Possibly a Himalayan?

I came across a suspected hooded Champagne in a batch of feeders I received a few weeks ago and liked the color of her so I decided to move her into my breeding program.
Here is what she looked like when she arrived:
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...4/DSC_0480.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...4/DSC_0487.jpg


Over the last few weeks I've noticed her hood color was getting lighter and lighter, to the point where now she looks like this:
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...DSC_0542-1.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...4/DSC_0546.jpg

I thought at first she had faded to white, but after taking a closer look I saw she had kept Champagne colored points at her nose and at the base of her tail.
Could it be possible she is a Himalayan and it just took awhile for it to express?

I had a rat do this to me just recently, haha. Yes, apparently they just take a while to 'develop'.

The color of the coat will give it away, Himalayan is white and Siamese is light cream colored.
It's one or the other, from your pic it looks like a Himi to me :gj:

Looks himi to me! They're so funny as babies, especially if the weather is humid, their coats can be just crazy!

Never thought id say this.. But that rats kinda cute... Wish they were legal here

Where are fancy rats illegal?

That is exciting I have quite a few champagne, and blue hooded just weaned. I am excited to see what happens with them now. :gj:

I didn't realize there were rat morphs that could start off as hooded and then transform as they grew. Interesting stuff.

Please let me know if I have my genetics straight:

The Himalayan gene (ch) is on the albino 'C' locus. it is recessive and will only express if paired up with another Himalayan gene or the Albino gene (c)

A Himalayan rat (white backround with color points) is a rat with a single copy of the Himalayan gene paired up with a Albino gene (ch c)

A Siamese rat (darker points, overall tan or some shade of brown coat color) is a rat with 2 copies of the Himalayan gene (ch ch)

Both Siamese and Himalayan rats should not have a agouti gene (A), they should have a Black (aa) background. A Siamese or Himalayan rat with agouti washes out the color and points, making it hard recognize as a Siamese or Himalayan.


Since the rat in my original post started off marked as a hooded before (ch c) overwrote it I believe all the genes at work in her are:
aa / ch c / hh

Correct?

Sounds correct to me, my only comment is that the siamese/himalayan doesn't really 'overwrite' the markings. My girl who started as a cream split mask (body entirely white, aside from her 2 cream face spots), is now a siamese, but the split in her mask is still noticeable since it crosses the bridge of her nose.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MoshBalls

Where are fancy rats illegal?

That is exciting I have quite a few champagne, and blue hooded just weaned. I am excited to see what happens with them now. :gj:

---

Im in Alberta Canada

The rat didn't overwrite the genes, it just molted into it's adult coat.

Quote:

---

A Siamese or Himalayan rat with agouti washes out the color and points, making it hard recognize as a Siamese or Himalayan.

---

Burmese baby from agouti het Siamese X Siamese

Burmese on left Siamese on right
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/PICT8488.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rhasputin

The rat didn't overwrite the genes, it just molted into it's adult coat.

---

Yeah, bad choice of words. I didn't mean overwrite on a genetic level. What I meant is the hooded gene at first had the melanocytes producing pigment around the head and back in the hooded pattern until the Himalayan gene kicked in and disabled those melanocytes from producing any pigment except at the points (nose and base of the tail).

The Himalayan being dominate overtook the hooded rather than overwritten it. That hooded gene is still there, just hidden now.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

Burmese baby from agouti het Siamese X Siamese

Burmese on left Siamese on right
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/PICT8488.jpg

---

Very cool. The agouti Siamese is much more defined that I thought it would be.

This is pre-molt, after molt the points kind of lighten up and the whole rat looks like a cinnamon color, pretty neat looking IMO

Very interesting. I'm having almost as much fun producing and combining these rat morphs as I do BP morphs.

So far i've picked out Russian Blues, Himalayans, PEW's, REW's and BEW's out of my last few feeder orders.

I've got an order of 50 rats coming in on Tues, I'm looking forward to seeing what I get in this kinda genetics potluck.

Up until last night we thought one of our girls was a siamese. Her shed is finally over and it's clear she is a Himi now. :) It's very interesting~ If you get a chance breed two lines, one black based siamese and one agouti based. The two are wonderfully unique in their own way.