A few pics for you RAT aficionados

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167281492 Heres a couple rat pics for all to enjoy, I will post some of the different colors that have been popping up. maybe some of you can put names to them. :)

um... that's one rat pic not a couple! :P

Rat. :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167282228

ah there we go... now there's two! :giggle:

Rat, bear with me Goddess. :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167282354

Rat. :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167282480

Rat. :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167282613

*whew* man you are quick on the draw!!!! that's five... i think 5 is no longer a few... but rather a 'gaggle of ratties'. ;) just to keep this straight! :P

Rat. :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167282724

It's actually a "mischief" and for good reason... ;)

hey... are three of those ratties the same rat? are you playing with me???

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Originally Posted by ECLARK

Rat. :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167282613

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Is this a Siamese!?!?! SOOOOO Cute!!!! :P

Sorry your gonna have to tell me, they started after I added some dumbos to the mix. :)

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Originally Posted by Laooda

Is this a Siamese!?!?! SOOOOO Cute!!!! :P

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i know what they all are!

darned cute that's what!!! :wuv:

I think THIS is a rat, but she wears these disguises... :)
Amaya(black hooded harley rex dumbo dwarf female):
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/4381/amayanh0.th.jpg

Momo(blue-based platinum rex top ear female, normal size):
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/2...momosx1.th.jpg

Size comparison between the two, both are adults and Momo is only 2-3 months older:
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/1...0023vq6.th.jpg

Here's Momo, Amaya and Marlee(black irish top ear dwarf):
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/3...0033cc2.th.jpg

Momo with Madeline(American Blue hooded dumbo dwarf):
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/7...0035ls5.th.jpg

All of the dwarves are the same age, and two are sisters. They are all full-grown, and weigh about as much as a large adult mouse, but are a bit longer nose to butt. And no, they don't act like mice :) They also don't carry the growth gene the way normal sized rats do, so if they are exposed to cancer, the cancer cannot develop like it normally would(it goes dormant). They live to be the same age as regular-sized rats(2-3 years). It's just nice to know that they aren't able to get cancer, after having my heart-rat suffer from squamous cell carcinoma for about 8 months(and I had to put her to sleep myself...).

Anyway, just wanted to share what "I" have to deal with here at the RatHouse of DOOOM. Dwarves running amuck with blind, pink-eyed rats running into walls, hehe.

Very interesting, I have just entered the world of pet rat and am seeing lots of cool colors.and big ears. :P

Oooohhhhh! I love those Dwarfs Becky:D definitely gotta get me some:D

Becky can dwarfism just randomly show up as it sometimes does in humans. We have one rat in a litter recently that is way, way, way smaller than it's siblings (not a runt, this is definitely more than that). Not unhealthy, not as far as I can see suffering from any malady...just incredibly tiny. It looks a far bit like your dwarf rats but I'm not sure if you can just have a dwarf show up in a normal litter like this. This is from a new pairing so I haven't any experience with these two adult rats and what they "normally" produce.

I have a female that looks just like hte one in post #6
I like to get the different colors too, lately I've had a BUNCH of plain old brown rats showing up in litters. I don't have any luck with blues for some reason.
Wolfy

nice critters Ed . i want a fawn for my collection next .

those dwarf rats are cool . i might have to look into those too .

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

I have a female that looks just like hte one in post #6
I like to get the different colors too, lately I've had a BUNCH of plain old brown rats showing up in litters. I don't have any luck with blues for some reason.
Wolfy

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What do you mean? Do you have any blues in your breeding colony and you want to produce blues? Remember that blue is a recessive gene, so if you want to produce them, you'll have to line breed one generation (a son to it's mother or sister) or keep an offspring of a blue and breed it to another blue or known "het" for blue.

Ed, those pics were great.


Two questions: What are the red hooded called?
Becky, I've never seen a dwarf rat . . . are they genetic?

Thnaks

Alice

Alice, You are asking the wrong guy, these have always been bred for snake food.

Recently I have been setting aside some of the different colors that have been popping out and been having fun breeding those together to see what else comes out?

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Originally Posted by Alice

Ed, those pics were great.


Two questions: What are the red hooded called?
Becky, I've never seen a dwarf rat . . . are they genetic?

Thnaks

Alice

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My blue rats never seem to survive to adulthood for one reason or another. I'm going to raise the next one by itself I think! Of course, all the blues I've had so far(3) have all come from Petsmart. That could be my first problem. I got two hairless too, but they both died from that belly-swelling-up thing. I got two big hairless males from the feeder bins at the reptile store, and since have had a lot of hairless babies that have been perfectly healthy!
I just like the blues and would like to have some.
Wolfy

Yes, dwarf rats are genetic and can only be obtained from breeders who got their animals from the original breeders(these people got them from the lab that found the gene). They are fairly hard to obtain and can be difficult to breed(litter size is incredibly small as the babies are normal sized pinkies). The biggest litter I have personally seen is 4-5, and that was with a bigger dwarf female.

To get dwarves, both parents either have to carry it or they both have to BE dwarf. If they carry the gene for dwarfism, it's very rare that you get a dwarf in the litter.

Breeders are very strict who they let dwarfs go to, as they really shouldn't be bred by people who don't have experience with them. I have them as pets and have NO plans to breed them. It's just very hard on their bodies and shortens their life spans.

Alice, the "red" head is called a Fawn. You can throw alot of agouti and PEW(pink-eyed white) when breeding fawns.

And Wolfy, the blue gene can also be associated with megacolon, which is probably why you're having problems with the rats. What signs do they show that they're not doing well? I have a good number of blues(all different colors of blue), and they're all healthy. One of my powder blue girls passed away from congestive heart failure, and was only around a year old(she was from a breeder).

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Originally Posted by ECLARK

Alice, You are asking the wrong guy, these have always been bred for snake food.

Recently I have been setting aside some of the different colors that have been popping out and been having fun breeding those together to see what else comes out?

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LOL Ed. I'm in the same boat you are. Until recently all I was concerned about was that the babies were growing so I could feed my hungry snakes. Now, after reading this part of the forum, I'm paying more attention to the colors and actually buying or raising up different colors to see what happens. :cool:

Alice

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Yes, dwarf rats are genetic and can only be obtained from breeders who got their animals from the original breeders(these people got them from the lab that found the gene). They are fairly hard to obtain and can be difficult to breed(litter size is incredibly small as the babies are normal sized pinkies). The biggest litter I have personally seen is 4-5, and that was with a bigger dwarf female.

To get dwarves, both parents either have to carry it or they both have to BE dwarf. If they carry the gene for dwarfism, it's very rare that you get a dwarf in the litter.

Breeders are very strict who they let dwarfs go to, as they really shouldn't be bred by people who don't have experience with them. I have them as pets and have NO plans to breed them. It's just very hard on their bodies and shortens their life spans.

Alice, the "red" head is called a Fawn. You can throw alot of agouti and PEW(pink-eyed white) when breeding fawns.

And Wolfy, the blue gene can also be associated with megacolon, which is probably why you're having problems with the rats. What signs do they show that they're not doing well? I have a good number of blues(all different colors of blue), and they're all healthy. One of my powder blue girls passed away from congestive heart failure, and was only around a year old(she was from a breeder).

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Thanks for the explanation Becky. I really like those fawns - I'll be on the lookout for them at the pet store, though I haven't seen any of that color before.

I can understand breeders that have dwarf rats not wanting just anyone to raise them if they have that much trouble birthing. Thanks for the info!

Alice

"A Word Of Warning
Blue rats are beautiful and very popular in the “real world” as well as in the fancy. Pet shops have discovered that people will pay large (sometimes ridiculous) sums of money for Blue rats. Unfortunately, this has led to cases where Blues are being indiscriminately mass produced by people who look at them as a money-making venture and do not consider health or temperament when breeding. Our original stock of Blues had no particular temperament problems, and were well-adjusted, healthy animals. In the last year however, I have heard an increasing number of accounts of Blue rats with major health problems from people who bought them in pet shops. I have also heard several accounts of animals so aggressive they had to be put down. If you are buying a Blue from a pet shop, do so cautiously, and please consider buying from a breeder if possible. http://www.afrma.org/images/mouseb.gif " AFRMA (American Fany Rat and Mouse Association

I've had only one beautiful powder blue American Blue male rat. He was literally a show stopper in looks and I found him in a pet store. Unfortunately due to I'm sure bad inbreeding he had a very unstable temperment when he became sexually mature and almost slaughtered another male rat. He was also infertile though that may have been due to a testicular bite from another rat when he was still in a huge pet store tank. We ended up putting him down as he was not able to breed and was unsafe to be housed with any other rat and likely eventually would have started to bite us as well.

Blues also can carry the megacolon gene so do be careful breeding them to husky marked, high white or blaze faced rats. This link has a nice bit of info on what you can get breeding Russian Blues into other colors.

http://www.afrma.org/russianblue.htm

Im gonna keep adding pics here whenever I clean, all the dirty albinos that I thought I had, appear to be siamese and I have separated them into a couple smaller groups. and I will have to stop feeding them off. :P http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167602992

A dirty rat. :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167603390

Siamese? :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167603506

Happy Family. :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167603610

Ed, that 2nd to last picture you posted appears to be a Russian Blue Point Siamese(not a good one, but the color's there, LoL). You don't get those too often :)

Anyone with the knowledge of siamese rats, please tell me if posts #30 and #31 are siamese rats?


I have always thought these were dirty albinos, but have just separated them into breeding groups of all the same. :)

Rat. :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167611098

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Originally Posted by ECLARK

Siamese? :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167603506

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Looks very much like my siamese.

Becks, have been getting these for months now. but like a fool, have been feeding them off! :stupidme:

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Ed, that 2nd to last picture you posted appears to be a Russian Blue Point Siamese(not a good one, but the color's there, LoL). You don't get those too often :)

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Weird colors! I don't see those everyday.

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Originally Posted by ECLARK

Becks, have been getting these for months now. but like a fool, have been feeding them off! :stupidme:

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live and learn ed :D

Black Dumbo. :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167818826

Baby Dumbo. :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167819031

Baby. :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167819154

Dumbo. :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167819282

Dumbo. :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1167819410

Those dumbos haven't grown on me yet. The one that they had at PetSmart last week just looked like the rat version of a nerd! LOL


I think it's how low their ears sit on their heads that make them look weird to me.