Go Betsy ButtPatch!

One of our next group of up and coming female rats delivered today and what a first litter! Betsy Buttpatch had 18 fine, healthy pinks...the largest first litter of any female I've ever had. All are doing great. Thank goodness another first time momma rat, DaisyMae delivered a couple of hours later and since her litter was only 7, I've fostered 5 over to her from Betsy Buttpatch. Nice day all in all with 25 new little red squeekers born and both females settling in well to their new jobs in the colony. :)

Excellent, Ms. BBP!!!! Where are the pictures???

Rock on Betsy Buttpatch!! :rockon: :carrot:

Yes Ma'am, pics coming up right away Ma'am! LOL I should have taken a few shots of poor Betsy as of yesterday. She was more round than long and kept scaring me by flopping over and doing the "dead rat" lay. Poor thing was probably terribly uncomfortable.

Off to take some shots of the two momma rats before Robin reminds me again that threads like this are useless without pics! LOL

ANY rat with a name like Besty ButtPatch deserves to have her picture shown at every possible opportunity! :P


Sounds like happy days in the Frankykeno Rat Resort & Spa!

Betsy is just so differently marked than any rat I have Judy she deserved a kind of unique name LOL. Here's the pics as promised....

Betsy ButtPatch with 13 of her original litter of 18 (fathered by Fabio, beige Self), she's doing really well with them already, she's enjoying a nice snack after nursing the group.....
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...yandbabies.jpg

Look full tummies! (Betsy's babies).....http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...bies13of18.jpg

DaisyMae with her 7 (fathered by SuperNova, black Hooded), plus 5 from BBP's litter for a nice total of 12 to raise...she immediately took to them and is nursing them along with her own babies (they are only a matter of hours differences in age)....
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...eandbabies.jpg

Betsy didn't mind me taking the pictures but DaisyMae was definitely giving me that "don't mess with my babies" look. LOL

Just TOO cute!! Thanks for the pics, Jo!! I can't wait until the day comes that I can have and breed my own rats as well. They're such amazing critters!

:clap: Yaaaay - pictures! They look amazing, Jo!

Thanks all. I was quite amazed young Betsy popped out 18 healthy young but she was a nice age for a first litter and about 285 grams going into her first mating so just right for it really.

I'd rather not foster litters like this, I'm a bit picky about keeping track of which pairs produced what in case of genetic issues, less than viable litters or alternately, really superior litters. In this case though we thought it best to give Betsy a break and move 5 over to Daisy. 18 is a lot for any female rat to handle but a first timer it might have been a bit overwhelming.

It was nice they delivered today as we are moving (just 6 blocks) tomorrow and I'd rather not move any animal during birthing.

Those are cool looking rats! I just got done picking through about 250 fuzzies/pups/weans looking for holdbacks, I found one that was killer! looks just like Betsy, only this girl has a perfectly clean white back all the way down, and the "buttpatch" extends into the tail.

The other one is cool too, do those marking have a name? (on either)

I'm not totally sure Chris. I know a few members here that can likely easily name the markings but I do know DaisyMae is a "possum face" and I think her marks down her back are "variegated". Betsy is probably just called "mismarked" but she was such a cute rat as a fuzzy I had to keep her back LOL

If you look I think there was a thread awhile ago when I asked specifically about these two female rats as far as what their coat markings were called.

Thanks Jo, I just went and snapped a couple pics of the one I mentioned. I think she's pretty cool

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u26/TnT_420/rat.jpg

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u26/TnT_420/rat2.jpg

Congrats Jo and Betsy! I always look for cool babies to holdback. Right now with around 15 litters or so I have a lot to choose from. Ill have to snap some pictures of some cool ones. I held back a couple cinnamon hooded ones because their mother has the best temperament ever. I'm partial to the tan selfs too since I lost my only one a few months ago during birth. I held back one that is breeding now. Rats are damn cool!

Thanks Jamie! Fabio (the father of Betsy's litter) is the first self Beige I've kept. Since he did a great job, he'll get to stick around in the breeder group. :) I'd love to see some new pics of your rat colony. I remember you getting it all set up and it sounds like it's going along great for you!

