Help with color/markings

[ivylea77]

Can you help me label the following rats I have in my breeding program?

First is the male



Female


Their litter. The first one, although in this picture looks like a beige has a very "bluish" color.

[littleindiangirl]

The male looks to be an Essex baldie russian blue (just from the pups picks, it looks like a russian grey color). The female looks like a blazed berk agouti. I could be wrong on color of the blue as i cant really see with the camera flash, becki should be able to better get color.

Essex/baldie are also known to be susceptable to megacolon.

[ivylea77]

Thanks for that bit of info. I have yet to see any signs of megacolon pop up in any litters. I will keep a closer eye just to be sure. I thought they might have been "blue" but it is hard to tell while they are so young and ofcourse pictures don't always show the best quality.

[SatanicIntention]

Those are some very high white genes you're using.. Yes, they may be pretty, but that would not be something I, or alot of other people, would use for producing feeders.

The male is either a russian blue or dark american blue possum dalmation... NOT a safe marking to be working with if they came from a pet store or unpedigreed lines.

The female is a lightning blaze with a bit of variegation on her sides.

www.ratguide.com

I honestly would not use those two or any others that are blazed/marked/high white in your colony. Why is it that everyone is very willing to risk using these marked rats UNTIL they get a megacolon litter? Why not just prevent it altogether?

Megacolon can sometimes show up at 3-4 weeks, sometimes at 6-8 weeks, and sometimes even at 6 months or after. Have you kept babies past 6 months to ensure they don't have problems?

[monk90222]

Why is it that everyone is very willing to risk using these marked rats UNTIL they get a megacolon litter? Why not just prevent it altogether?

I must have 25+ females in my breeding rotation for about 2 years now that have high white or blaze markings. I have NO megacolon in any of their litters. I have held back many high white females until breeding weight (250g or more) and still no problems....

[ivylea77]

I honestly would not use those two or any others that are blazed/marked/high white in your colony. Why is it that everyone is very willing to risk using these marked rats UNTIL they get a megacolon litter? Why not just prevent it altogether?

Megacolon can sometimes show up at 3-4 weeks, sometimes at 6-8 weeks, and sometimes even at 6 months or after. Have you kept babies past 6 months to ensure they don't have problems?

For the simple reason that when I first started breeding rats for feeders I bought rats at our local petstore....not because oooooh that one looks pretty....but because that was all they had in the sizes and sexes I needed.

Secondly, I think I can fairly say that not everyone on this board is so well versed with rat markings/colors. Should we be? I'm not sure. I strive to make sure all my rats are healthy and are producing heatlhy litters. I don't know the differences between many of the "high white" genes your talking about. Most information I have I recieved from here through links and discussions.

It's not my intentions to breed "pretty" rats, so what are the rats you recommend that can be safely bred?

[littleindiangirl]

LOL, I was originally going to say it looked like a possum x rat cross. I didnt know they actually have that coat named "possum" haha. I dont know if I like it. lol anyways, wouldnt the eveness of the color make it closer to a merle? I thought the dalmations were actually spotted/variegted.

[ivylea77]

I always thought he looke a little "possummy" Never heard of that combination before either.

[SatanicIntention]

No, it's a possum dalmation. Merling is a much darker color and is associated with minks. He looks russian blue, because when put with a black rat, they produced blacks and RBs.

"safe" patterns include berkshires, hoodeds, pink-eyed white/Albino, siamese/himalayan, self, irish/english-irish, variegated/variberk. No blazes/wedge-blazes, no merling, no dalmation spots, no capped/split-capped, no possum, etc.

I, personally, would like megacolon to go away, but until people aren't breeding high risk pet store rats and selling them to be put into general population(other pet stores or friends), then it will still be very prevalent. Even chain pet stores aren't good sources for future breeders. I picked up a 4-5 week old american blue wedge-blazed baby female from Petsmart a few months back. After a day in my care, the bloating and awful diarrhea started. She was placed in a friend's care for quarantine, and within the week was euthanized by her vet. That's why I would never breed a marked rat from a pet store, as you never know what genes they are carrying, and when bred with another rat that carries those genes, you'll get alot of devastation.

[ivylea77]

I, personally, would like megacolon to go away, but until people aren't breeding high risk pet store rats and selling them to be put into general population(other pet stores or friends), then it will still be very prevalent. Even chain pet stores aren't good sources for future breeders. I picked up a 4-5 week old american blue wedge-blazed baby female from Petsmart a few months back. After a day in my care, the bloating and awful diarrhea started. She was placed in a friend's care for quarantine, and within the week was euthanized by her vet. That's why I would never breed a marked rat from a pet store, as you never know what genes they are carrying, and when bred with another rat that carries those genes, you'll get alot of devastation.

Out of curiousity, what do you breed for feeders and where did you purchase those? If I remeber correctly, most rats that come directly from rat breeders with pedigrees have you sign contracts not to breed their rats.