Something About Rats
One thing I can tell you for sure about rats is that they are just as individual as humans are...
You can have a litter where one sibling is super healthy while another gets sick easily... One sibling may live to be 2, 3 or 4 years old, while another only lives, 3, 8, 16 months... One male might be super sweet, while another becomes super aggressive. This is why I do not like to say what rats should or shouldn't be like and why I do not give guarantee's of 100% on anything, because there is always at least 1% that will do the opposite of what you think or say.
Rats are extremely intelligent and can be taught tricks like dog, they can be taught to come when called by their names, to fetch, to jump, even to untie shoe laces, basically if you have the time and patience you can teach them just about anything. Using food rewards is the best way as rats love food... you just need to find what is your rats favourite treat.
Rats are very clean animals and you are more likely to get an infection from a cat scratch than a rat scratch.
Sadly they do have a short life span of just 2 years, although some have lived to 3 and even 4 years of age.
Rats can get pregnant from the age of 6 weeks but it is better to wait until a rat is at least 6 months old so that it is fully mature and better able to cope with pregnancy as rats can have litters that range from 1 to 24 babies with the average being around 8 babies.
You will not make money breeding rats, so if you are thinking about breeding your rats, please reconsider as I spend more on my rats food, toys, medication if they need it ( revolution which is used to keep them free of lice and mites costs around $40 ) .. than I get back in baby sales.
You can have a litter where one sibling is super healthy while another gets sick easily... One sibling may live to be 2, 3 or 4 years old, while another only lives, 3, 8, 16 months... One male might be super sweet, while another becomes super aggressive. This is why I do not like to say what rats should or shouldn't be like and why I do not give guarantee's of 100% on anything, because there is always at least 1% that will do the opposite of what you think or say.
Rats are extremely intelligent and can be taught tricks like dog, they can be taught to come when called by their names, to fetch, to jump, even to untie shoe laces, basically if you have the time and patience you can teach them just about anything. Using food rewards is the best way as rats love food... you just need to find what is your rats favourite treat.
Rats are very clean animals and you are more likely to get an infection from a cat scratch than a rat scratch.
Sadly they do have a short life span of just 2 years, although some have lived to 3 and even 4 years of age.
Rats can get pregnant from the age of 6 weeks but it is better to wait until a rat is at least 6 months old so that it is fully mature and better able to cope with pregnancy as rats can have litters that range from 1 to 24 babies with the average being around 8 babies.
You will not make money breeding rats, so if you are thinking about breeding your rats, please reconsider as I spend more on my rats food, toys, medication if they need it ( revolution which is used to keep them free of lice and mites costs around $40 ) .. than I get back in baby sales.
Coats, Colours, and Markings
In Australia, new coats, markings and colours pop up from time to time... so the information you find on websites such as mine may not always be 100% accurate.
Now I am no good at genetics... I've tried to learn many times, but no matter who tries or how they try I just can get the hang of it... This doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing, it just means I cant tell you the A, m, R or what ever else letter is in the codes that the rats have for their genetics.
Personally I feel that sometimes genetics are not as important as some people seem to think they are... I mean knowing the colour genetic code of coat or eyes wont tell you if the rat will have a sweet temperament or not... Good breeding does that... selecting sweet natured rats to breed will do that.
When it comes to rats, everyone has their own views on the subjects related to rats, so there will always be some people out there who wont agree with things I say or things I do, but I don't care anymore as there are always people with different opinions and just because their views are different to mine, it doesn't mean they are wrong and I am right, or that they are right and I am wrong... it means we see things differently.
Over the last 24 years I have basically had nearly every rat coat type, colour and marking there is to date (2014)
Also over the last 24 years I have tried NOT to mix breeds willy-nilly or "breed everything to anything" as some people have said about me.
My Rex lines have always been either Rex to Rex .. or ... Rex to Standard pairings.
Yet my Patchwork lines are no longer that of the rex coats people expect..... maybe because of the heavy inbreeding I have done in my lines over the last 15 years, but my Patchwork Rex coats are softer and longer and straighter than they used to be, yet I have bred nothing but rex to rex and rex to standard in these lines..... This is why I am no longer calling my Patchworks, Patchwork Rex... They are now just Patchwork... as I feel the coat has mutated and can no longer be considered Rex as people expect a certain look and feel to the rex which mine no longer have.
My Carasilk lines have always been Carasilk to Carasilk ... or ... Carasilk to Silky... or Carasilk to Standard pairings.
