Really interesting litter! (to me..)DUW

Did either of your breeders look like this? This female (Smudge) was originally thought to be an albino but obviously isn't. This is Smudge as a weanling. The slight smudge of color (hence her name) on her nose has darkened and also some shows at her tail base. The color tends to be darker if they are kept in slightly cooler conditions, lighter if the rat room is quite warm.


http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...meseFemale.jpg

Yep! I have a good 5 or 6 ratties with that "smudge" - so there all hemis and not albinos - when bred together you get hemis, siamese, and .... albinos??

Where the heck did this hooded guy come into play?? I wonder if thats a resessive too?...

Im discussing rat genetics on a snake forum....:weirdface :confuse:

They are so cute. I want one! If I ever start breeding mice for my snakes (when I get more than one) I will never breed cute mice, because I would always want to keep the babies.

Fact is most rats are just indiscrimately allowed to breed hon so you get a ton of odd stuff popping up from the genetic soup they carry. Makes breeding feeders sort of fun actually when you get the odd looking ones in the litters. Our just retired big breeder male Casanova is a lovely black hooded. No matter who he is bred to...other hoodeds, selfs, no matter what color or lack of any white they have...he always throws an albino or two into every litter no matter who the female is. Also oddly enough he has this little hook mark in his spinal stripe and almost every fully striped offspring he's ever fathered has the exact same small hook in the exact same place on their stripe. Just an odd thing but so consistent it's spooky LOL. His son, SuperNova, is an almost exact replica of his father (and is now breeding his own generation of feeders). I'll have to get a good picture of them together.

I am seriously considering adopting these guys out and never breeding 2 hemis again. I can bearly handle feeding off the whites and the hoodies, but i just dont think i can stand feeding off these guys. Rats make great pets (for a number of years i had my 2 snakes and my ratties both as pets, nothing else), and i know there are rat lovers out there that would love to have these guys. God im such a softey.

Just make sure if you are selling or adopting them out as pets you insist that folks take a same sex pair. Rats just don't do very well as lone pets no matter how much attention they get. They are always better behaved and happier if they have a cage buddy of the same gender to hang out with. There are the rare ones that can't get along with another rat but all in all, they really are too sociable to be housed alone.

ooohhhh....my snow looks like this! I thought she was albino, but she has developed this "smudge" and color around her tail. Hers is not as noticible as the one above, but that means snow is a himmi:)

Hooded is a recessive trait im pretty sure. There is a chance that its not a genetic hood though, and just a random thing. Only more litters can say for sure.

Will be at White Plains sunday, I would give you a big box full of nice colorful rats for those 2 breeders and babies. let me know if you want to do that, they are much to nice to feed off. :sunny:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by adizziedoll

I am seriously considering adopting these guys out and never breeding 2 hemis again. I can bearly handle feeding off the whites and the hoodies, but i just dont think i can stand feeding off these guys. Rats make great pets (for a number of years i had my 2 snakes and my ratties both as pets, nothing else), and i know there are rat lovers out there that would love to have these guys. God im such a softey.

---

Arg, if only I didn't live so far away, I'd take two.