Chris, as far as I can tell that's what's called a "bareback" though with the buttpatch I've no clue what'd they'd call that LOL. This link shows markings but they don't include the buttpatch....imagine that! The "jester" markings is the closest I can come to it but whatever it is, it's cute!

http://www.curiosityrats.com/

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by frankykeno

Thanks Jamie! Fabio (the father of Betsy's litter) is the first self Beige I've kept. Since he did a great job, he'll get to stick around in the breeder group. :) I'd love to see some new pics of your rat colony. I remember you getting it all set up and it sounds like it's going along great for you!

---

Ill see if I can snap some pics tomorrow night. I have been super busy at work and tired when I get home..

Betsy Buttpatch.... LOL :lmao: Well, congrats to Mrs. Buttpatch! :8:

I had to come read this thread. The name Betsy Buttpatch just makes me giggle. Conga-rats on the babies.

Wish I had some cool ones to hold back - I'm getting rather bored with all black hoodeds and black berkies no matter who Caesar mates with. At least with Cassanova, you got some variety - Caesar carries no hidden genes so far.


There was a nice blue hooded male at Petsmart yesterday - but I didn't get him - maybe I'll check back next week and see if they still have him or a new one.

For girls, I have one blue self, a beige hooded, two blue hoodeds, two black hoodeds (one of Mrs. Snuggles' girls got promoted by default - she got too big for anyone) and a lavendar hooded - all the hoodies throw black hoodies, the self throws berkies.

Wish we were closer hon, I've let old Casanova cover a few ladies (he looked bored in his "retirement" LOL) so his sons are always available. I'm green with jealousy over the blues you find there though. I never find anything interesting in Toledo! :(

Nice litters, Jo. :)

I have a girl who's first litter in February was 14, then a couple days ago she popped out 17... she's definately a keeper ;)

I am pretty sure this litter is siamese x siamese.... but I'm really new to rat coat colors and markings.

Just so everyone is clear...

Daisy Mae is NOT a rat you want to breed UNLESS you know absolutely, positively everything about their genetics(and Jo does, probably 2 generations if I'm correct). High white is not something you want to just play around with, especially when pet stores breed their rats willy nilly to get "pretty" rats that have tons of health problems(visible or carried in their genetics).

If you must breed that rat, for whatever reason, breed them to a safe rat such as a black or agouti self, berkshire, irish, hooded. High White x High White is NOT a safe breeding and will usually result in megacolon babies as well as offspring that carry the gene. Something that we, as professional pet rat breeders, have tried for YEARS to get out of our lines. It is not something to mess with.

A friend of mine recently rescued a black husky top ear female from a pet store in Ft Worth. This rat had 7 babies on her, as well as being pregnant(not the way to get things done if you want to KEEP your breeders longer than 3 months..). There was a black wedge-blazed husky female in the first litter as well as a husky female that both ended up with megacolon, one not as severe as the other. They were both humanely euthanized as it is not a way for a rat to die(slowly starving to death and becoming impacted/bloated). The adult female was obviously bred to another high white male ONLY to make "pretty" babies... And this resulted in babies dying, and the other babies being carriers. Just be careful and KNOW your rats' genetics before placing them together.

Megacolon also happens in lethal white paint horses, which is why you never breed homozygous x homozygous.

Thanks Becky and you are right to mention the issues with megacolon. Daisy in particular is a rat I produced so Becky's right in that I know her genetics and was very careful in which male she was bred to. He also is a known rat with a history of only throwing perfect offspring. It's very important to not produce inferior rats, even if they are slated for feeders - for me it's morally wrong (as well as defeating any issue of saving money breeding rats since a sick rat is a financial drain on my efforts).

We've produced one megacolon rat here in 100's of breedings, also another litter that was in the whole just thrifty and not right. Since both came from a specific male (not the male that was bred to DaisyMae) and were from 2 non-related females, that male was removed from the breeder group and just remains here as a pet. It's just not worth watching a poor baby rat struggle so please even if all you ever do is breed for feeders, do so responsibly especially when dealing with high white rats or any other coat/color known to be at risk for genetic faults like megacolon.