I have NEVER bred a Carasilk to a Rex or to any other coat not mentioned above.
My Autism means I keep very good records of who I breed with who and I can trace many of my own lines generations back over 15 plus years. Unfortunately I lost my very early records from when I first started in The Northern Territory.
My favourite coat will always be the Patchwork.
My favourite marking will always be the Irish, with DownUnder, Blaze and Patched fighting it out for second, third and fourth place.
My favourite colour would have to be Silver Fawn, but they are all lovely.
Now I will do a list of Coat types, Colours and Markings available in Australia... or at least the ones I know of.
This is my understanding of coat types, colours and Markings, so some people may not agree with what I say here, but these are my views and understandings, so if they are out of date I do apologise.
Please also remember that all Pictures and Photos are examples only.
Coats, Colours and Markings can differ from rat to rat, markings especially differ, so remember this is a guide only.
Now I am no good at genetics... I've tried to learn many times, but no matter who tries or how they try I just can get the hang of it... This doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing, it just means I cant tell you the A, m, R or what ever else letter is in the codes that the rats have for their genetics.
Personally I feel that sometimes genetics are not as important as some people seem to think they are... I mean knowing the colour genetic code of coat or eyes wont tell you if the rat will have a sweet temperament or not... Good breeding does that... selecting sweet natured rats to breed will do that.
When it comes to rats, everyone has their own views on the subjects related to rats, so there will always be some people out there who wont agree with things I say or things I do, but I don't care anymore as there are always people with different opinions and just because their views are different to mine, it doesn't mean they are wrong and I am right, or that they are right and I am wrong... it means we see things differently.
Over the last 24 years I have basically had nearly every rat coat type, colour and marking there is to date (2014)
Also over the last 24 years I have tried NOT to mix breeds willy-nilly or "breed everything to anything" as some people have said about me.
My Rex lines have always been either Rex to Rex .. or ... Rex to Standard pairings.
Yet my Patchwork lines are no longer that of the rex coats people expect..... maybe because of the heavy inbreeding I have done in my lines over the last 15 years, but my Patchwork Rex coats are softer and longer and straighter than they used to be, yet I have bred nothing but rex to rex and rex to standard in these lines..... This is why I am no longer calling my Patchworks, Patchwork Rex... They are now just Patchwork... as I feel the coat has mutated and can no longer be considered Rex as people expect a certain look and feel to the rex which mine no longer have.
My Carasilk lines have always been Carasilk to Carasilk ... or ... Carasilk to Silky... or Carasilk to Standard pairings.
I have NEVER bred a Carasilk to a Rex or to any other coat not mentioned above.
My Autism means I keep very good records of who I breed with who and I can trace many of my own lines generations back over 15 plus years. Unfortunately I lost my very early records from when I first started in The Northern Territory.
My favourite coat will always be the Patchwork.
My favourite marking will always be the Irish, with DownUnder, Blaze and Patched fighting it out for second, third and fourth place.
My favourite colour would have to be Silver Fawn, but they are all lovely.
Now I will do a list of Coat types, Colours and Markings available in Australia... or at least the ones I know of.
This is my understanding of coat types, colours and Markings, so some people may not agree with what I say here, but these are my views and understandings, so if they are out of date I do apologise.
Please also remember that all Pictures and Photos are examples only.
Coats, Colours and Markings can differ from rat to rat, markings especially differ, so remember this is a guide only.
*Warning - Some Blues have been found to have strokes and internal bleeding, including in the stomach and brain which lead to early deaths, some breeders deny that there are any bleeding issues any longer within the blues or at least within their own blues, please just be aware that this could still be an issue and no blue can be 100% sure of not having this problem, even if it hasn’t shown up in previous generations*
*Warning - Some BEW's have been found to have internal issues which can lead to early deaths *
*Warning - Some BEW's have been found to have internal issues which can lead to early deaths *
- Baby Coat Colours -
Rats do not grow in their adult coat until about 12-14 weeks of age. Before that they tend to have lighter coloured, softer coats and sometimes odd looking markings especially minks who often get diamonds or dark masks on their heads and faces as they moult. Black rats can tend to look Chocolate coloured before they grow into their adult coats. Just about all the colours look different on baby rats.
- Rusting -
This refers to the coat colour changing, mostly with age. Usually black rats will "rust" to a brownish red colour, minks tend to go brownish, white rats may go yellowish, and normally dark agouti's tend to lighten to brown or yellowish white. This usually occurs in variable patches, typically on their lower back and sides. The ammonia in rats urine can do this to the coats, especially in large groups where rats tend to scent mark each other or get lazy and lay in their urine.
