Rat question - Has anybody seen anything like this before?

[herptrader]

I have had a small breeding colony of rats to feed my serpents.

The colony has for many generations either been black and white with the odd albino. I have always selected my breeder animals from the best breeders of the previous generation.

When cleaning out the enclosures today I came across some very unusual looking babies. Half the litter was a sort of a dark grey / brown and the other half your regular black and white. The parents are both black and white in this case.

Has anybody else come across this before?

[moosenoose]

They look tasty and nutritious - are you worried about them Daavid? I guess it's just genetics playing it's role.

[ssssnakeman]

ive heard that feral rats can do it with ur tame little pretties through the wire of an enclosure,,the girls love a bit of rough and can actually back up to wire

food for thought
baz

[africancichlidau]

Yup, I reckon you've had an intruder Daavid Seriously though, I have had some weird colourations thrown after generations of "Normals" Think it's just a lazy gene waking up but I haven't got a clue what I'm talking about really
Guess that was a lot of help, LOL

[Wrasse]

This happens often with mine, must be a throwback in there somewhere. Been getting a few that colour lately, cutest so far was one of those almost blacks with four white feet.

[moosenoose]

Originally Posted by Wrasse

cutest so far was one of those almost blacks with four white feet.

Oh tell me about it! I find it really hard rendering them "edible" I treat it nowadays like waving someone off at the airport - you don't want them to go but know they must!

[childreni_440]

Same thin happend to me aswell 2 the exact same the other day. No Feral rats can get to my females - i have checked emmencely. Are thier bellys white?

[trader]

ive heard that feral rats can do it with ur tame little pretties through the wire of an enclosure,,the girls love a bit of rough and can actually back up to wire

That is cute sssnakeman! :wink:

I had actually mentioned that to Daavid when he came in and told me, it may have been the feral rats coming in, ...but I couldn't see how they could get in the rat boxes and out again ...you have answered my query... :wink:

Cheers, Judy

[ssssnakeman]

well its either that, or the boring throwback theory,,which is probably the right one :wink:
baz

[herptrader]

Yes they do have pale bellies.

I took a couple more pics. The first shows mum and dad and the second is a close up of the little guys suckling.

I would say there is a zero percent chance of a wild rat being involved.

Originally Posted by childreni_440

Same thin happend to me aswell 2 the exact same the other day. No Feral rats can get to my females - i have checked emmencely. Are thier bellys white?

[pike1]

Daavid they have just gone back to their original colour, agouti. All the domestic rats started this colour long ago, with coloured rats they inbreed to get the recessive colours to hold true, but if you add lab rat genes eg wistar (albino) they are agouti coloured with the albino gene to hide their real colour. So you get agoutis popping up all the time. If a wild rat has got to them you will soon know because all the babies will be wild, it takes generations to get the wildness out. So if you can still take the lid off when they are weaning age without them going in all directions out of the cage, you know it wasnt a wild rat that got to them

[peterescue]

Feral lesbian rats with a turkey baster.
As to how can they get in? They can get anywhere they want. Rememer that your only ever 1.5 mt from a brown rat.

[herptrader]

I will let these guys grow to adults and find out their temprament.

Agouti's eh. I quick grope of the internet came back with lots of links:


http://www.afrma.com/agoutirat.htm
http://www.petwebsite.com/rat_agouti.htm
http://www.freewebs.com/bighog/basicratgenetics.htm
http://www.afrma.org/rataoc.htm
http://www.brjpharmacol.org/cgi/cont...ract/126/4/911
http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/7.../genetics.html
http://www.afrma.org/rmindex.htm
http://www.geocities.com/project_rat/rat_genetics.html
http://www.jpet.org/cgi/content/abstract/295/1/91
http://www.ratbehavior.org/CoatColorMutations.htm
http://www.nswfrmc.com/page25.html
http://www.jpet.org/cgi/content/full/295/1/91
http://www.tjup.nl/ot/ratinfo.htm
http://www.greeneyedesigns.com/Rats/evnmrpcs.html
http://mdma.net/toxicity/cereb.html
http://www.ratsauce.com/breeds/index.php
http://riverratsrattery.tripod.com/genetics.html
http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/co...act/271/3/1528
http://www.greeneyedesigns.com/Rats/pictures.html
http://www.agouti.com/thelist.aspx
http://goto.glocalnet.net/rat/gen/agouti.htm
http://rainydayrats.8k.com/custom4.html
http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/co...act/244/3/1103
http://www.agouti.com/feature.aspx?id=57
http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/cgi/con...tract/20/3/343
http://goto.glocalnet.net/rat/gen/yyrbopal.htm
http://mdma.net/protect/glutathione.html
http://www.rmca.org/Articles/siamese.htm
http://www.ratbehavior.org/ExperimentalCoatTempmt.htm
http://ratfanclub.org/trust.html
http://www.dreameyce.com/eagleseye/r...rat_colors.htm
http://www.gradlife.ed.ac.uk/medicine/schol23.htm
http://www.ratbehavior.org/CoatColor.htm
http://www.ratsociety.org/standardscontent.html
http://www.lycaeum.org/drugs.old/syn.../faq/refs.html
http://cyberpict.net/hounds/mem.htm
http://www.petoftheday.com/archive/1...vember/17.html

Originally Posted by pike1

Daavid they have just gone back to their original colour, agouti. All the domestic rats started this colour long ago, with coloured rats they inbreed to get the recessive colours to hold true, but if you add lab rat genes eg wistar (albino) they are agouti coloured with the albino gene to hide their real colour. So you get agoutis popping up all the time. If a wild rat has got to them you will soon know because all the babies will be wild, it takes generations to get the wildness out. So if you can still take the lid off when they are weaning age without them going in all directions out of the cage, you know it wasnt a wild rat that got to them

[Wrasse]

That was a 'quick grope' ? You must have a very happy lady.

[trader]

Originally Posted by Wrasse

That was a 'quick grope' ? You must have a very happy lady.

Yes I am Wrasse... :wink: :wink: