What is this?

So I'm just getting into the breeding rats and I got a male from a friend trading him for a male I had. I don't know what his coloring is called tho. I'm hoping that one of the babies from the litter I just had is a female and in the future he will be paired to a blue hooded dumbo but gotta wait little longer until I'm for sure with the sexing I've done but fingers crossed for it cuz I think they'll make nice babies.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/11/23/3yru2yne.jpg
But again what is his coloring called? He's in a I think bird cage right now an he likes climbing up to that branch

I thiiiiink he's a Russian blue, which are darker than the American blue, but it's hard to tell with the lighting. If he is Russian blue is recessive and not compatible with American blue so if your female *is* American blue, breeding them together will make double hets.

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My female is a dark blue she just had three babies that as of now look like two are blue hoods and one is full blue.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/11/23/yzehygy5.jpgmom and dad of the babies
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/11/23/my5e3usa.jpgthe baby on the right is the one I'm hoping is a girl

Mom looks like a Russian blue and dad an American so they're already het Russian.

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K cool so they will match up well :) ha still new too this so I'm really hoping the end two are girls and the middle is a boy so they can go to that guy and see what they give. They all look like they have the dark blue from mom like when I look at them they look Russian blue the one on the left is the lightest but i suppose can't tell much on a week old rat

Well since it's recessive unless one or the other parent was het the babies won't show but they'll be het. I THINK your female is a Russian blue, in the pic she looks kinna grey more than blue so it's kinna hard to tell for sure for sure.

This should help you sex the babies: http://www.afrma.org/sexing101.htm
It can be done from birth and it's pretty easy when you compare a male and female.

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Once they grow bigger ill get more pics of them but from what I know the parents are from a pet store north of me their from not same parents but sibling parents like bother sister of one set paired to brother and sister of another(that was all my mom could remember when the guy told her) so they should both have close to the same genes in them you'd think? I hope that explanation made sense lol

An that's the site I used :) it's my first litter and had the phone in one hand and baby rat in the other but the full blue one was the only one that looked like a male but I wanna make sure in a couple weeks before I say for sure

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Originally Posted by carlson

Once they grow bigger ill get more pics of them but from what I know the parents are from a pet store north of me their from not same parents but sibling parents like bother sister of one set paired to brother and sister of another(that was all my mom could remember when the guy told her) so they should both have close to the same genes in them you'd think? I hope that explanation made sense lol

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Uh... I'm a wee bit too drunk right now for that to make sense lol. Do you understand how simple recessive genes work? **that's a serious question, lol please don't take it offensively, everyone starts out not knowing :) **

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I understand you need two recessive genes together to make it visual other wise any dominate gene will show and how the charting of them works but I don't know the gene markers used for rats and I'm still trying to learn the names of all the rat coloring haha. But as far as recessive and dominate and all that yes

Ah okay so you've got most of it down. I don't think there's any het markers but if you bred visual American blue to Visual Russian blue all the babies should be 100% het for both.

If the parents are het for the other then the babies could be visual for it. Just wait and see when they get fur. If any turn out American blue you know mom is het American blue, if any come out Russian you know dad is het for Russian.

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Coleslaw pretty much summed it up.

I can't really tell their colors with the photos you provided. The lighting distorts them.

Here are some of my rats for comparison:

Baby American Blue:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...76895843_o.jpg

Adult American Blue(He was as light as the baby above, but darkened with age):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...03613882_o.jpg

Adult Russian Blue:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...28250662_o.jpg

Same Russian Blue with younger sisters:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...84894560_o.jpg

Ill post better pics once everyone has grown to show their colors their growing fast haha. I know the momma is an American blue and daddy I believe is a Russian. They should both be het for the other color tho. The parents come from a bother and sister being paired with another brother and sister so I'm guessing they have the same coloring genes just dad came out Russian and mom American. The male in the first picture I got from a friend and hell go to any of the females from this first litter so they should have the same color gene as him so hoping they produce some nice looking babies. I'm breeding for mainly food but I know lotta people that like rats as pets too so they ask for them too.

The male in your original post looks like a blue (can't tell which one from the picture), or possibly a mink (sometimes confused with blue). The parents in your reply both look to be Russian blue based, but the male has another (I'm guessing beige) gene that is further diluting his color.

One trouble with American blue/British blue/whatever other names people are calling it these days is that it comes in a variety of different shades. You can have darker shades of blue that resemble Russian blue.

One way to tell the difference between a Russian blue (or Russian blue + "dilute") and a blue is to look at the way the color is created. Russian blue is created by black pigment clumped unevenly throughout the hair shaft. You can see this clumping effect, often called "heathering" as a sort of "brindled" or "grizzled" appearance in each hair. This is visible whether it is a straight Russian blue, or a Russian blue + "dilute". American/British blue will not have this appearance. Poorer color quality American/British blue will have a white undercoat though, which is almost always absent on Russian blue, except the individuals with the poorest quality color.

Both genes are recessive and incompatible. If you breed a Russian blue to an American blue, you will get all black (unless other recessive genes are being carried). If you then breed those offspring together, you have a chance of getting black, Russian blue, American blue, and what is called "silver blue" (American blue + Russian blue, generally a lighter and bluer color than either of the two blues alone).

Mink is usually brown, but some individuals are more gray in color, and can resemble a poor color quality "browned" blue rat. Most genetic mink in the US have ruby colored eyes, but sometimes their eyes are so dark they appear black. When I bred rats I specialized in Russian blue and mink varieties, and one way I could tell which rats were going to be mink, before their eyes were even open (you can see eye color through their eyelids) was to look for those ruby eyes. I can't tell for sure what color your male is though, would need a better picture.

I need to figure out where to buy a new charger for my digital camera cuz all I have right now is my iPhone. Soon as I have a little money ill be getting that tho and ill get good pictures of all them. Ill check their coats next time I handle them, all three of the ones I can't figure out color on are kinda flighty and momma wants to nip if I'm by the babies. My biggest problem is I can't see shades of color easily like I see the colors but when it comes to shadings of colors I can't tell the difference easily unless their big differences if that makes any sense

I know what you mean! I can be tricky, especially when you are new to it. I learned the most about colors when I studied the genetics behind them. Then I started studying their fur under a microscope to learn even more about what the genes do to the pigment colors and distributions. I bred rats for some 10 years or so, can't help but to learn a few tricks during that time. ;)

I'm finding rat breeding to be more fun then i thought it would be lol just can't help think the babies are cute. Glad my snake hobby led me to a rat hobby cuz I would have never thought I'd like rats. Slowly learning but I'm a fast learner and I think I've got a pretty good base to start with with these two parents and the other two males I have now just working on getting more females. I have a big hooded male with black hood I want to get him two females too but not sure where to go with the black hoods. Once I get some extra cash ill see how much the charger for my camera is and very one will get pictures biting or not

Just be careful... if you get sucked in too deep, there's no turning back!!!! :D

It really is a lot of fun though. As simple as their colors can be, there are so many combinations that are possible. Breeding for show quality colors or markings (even if you don't show, I did for about a year or two then stopped because the politics involved were just not my cup of tea) brings in a whole new level of complexity.

The babies really are cute, and it can be fun to watch their colors and markings develop. When you really get used to what the different colors look like at each stage in development (and you have reasonable family history), you'll be able to tell what you have even before their fur comes in. Then if you start handling them and making them tamer, you can really see personalities blossom too. My rats were hand tame enough the mothers would practically give me their babies for handling. One mom literally pulled my hand into her nest as if I were one of the babies!