Possible Siamese or Himalayan?

[Adam Chandler]

One of the feeders in my most recent order has caught my eye:



(Sorry about the blurry shots, she was all over the place.)

With that darker point at the base of her tail could she possibly be a Siamese or Himalayan?

[kdreptiles]

Probably a low quality Himalayan.

[mskeebster]

I agree. It looks more Himalayan than Siamese. The only visible shading I see is at the base of the tail and maybe slightly on the tip of the ears. If you like, I can send you a picture of a Siamese Ritten I picked up over the weekend for comparison as the shading can be different depending on the lighting.

[Capray]

Yes, faded Himalayan... Siamese have at least some shading at the nose.

[satomi325]

Looks like a Himalayan to me too. Some himis have shading on the nose too. But aside from points and markings, their fur is white. Siamese are cream colored.


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[Adam Chandler]

Thank you for all the info everyone! So it seems confirmed that she is a Himalayan.

If I remember correctly Himalayans are a mix of Siamese *c(h)* and albino (PEW) *c*, so my rat is most likely *aacc(h)*, So if I wanted to produce a Siamese (which I certainly do) I would have to bred her either a Siamese or another Himi, right?

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

Or just breed her to any other rat. Then the babies will be "het" for the gene. Then breed a baby back to the parent. Of course if you want to avoid any complications of inbreeding, which usually doesn't happen until you get beyond F1 or F2 anyway, just find another one to breed it to.

With my Siamese I've found that breeding a Siamese to a black or agouti rat, then breeding the het babies back to a Siamese will produce babies with stronger and darker points. I'm not sure how it is with the Himalayans, but with Siamese, as babies when they are still a uniform beige color, the ones that have the darkest ear points at 4-5 weeks old are the ones that will have the strongest and darkest points as adults. So these are the ones I've always held back to improve on my own stock.