Back in the Game

[CloudtheBoa]

I just wanted to update with some of my favorite pics/rats. XD Turns out the rats I thought were hooded are indeed mismarked hooded, but I do also have variegated and Berkshire in my lines. I'm still trying to figure out what all I'm working with, and still have quite a few that are stumping me. I've been advised to work on temperament and structure with my rats, so I've got quite a few holdbacks with good temperaments, but I think I'm going to some more testing with them and try to thin out my males a bit more. It's easy when I find males with better temperament, but I don't know much about genetics so it can make choosing who to keep a bit harder.

We've put an offer on yet another house, so maybe we'll be moved before I have to make that decision, and I can finally expand. I'm only working with 2 rat racks, and 4 100 qt tubs (when I get this last tub set up). So not a whole lot of room for breeding. But I want to make a couple of large colony cages for each sex, and keep the racks and tubs just for maternity and grow outs.

Doc, my starter buck. Silvermane Berkshire. I'm probably going to try working on separating my SM into a separate line from my C-locus stuff now that I have so many males. He is one of the most gorgeous SM I've seen, and would like to have more like him.



Misery, one of my starter girls. Marten dumbo rex. Beyond that, I'm uncertain.



A close up of Calypso's fur, she's another of my starter females. Suspected to be silvermane marten dumbo rex.



Luna, my recessive hairless. I'm still not sure gene is giving her the red eyes, but I'm going to keep a doe and a buck from her litter. They're extremely flighty, but I'll just have to be careful with them and work on their temperament. But I really want to continue her line as she's the only true hairless I have. Only problem is all of my other rats seem to be rex, so I don't want to mix her hairless with them, meaning I may need more standard coats to further her line if there seems to be issues when I begin linebreeding.



I also received two drex rats (one male and one female) and an albino (also male) from a friend of a coworker who had the 3 in a bird cage outside in the middle of winter. They were very skinny, dirty, and dehydrated when I got them, and had mild RIs. After some TLC and a round of antibiotics they've been doing great since. I never got pics of the albino as he was rather flighty and I never intended on keeping him, but he did father the female drex's second litter. I have also culled the drex male due to aggression issues when he was introduced to one of my groups of males.

The female - she may or may not stay permanently. Agouti hooded drex.



Male drex. I am thinking his color was black and pattern Berk, but nakeds can be hard to tell, and he was already hairless when I got him. The female threw nothing but agouti hooded when paired to the albino, and she threw both black and agouti with this male. Some hooded, some with what appear to be Berk pattern. In this photo, he had an odd eye issue that was treated before he was introduced to the other males, upon which he was promptly culled.



My oldest holdback male from the first round of litters. I have no idea what he is for sure, but I've been assuming pearl. lol



A female from one of the more recent litters. I'm thinking marten, but beyond that I'm lost, too. lol



A holdback male from one of the more recent litters, brother to the female above. Again, no clue what he is. Only feedback I've gotten is someone who called him cinnamon pearl when he was younger, and someone who called him blue now that he's older. He still has that brownish tint, it's just hard to pick up on camera.

Younger pic:



Recent pic:



I also have an oddeye buck, and a potential lilac blaze male pictured below. All from the same litter as the two above.

Younger pic of the "lilac" male:



And a recent pic of him: