Rat Genetics and a question on color

[Jay_Bunny]

I have a friend who has decided to start breeding rats for her snake. She only has one snake so she has a single pair of rats that she is breeding. She started talking to me over text message about her new female rat she had picked up and sent me a picture. She looked like a very pretty black berkshire. Then my friend said "She's half dumbo. The guy at the store showed me the difference between her and her sister. Their mother was a dumbo, and she's half dumbo." I then told her there was no such thing as "half dumbo" and that dumbo was a recessive gene so what the man probably meant was she carried the gene for dumbo. She then says "No, she's half dumbo. The guy showed me her sister and there are a few differences between them. He said dumbos have softer fur which she has, and a wider face. Her ears are also larger than her sister's." I again told her there was no such thing as half dumbo and that she carries the gene for dumbo and thats it. But she seemed convinced her rat was "half dumbo" because her ears were slightly larger and she had softer fur, and the guy at the store has been breeding rats a long time and knows what he's talking about. When I finally saw this rat in person, I can tell you this rat is not a dumbo by any means. She is a berkshire with normal ears. But I did notice something interesting with her color. She is black but there are small spots of white on her back and I think on her sides. I can try and get a picture the next time I go over to her house but the best way I can describe it is small spots of white fur. Is there a name for this kind of marking?

And the male is interesting as well. He looks like either a black self or a really dark agouti. And when you look at his face, part of the fur on his face almost looks brown, sort of reminds you of a brindle dog, but darker. Any thoughts? I can try and get pictures but I only really go over to her house every few weeks.

[cinderbird]

rats can have different fur and facial structure, just because she's "softer" dosen't make her a dumbo. Dumbo is ONLY the ear location, its lower on the sides of their heads. I think what she is referring to is a Rex rat. Rexes have curly fur and whiskers, there are a few kinds of rex and some are more extreme than others.

[Jay_Bunny]

No, she wasn't referring to a rex rat. This rat is just your normal berkshire with normal fur (my rat's fur is soft too ) and normal ears. The man was obviously mistaken on how rat genetics work and my friend believed him since she doesn't know about rat genetics either. I had dumbos in my previous colony so I know how the dumbo gene works now. She was just believing him because he said he had been breeding rats a long time and this particular female he had bred he had had a long time and he hand raised her babies.

I saw a rex rat in that same store last week though. I almost bought him but the guy at the store said he had gotten into a fight with another male and had been injured pretty bad. I didn't want an aggressive male so I passed on it.

[snakelady]

The rat breeder I got my rats from called one of mine "half dumbo" also. I had no idea what he meant at first. Finally fingured out he meant "het for dumbo" I guess that's how some rat breeders talk. ????

[Jay_Bunny]

Haha, no. He actually thought this rat was literally half dumbo. The mother was a dumbo and he said this female from her litter was different from the others. The ears were bigger, the face was wider, and the fur was softer, all qualities of a dumbo, so therefore, the rat was half dumbo. I told my friend that that was absolute BS (in a nice way of course) and that her rat simply carried the dumbo gene. There would be no physical display of that gene unless she was homozygous for it.

[littleindiangirl]

Wrong wrong and wrong

Jay, you are correct. There is no such thing as "half dumbo". Layman's term meaning het for dumbo? Maybe, but that's about it. Whatever she thinks she sees, she's sorely wrong, and so is the silly clerk.

Dumbo is a little more than ear placement, since they also tend to have wider heads and some other little facts I can't quite remember, all of this is available on the net.

Soft fur on a dumbo? Meh, never seen that happen. Females period just tend to have softer fur, and some of my extra small females are by far the softest.

As for the black male with a brown face. It's common for the black rats to rust (lose that deep black). As for white spots... I'd have to see it to define it.

Cheers,