Look what I got out of a black and an agouti hooded rat!

[SlitherinSisters]

I left these two with mom because I thought it was odd they didn't have any markings yet. I waited and waited and when they got hair they were white! I was so confused! I didn't think the albino gene was strong enough to come through the black and agouti.

Anyone know more about the albino gene?





P.S. their evil mom bit me today It HURT! She bites for blood! EVIL!!!

That was the first time I've ever been bit by a rat and I've had a least one rat for the last three years!

[littleindiangirl]

Hmm... they look a little yellow to be albino on my screen. You may have champagnes, or the Pink eye dilution. I have not had a PED in my colony, so I am still unsure how intense the coloration should be.

The only sure way to confirm for certain that it is PED is to breed them back to the father, since he is het for it.

If you get bright yellow colored babies (on agouti) or some more lighter yellow babies (on self) then you have PED.

BTW, albino is the complete lack of melanin production in the entire body.

So, therefore, you can have a black or agouti rat, but with the Albino gene, you wont see the color because the melanin is just NOT being produced.

[Mindibun]

Aww, it looks just like my Dexi when she was a baby.

[SlitherinSisters]

Hmm... they look a little yellow to be albino on my screen. You may have champagnes, or the Pink eye dilution. I have not had a PED in my colony, so I am still unsure how intense the coloration should be.

The only sure way to confirm for certain that it is PED is to breed them back to the father, since he is het for it.

If you get bright yellow colored babies (on agouti) or some more lighter yellow babies (on self) then you have PED.

BTW, albino is the complete lack of melanin production in the entire body.

So, therefore, you can have a black or agouti rat, but with the Albino gene, you wont see the color because the melanin is just NOT being produced.

Thanks for the info! I thought it was rather odd. Both parents have the two most dominant colors (if I read the genetic papers right) and got white. They are both females so that will be fun breeding them back to dad to see what's going on.

[littleindiangirl]

Thanks for the info! I thought it was rather odd. Both parents have the two most dominant colors (if I read the genetic papers right) and got white. They are both females so that will be fun breeding them back to dad to see what's going on.

Yep, the complete expression of the albino gene will always override whatever colors the animal is expressing just because it stops the production of melanin. (except for siamese)

Also, albino is recessive, so both parents are hets if the offspring are albino.

Now that my head is clearer, I'm convinced they are albinos.

If they were champagne (PED on self), then you would have also gotten some ambers, which is the PED on agouti in your litter.

Because Agouti is dominant to self (or black as you call it) then chances are very good you would have gotten agouti PED's, or rather ambers.

So yes, I do believe those are albinos.

[marmie]

Okay, I'll ask . . . what is PED?

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Okay, I'll ask . . . what is PED?

Pink eye dilution


Dam connie, you know your rat stuff pretty good!!! how long till we have all this stuff nailed down with the ASF's?

[littleindiangirl]

Pink eye dilution


Dam connie, you know your rat stuff pretty good!!! how long till we have all this stuff nailed down with the ASF's?

Chris wont let me put down any big ASF's right now so I can look at them more closely for colors anyway.

I'm pretty sure it was Flagg on the ASF forum was telling us about the markings.
http://asfrats.info/viewtopic.php?t=70


Self (solid, no white): is the lack of the pied gene
Spotted (the head spot, and sometimes jaw color): is the heterozygous form of the pied gene
Pied:the homozygous form of the pied gene


So far I have:

Cinnamon: selfs, spots and pieds.
Fawn/amber (a dilution): selfs, spots and pieds.
Agouti (grey): selfs, spots and pieds.


I believe Tekwarren (heath) has a completely NON agouti animal in his collection. I haven't seen a picture yet, but I want one!


That will open up even more colors for ASF's.

[SlitherinSisters]

Yep, the complete expression of the albino gene will always override whatever colors the animal is expressing just because it stops the production of melanin. (except for siamese)

Also, albino is recessive, so both parents are hets if the offspring are albino.

Now that my head is clearer, I'm convinced they are albinos.

If they were champagne (PED on self), then you would have also gotten some ambers, which is the PED on agouti in your litter.

Because Agouti is dominant to self (or black as you call it) then chances are very good you would have gotten agouti PED's, or rather ambers.

So yes, I do believe those are albinos.

Thanks for all the info! Maybe I wasn't clear... the mom is a black hooded and the dad an agouti hooded. If any of them where ambers they would have been selfs right? The rest of the litter were all dark hoodeds.

[littleindiangirl]

Thanks for all the info! Maybe I wasn't clear... the mom is a black hooded and the dad an agouti hooded. If any of them where ambers they would have been selfs right? The rest of the litter were all dark hoodeds.

Self denotes the lack of agouti (the banded hair) and can ALSO be used as the name of a black animal.

I know, confusing, but thats the way I learned it and I tend to fall back into that terminology.

So, its like this... If both parents WERE het for PED, you would have gotten:

Champages [PED on non agouti]
Ambers [PED on agouti]
Blacks (if the agouti was het for black)
and Agoutis (agouti is dominant)


But since you didn't, that is a strong suggestion that your parent rats are het for albino.

You would have gotten

Agoutis
Blacks (again, if the agouti rat was het for black)
albinos