- Guard Hairs -
Are the longest, most coarse hairs in a mammal's coat, forming the topcoat (or outer coat). They taper to a point and protect the undercoat from the elements. They are often water repellent and stick out above the rest of the coat. Guard hairs add the sheen to the coat of an animal. Not having Guard hairs, as with the Silky and Carasilk rats, tends to change the colour of the coat so a cinnamon may look different on a rat with guard hairs and undercoat than it does on a silky or Carasilk rat with just undercoat hairs.
- Ticked -
Is the result of each hair being banded by two or more different colours, giving a multi-colour / peppered look to the coat. As an example agouti has grey, brown and black on each fur strand, making the rat's coat look peppered with colours rather than one solid colour. As the darker tips are not present on the belly fur, the bellies of ticked rats are lighter than the rest of the coat.
Rats do not grow in their adult coat until about 12-14 weeks of age. Before that they tend to have lighter coloured, softer coats and sometimes odd looking markings especially minks who often get diamonds or dark masks on their heads and faces as they moult. Black rats can tend to look Chocolate coloured before they grow into their adult coats. Just about all the colours look different on baby rats.
- Rusting -
This refers to the coat colour changing, mostly with age. Usually black rats will "rust" to a brownish red colour, minks tend to go brownish, white rats may go yellowish, and normally dark agouti's tend to lighten to brown or yellowish white. This usually occurs in variable patches, typically on their lower back and sides. The ammonia in rats urine can do this to the coats, especially in large groups where rats tend to scent mark each other or get lazy and lay in their urine.
- Guard Hairs -
Are the longest, most coarse hairs in a mammal's coat, forming the topcoat (or outer coat). They taper to a point and protect the undercoat from the elements. They are often water repellent and stick out above the rest of the coat. Guard hairs add the sheen to the coat of an animal. Not having Guard hairs, as with the Silky and Carasilk rats, tends to change the colour of the coat so a cinnamon may look different on a rat with guard hairs and undercoat than it does on a silky or Carasilk rat with just undercoat hairs.
- Ticked -
Is the result of each hair being banded by two or more different colours, giving a multi-colour / peppered look to the coat. As an example agouti has grey, brown and black on each fur strand, making the rat's coat look peppered with colours rather than one solid colour. As the darker tips are not present on the belly fur, the bellies of ticked rats are lighter than the rest of the coat.
Manx Rats
Manx rats tend to pop up in lines that have DU's (down under markings ) in them. The parents don't have to be DU's for them to carry the Manx gene but they must come from a line that has DU in it somewhere. Normally that is how you can tell a non-DU rat has a DU relative somewhere in its past. :)
True manx are rare because you seem to need the right genes to produce one, and just because a pair has produced a manx it doesn't mean they will produce another one ever again.
Some manx will actually bethat way due to a rather vigorous cleaning from mum... They are of course not true manx, and you should be able to tell the difference even at just a few days old.
Please be careful of buying a manx as sometimes a breeder will dock the tails of babies so they can sell them as manx. I have had experience of someone doing just that, so I know people will do it.
Here are photos of true Manx rats I have owned and also of the Rats who were docked by the breeder and also of Rats who's mum took their tail while cleaning.
True manx are rare because you seem to need the right genes to produce one, and just because a pair has produced a manx it doesn't mean they will produce another one ever again.
Some manx will actually bethat way due to a rather vigorous cleaning from mum... They are of course not true manx, and you should be able to tell the difference even at just a few days old.
Please be careful of buying a manx as sometimes a breeder will dock the tails of babies so they can sell them as manx. I have had experience of someone doing just that, so I know people will do it.
Here are photos of true Manx rats I have owned and also of the Rats who were docked by the breeder and also of Rats who's mum took their tail while cleaning.
... This is Bunny Manx .. a Black Berkshire Carasilk, born on 1st August 2008 ... neither of her parents were DU and you would have to go back 5 generations to find the last DU in her line...
She is a True Manx ... born with a thin tail ... which on some manx will fall off as they grow, but hers stayed.
This was Michelangelo ... Its probably too hard to see on this photo but I don't have anything better. He looks like a true manx and has the button stump, but if you looked closely you could see a scar where his tail had been docked to make him appear to be a manx. He would have easily passed as a manx, except for the scar.
This is NOT a Manx