broken stripes I think.

Ah Husky! I never knew the name. I have a few and we call them badgers :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by frankykeno

Far as I've ever known April being a Husky has nothing to do with having a blaze face or not. Blaze is just the face marking though pretty common in Husky, not all have it. Some Husky's have a face blaze others don't. Husky refers to the white areas of the body being much different than the Berkshire.

---

Correct. Husky and blaze genes are two different genes, however..both carry megacolon.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by frankykeno

My understanding is a Berkshire should have a lot of white on the belly but never extending up the sides of the body as it does in a Husky. Also with Berkies the front and back feet/lower legs have some white but again not extending to the sholders/hips as is common with Husky marked rats.

---

Again, correct in description.

Hrm... so is it best just to feed off Huskies and Blazes?

I wouldn't go that far Bryan without further information/research. I use a Husky breeding female and she herself is fine and her 16 young seem fine. I will watch them at weaning though just to be certain but thus far the cross of this Husky female to my Black Hooded male (who wouldn't be called high white as he's got loads of color on him) has produced a big healthy litter. Since I don't care much for the albino rats anyways I'm okay with a bit of Husky bloodline I think.