New Breeder Rats

[tyflier]

Well, I decided that since my "rescued" ball python is doing so incredibly well, and will very soon be too large for even large adult mice, I needed to find a reliable source for rat feeders. So I did what any resourceful animal lover would do, and bought a 1.1 pair of young rats.

So here are Ringo the male and Starr, the girl. Ringo is the black and white one and Starr is the dark one, whom I suspect to be a dumbo because of her enormous ears. Opinions on that??

Thanks for Looking!!

 

[Flagg]

It's hard to tell from the pics but she does look like a dumbo., do they stick out sideways from her head rather than off the top?

 

[Flagg]

Had a closer look...yea she's a dumbo. Nice find for a first pair of breeders.

 

[Daeraelle]

Are they also rex? They're awfully fuzzy, my breeders just have short slick hair.

 

[tyflier]

I have no idea what a "rex" is, let alone if they are one....

Honestly, I didn't even see how enormous her ears were(and yes...they stick straight out of the side of her head) until I got them home. Much like my mice, they are strictly a means to an end...though I will admit that these two are very cute and VERY friendly. We've had them for only a few hours and they already crawl out of their cage and into our hands(mine and my daughter's)...

 

[toyah]

So here are Ringo the male and Starr, the girl. Ringo is the black and white one and Starr is the dark one, whom I suspect to be a dumbo because of her enormous ears. Opinions on that??

Ringo is a black rex hooded, and Starr is a black Berkshire rex dumbo.

Rex is curly fur and whiskers, which they definitely have

 

[Flagg]

Cool so he has double rex hairless coming .

 

[toyah]

Possibly ... but I'd imagine the double rex from that type of rexing will be still rather furry though, not mock hairless type.

 

[tyflier]

LOL...What the heck are you guys talking about?!?! :crazy02:

I'm just starting to get a reasonable handle on the genetics of my snakes, and now I gotta get a handle on my rats, too?? So...I'm gonna have hairless dumbo tyrannosaurous rex curly rat babies??? :sidestep:

Too much...but thanks for info...AND the laugh! :cheers:

 

[Flagg]

Hah rat genetics are fun, no waiting 3-4 years for results.

Anyway, the first generation won't be dumbo unless the father is a carrier, which is certainly likely if they are from the same litter. In that case, 1/2 dumbo.

Color wise, if they are both black then all black offspring unless there are recessive color genes in the mix. You can guess by whatever other colors were in the same litter with them.

Now the rex thing, the curly hair is a rex coat. Rex is co dominant. Yours are single rex or het for rex, If you breed 2 single rexes together then 1/4 of the litter will be homozygous rex, called double rex. These rats are either lightly furred and lose patches or all the fur periodically, or some will just look basically hairless or with a peach fuzz fur. I have a hairless male at the moment that just reached adulthood. I like them , very different looking. I don't know yet if mine is a true hairless or a double rex. Won't know until I breed him.

As for markings, you should get a mix of hooded and berkshire, which is the more solid colored one with a white patch on the belly and usually white socks.

 

[tyflier]

Hah rat genetics are fun, no waiting 3-4 years for results.

Anyway, the first generation won't be dumbo unless the father is a carrier, which is certainly likely if they are from the same litter. In that case, 1/2 dumbo.

Color wise, if they are both black then all black offspring unless there are recessive color genes in the mix. You can guess by whatever other colors were in the same litter with them.

Now the rex thing, the curly hair is a rex coat. Rex is co dominant. Yours are single rex or het for rex, If you breed 2 single rexes together then 1/4 of the litter will be homozygous rex, called double rex. These rats are either lightly furred and lose patches or all the fur periodically, or some will just look basically hairless or with a peach fuzz fur. I have a hairless male at the moment that just reached adulthood. I like them , very different looking. I don't know yet if mine is a true hairless or a double rex. Won't know until I breed him.

As for markings, you should get a mix of hooded and berkshire, which is the more solid colored one with a white patch on the belly and usually white socks.

Wow...thanks for the quick lesson.

I believe they are of different litters. I purposefully bought them from 2 different shops, hoping they would be from different litters, but, since there is only one local rat breeder in the area, the chances are pretty good that they are related, anyhow. Not from the same litter, but probably related back at least 1 or 2 generations. All of the others in the shop were also the "berkshire" or whatever, but I'm not sure about the dumbo. The hooded one was the only rat in the other store at all. They are roughly the same age, so still possibly from the same litter, but I don't think so...don't ask WHY I don't think so...I just don't for no particular reason other than I didn;t WANT them to be .

And Starr, the dumbo girl, has the cutest little white socks I've ever seen...on all 4 feet. She's a little cutie, for sure...I actually hope to produce FAR too many offspring from these two. I only have one snake that really NEEDS to eat rats(my BP), so I'm hoping to be able to sell a few of the offspring as a side...