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ratty pics and pics and pics and ...
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Very nice looks like you've had lots of success breeding rats. I just found out you can turn the need for snake food into a hobby that's also fun lol
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Re: ratty pics and pics and pics and ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by carlson
Very nice looks like you've had lots of success breeding rats. I just found out you can turn the need for snake food into a hobby that's also fun lol
When I was breeding I paid for all of the care of the whole colony by selling pet rats.
I had a lot of fun breeding them and still have most of the genetics available to me through friends.
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Awesome! Thanks for sharing. Just started to breed on a small scale. Cool to see all of your variety.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by snakesRkewl
When I was breeding I paid for all of the care of the whole colony by selling pet rats.
I had a lot of fun breeding them and still have most of the genetics available to me through friends.
Well then sir you sound like a person I will be asking questions alot thru the rat breeding threads lol I just got started with my blue dumbos giving me three babies small liter but first time mom. Still gotta buy like seven more females but trying to make nice looking rats to sell some as pets and I have black hooded males that will each get three not to amazing females to use as the main snake food producers with fancys being food second. I never thought I'd be someone to like rats but their fun and the babies are too dam cute haha
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man, I never knew rats could look so damn cute! Those colors are soo pretty! Niice collection :]
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Quote:
Originally Posted by luvepriscilla
man, I never knew rats could look so damn cute! Those colors are soo pretty! Niice collection :]
I didn't know their was anything cute about them till I started breeding them lol
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Lol, mice and rats actually got me into snakes. When you can't find them homes you have to do something with all the cute extras, at least with snakes I can hold back super cute future breeders for myself!
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I just got overloaded on cuteness, seriously!
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Re: ratty pics and pics and pics and ...
Oh my gosh! Cuteness overload here! I love baby ratties! Just too cute for words.
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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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Re: ratty pics and pics and pics and ...
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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?
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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Aksdkfkfmsjdjs
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?
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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.
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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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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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Re: ratty pics and pics and pics and ...
Quote:
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.
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.
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It would definitely help to have side by side photos of a really exceptional rat head, torso, hind, and a normal example of the same. Just getting them to sit still is hard enough. What kind of tricks and cameras does everyone use to get those nice pictures?
If I could get some good pictures, would anyone be willing to judge my rats if I pick out a few examples from my colony to see what I need to work on?
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Re: ratty pics and pics and pics and ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by aldebono
It would definitely help to have side by side photos of a really exceptional rat head, torso, hind, and a normal example of the same. Just getting them to sit still is hard enough. What kind of tricks and cameras does everyone use to get those nice pictures?
If I could get some good pictures, would anyone be willing to judge my rats if I pick out a few examples from my colony to see what I need to work on?
Jerry might have other advice for you, but this what I have done:
I use a decent quality digital camera. In the past I had a canon (forget what model), now I have a Sony (again forget what model). They aren't the highest end cameras available, but they aren’t the lowest end either, and work best. I personally find the automatic settings in natural light with flash work best. Natural light with no flash sometimes doesn’t give justice to the true quality of the animal, and sometimes come out blurry. Bright artificial light can alter the colors, and add flash to it will wash out the photo as well. The key to getting those clean, crisp pictures is to let the camera focus (this I where auto settings work great) and click. Do this multiple times, have that trigger finger ready to go when a good pose presents itself. I have also set up my animals in a make shift “photo box”. I use a plain lighter or neutral colored blanket or towel in a box or with barriers (i.e. a loveseat) so they only have a limited area to roam, then start taking photos. Out of a dozen photos, you might only get a couple that are actually good, but this is why digital is so great. I personally found focusing on the head seems to give the best shots over all. The rest of the body may not be in the sharpest detail, but the head is where all the finer details are.
I think getting multiple opinions on an animal is a great idea too. One person may see something that another does. For example, when I bred rats, one straight gave me great heads but horrible ears, another strain gave me great ears but long heads, while their overall body type was good. Because of that experience, I tend to focus in on the ears and heads, but may miss something about the eye placement, shoulder set, or tail thickness.
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Re: ratty pics and pics and pics and ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by sorraia
Jerry might have other advice for you, but this what I have done:
Looks pretty much like what I do when I take pictures.
And as far as conformity I am all about the head and ears first, then other traits like color, coat, tail and over all size.
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Re: ratty pics and pics and pics and ...
Oh wow those are all gorgeous lil rats, so cute too! My favorite of favorites I think would have the be the first pic with the lil dutch stripe.
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