What types of rats to breed

What types of rats should be purchased/heldback to produce the best breeders for our snakes? By best, I mean the healthiest, highest number of babies, longest life, good disposition, etc. I know there can be variences within any particular group (huskies, hooded, etc) but in general if you were starting all over in creating your rat breeding colonies, which would you choose and why?

Do you exclude any as potential breeders because of color or markings? If so, which ones and why?

Thanks

I breed Hoodies and standard Albinos. I tend to get between 10-15 in a littler with little problems. I have heard that some "high white" hoodies can have an incress in the risk of Megacolan. I don't exclue any breeders due to markings. If I have one the give me a small little two or three times or an unhealthy little a couple of times in a row I might retire her.

Best of luck and it can be adictive.

Ok, I'll bite
I would buy from someone with an established colony that knows the background of their pairings first off, takes away a lot of heart break and work.
Hoodeds don't have any health risks associated, the hooded allele will produce, notched caps, barebacks, short stripe, long stripe, berkshire and irish.
Selfs are always a safe bet.
Fawns are supposedly depressed and alcoholic. lol

Albinos are said to be fantastic moms, and throw large litters. I don't know if there is a distinction (regarding litter size and motherhood) between PEW and true albinos on the C locus. PEW (Pink eyed white) are really just soo many dilutions. With so many dilutions, there is still the risk of the white spotting gene (in theory) True albinos are better than PEW in my opinion.

Agoutis, blacks, buff/beige, siamese himalayan, and maybe a good healthy russian blue line are okay colors. Silvering is okay.

Euro Husky, (fades as they get older) is preferred over American Husky (does not fade).. Any essex, head spots, lightnings, blazes, reverse blazes, Banded, chinchilla, hairless, tailess are going to be at higher risks for health problems. Pearls, variegated, dalmations, merle, should be avoided.

If you need help identifying any coat color markings, check out Hawthorne's varieties page. Hope that helps!

I would fully research megacolon and its risks before getting anything.
I personally breed berks and himilayans. I have one hooded that came from a long line of hoodeds that I started with a few years back. I do not hold her offspring back though..

Oh yea, down under is homozygous lethal.

What's the homozygous form?? Even after years studying everything, rat genetics still confuzzle me.

I have no clue, I was just reading something yesterday I think at AFRMA and that stuck in my head. I heard that downunders were excellant until I read that. I didnt make a note of it or anything, so sad to say I couldnt tell ya where I actually read it.

[edit]
I found where I read it.

Quote:

---

hdu: Downunder gene; Homozygous lethal, causes colored parts to be on the underside (sometimes called "double hooded")

---

http://www.curiosityrats.com/geneticsmarkings.html

Odd.. I can't say I've seen any undead downunders walking around ;) All of the ones I've seen have been healthy, robust rats with good temperments. Maybe they have it confused with something else?

I've never even seen the down unders around here! She very well could be wrong, but this girl is usually very thorough with her citing and stuff. I haven't googled it or anything, so maybe its just a small case somewhere. No clue, interesting though. Maybe you should inquire with the rat peoples. ;)

Quote:

---

But, it is not yet known whether the downunder gene is a lethal dominant, or whether the downunder gene can be expressed in the homozygous state in viable, fertile individuals ...

---

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=re...wBB5GbM_OKcoHw

Here is a shot of some of my breeders :D
enjoy?

http://www.wildmorphs.com/uploads/new%20room/rats.JPG

If I were starting over or just freshening my breeding group (which I'm always seeming to do) I'd always have a core group of good black and white hoodeds and beige and white hoodeds. I've never seen anything but good from them. I'd mix in some agouti too, berkies, selfs or hooded because again I've had nothing but good results from my agouti group. Beiges - hooded, self, berkies always seem to do well for me.

For me, even though the albinos have a great rep for their bigger litters I just don't like them and have yet to have an albino female in my colony that wasn't a bad nipper and overly aggressive in her defense of her young. Since I prefer all my adults to be hand tame and calm to work with, I generally don't go with any albinos. I did have a lovely one born recently with a particularily nice look so I may see how she tames down as a weanling and re-assess that position.

Minks I've found tend to be spazzy and a bit frantic. I've had quite a number, some related, some unrelated and I can't say I've liked any of them barring my current mink dumbo who is quite nice. I'm slowly phasing out all my adult minks (other than Dee the dumbo) as I just don't care for females that are that hyper.

Blacks again I've had quite a few and the self blacks I've had I found to be aggressive. Black and white hoodeds, black berkies, black and white huskies I've never had trouble with, solid blacks....well they just never seem to work well for me as far as being hand tameable. Solid blacks tend to be fed off first around here.

I have some fawns that seem quite nice. No issues there. My siamese and champagnes are some of my favorites and all are very laid back temperment wise.

This is just my personal experience with my colony though, so take that for what it is.

Thanks for all your replies. I am trying to refresh my breeding stock and wanted some expert opinions on what to look at for long term potential. I really appreciate your opinions.

What are downunders???? I have two females, one hooded and an albino. The albino female throws me 20 babies a pop :gj:.

Have a look at the rats in the bottom right hand corner. Those are some examples of down unders which have pattern, color on their bellies.

http://www.freewebs.com/camarattery/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downunder_rat

From what I understand they first came out of Australia, however, I've no real experience with this type of marking so can only go by what I can google on it for you.