Just when you think you know your rat's genetics...

[stangs13]

Well, I was first confused because I bred a beige rex male to his berkshire rex daughter hoping to produce super rexes and beige rex berks...but instead i got alot of rex black berkies and hoodeds and one rex hooded BLUE? but where are the beiges at?!! Also, I know super rexs will loose there fur later down the road, but they normally have really curly hair...not rex hair..mine all have rex hair...im confused! Who wants to help me?

[Holbeird]

I'd love to help you out justin but for some reason the genetics with all of the hairless/rex rats just baffle me, I'm sure someone will pipe up though, either way, where are the pictures!?

[RambunctiousRatzSFL]

super rex?

not sure I know what that one is


In simple terms, not text book quoted terms or specifics.

You have various looks to rex rats, the curly/wavy/whispy rex coats

you also have various types of the hairless/patchy/fuzzy "naked" rats out there

All of these are products of rex genes

Often it takes many generations to determine exactly what type of rexing gene your rats have & just the appearance alone will not determine this. (recessive/expresses/carries) You also have to know what you are pairing these rats with in order to predict the outcome because there are so many different traits that express themselves at different times & often some of these mutations can lay dormant for many generations until that "just right" genetic mix is found with a pairing.

Some rats will have a very typical looking standard coat expressed yet carry the rexing genes & will only express this in offspring when paired with the proper genetic type rat.

(some gentic codes used)
ReRe
Rere
rere
cu
fz
hr
nu
Cu1
Cu2
Sh
k
wv

Some terms are rex, double rex, velveteen, satin, silky, harley, shorn, hairless, mock hairless, patchwork... give me a day & I can find all different types of terms that are tossed around & used to describe all the varieties.

That beige you described, is it beige or is it a dilute of a variety of other colors? Is it mink based? Could it be an apricot, topaz, or any one of a dozen other colors that are popping up.

Black is dominant so often when you are working with a recessive coloration you will get black. Being that you got black with one blue I would say you have red eye back in the genetic family tree. Most likely on two branches from mother & father's sides of the buck you bred the daughter back to. That beige color I would need to see to identify better since beige is far to generic to describe the various soft hues that range from butter cream colors to blondes to mink based to those orangey looking fawns & topaz rats.

now onto markings

Berkshire H/h & Hooded h/h

Not knowing the previous history of the rats there is no way to predict the out come but since this was a line breeding of daughter to Father you copied over enough to create the Hooded & you have marked furture generations produced from these offspring to carry hooded or varigated mismarked hooded markings.

[stangs13]

Wow!! Thanks for the replies! Well, he was from a petstore that gets from private breeders, and he looked like the normal beige, but I will get a pic for you of what he looks like. And the female is from a petco mom to the beige rex dad. There are NO super rexes at all....so I dunno.

[RambunctiousRatzSFL]

if you are breeding for specifics then it is best to start with known genetics, not pot luck genetics from a mill bred source of rats (i.e. petco/petsmart, etc) or from pet shops that buy from local hobby breeders you are not able to directly speak with (& even if you do speak with them, they may not be able to tell you anything about the genetic history)

You will need to know several generations of genetic history in order to predict accurately the color & coat type that you will produce

[littleindiangirl]

if you are breeding for specifics then it is best to start with known genetics, not pot luck genetics from a mill bred source of rats (i.e. petco/petsmart, etc) or from pet shops that buy from local hobby breeders you are not able to directly speak with (& even if you do speak with them, they may not be able to tell you anything about the genetic history)

You will need to know several generations of genetic history in order to predict accurately the color & coat type that you will produce

I am on my second breeding generation of pot luck rats (or as you say, milled), and I can pretty much name all of those rats genetics and what they potentially carry. I have had enough litters with known genetics to accurately potray what each animal is carrying.

The only tough spot is the H locus that I have a harder time defining, but in general I don't get any surprises any more.

I have a master list excel spread sheet to record each color and pattern for all of my litters, and who sired it. I've been doing so for a year and a half.

I got my rats from 4 different sources, and while I still have some playing around to do, 3 of those sources have been thoroughly documented purely because I have more of them.

[stangs13]

My blue buddie is a light blue( russian?) with dark eyes..i cant really tell yet. Ill get pics later! Any ideas?