Show us your RATLETS

[Chondrobsessed]

When I was 9 I used to have a champagned coloured hooded rat called custard he used to pee on me all the time lol

 

[caleb96]

Hey Helikaon, i just wanted to know what substrate that is that your using in the pictures and where to get it from and a price if you wouldn't mind

Cheers Caleb.

 

[eddie123]

wow fuscus. NICE

 

[ingie]

Hello, I have two females and a male. purchased from pet store, and not pets, want to breed my own food for snakes. I dont understant how people can think these dirty creatures are cute. One female had babies last night, but could only find three. Is this a normal amount.

That is a silly thing to say considering reptile lovers often get the same response about reptiles and complain about it. Only good rat is a dead rat, right? Different strokes for different folks!

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Cute rats

Blues, blue dalmatians, black dalmatians

Blue patch

Fawn

Cute wedge blazes

Blue

Silks

 

[Helikaon]

Hey Helikaon, i just wanted to know what substrate that is that your using in the pictures and where to get it from and a price if you wouldn't mind Cheers Caleb.

Hey, the substrate is rice hull, it comes in these massive bags that are i think 150kg, they cost about 70 bucks and last me a few months. Cons: it is cold, so not the warmest of substrate so i give shredded paper or straw for nesting, it is a bit dusty, probably not any more then the other substrates but if you shake it around in the tub it gets rid of most of the dust. pros, its not absorbable, this stuff doesnto absorb moisture really at all, some would think its a con but i love it, because all the urine or leaked water settles to the bottom of the tub leaving a nice a dry layer on top i have had one of the auto nipples leak and feel a 1/4 of the tub but the rats are still sitting on dry land because it hasnt gone over the substrate level yet. if that makes sense, its also cheap and easy to find and last ages. plus i have never had a whole heap of mites come with a bag of this stuff like i got often with the wood shavings. i also have had far less resp issues with this stuff and cause the size of the bits it jsut sticks all over their poop , works well. Ingie your ratties are very cute i didnt know we could get other colour dalmations, do i just breed mismarked BEWS with blues to get blue dalmations? cheers gary

 

[ingie]

You can make a dalmatian in any colour that a rat can be If you use blue rats to make them, they will be blue The dalmatian look comes from gaps in the masking gene combo NN letting the colour underneath show through, whatever it may be. Dalmatians can be mismarked BEW, PEW (pink eyed white) or REW (ruby eyed white) etc. It is not limited to black eyed colours. Cross the dalmatians with any colour that you want to make them in. I have them in black, mink, chocolate, blue and silverfawn so far.

 

[deebo]

dodgy iphone pic but i think I call this one Zorro!

 

[raycam01_au]

ok ima getting these cute little guy's

kinda cool i have no idea wat u call them, but they are hell cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like them,

 

[deebo]

i think they are called Minks - they are just going through a moult and will look pretty normal once they are done. Still look cool while its happening but they wont stay like that unfortunately.

 

[deebo]

another random project I dont really need but how can you say no!

 

[CaptainRatbag]

Nice hairless ones Deebo..... I have a few I think might end up hairless.... you can see thier pink skin thru thin fur.... and they have the bigger ears and 'old looking' faces.... similar to some hairless mice I have. Some earlier ones I had that were born with fur, then went tufty, then bald..... but now have light fur. Is it normal for the hairless to have really twisted whiskers? Is that a usual trait?

Ingie, your rats are always so gorgeous

 

[jinjajoe]

another random project I dont really need but how can you say no!

you excel at random tho Dave !!!

 

[ingie]

Those are patchworks, not true hairless Patchworks do often have very curly whiskers Naked ones can be double rex silk patchwork (not so curly), or double rex patchwork (curly). Captain Ratbag, you may just have a normal double rex going through it's naked moult, that will grow it's fur back

Deebo do you get entropion in those guys? (I am sure you would). It is something that myself and some other breeders are trying to breed out of patchworks, but it is difficult. It is a horrible recessive genetic problem that causes the patchworks to have their eyelids turned inwards so that their eyelashes rub on their eyeball. It doesn't self correct in rats, unlike guinea pigs. It is unfortunately hard to see sometimes and rats can live in a lot of pain until they eventually get eye ulcers or their eyes stay shut with mucus. It can take months and months of pain to get to that stage though. A sign can be rats looking squinty, or like below, the eyelids looking a bit bulgy because they are turned inwards. When the rats move it is near impossible to get a good look at their eyelashes though. Unfortunately someone sold a bunch to a pet shop on the north side around August, all with entropion, and I expect they will be sold, bred and sold because they look unusual, further spreading the problem.

This photo is of a rat from the north side pet shop. It can be difficult to see but if you look closely, you will notice that all the eyelashes are sitting against the eyeball because the eyelid is curled in.

(They spelled entropion incorrectly)

 

[jinjajoe]

1 in say 6 has it I'd say........ and yes they are patchwork not Drex moulting as you 1st thought..... real healthy also.... I was still unsure when I labelled them hairless !!

 

[cathy1986]

another random project I dont really need but how can you say no!

i name the first one in the photos ZORRO lol

Cathy

 

[ingie]

I only thought they may have been drex moulting to adult coat when you very first mentioned them, because I hadn't seen them, and people get excited thinking they have patchworks when their baby drexes are moulting to adult coat. I can see they are patchworks though. As soon as you said there were older ones that looked naked, there was no question That is great that they are really healthy. It is much easier for people to achieve that quickly when they breed in bulk for reptiles, than it is for pet only people working with 1 litter at a time I have some nice healthy ones too. So ugly though with their big balls haha.

1 in 6 for entropion is OK, but if it continues to pop up in every litter in a large breeding group with no outcrossing, despite removing the affected ones, it is possible that some breeder adults with entropion are being overlooked. It can take 3-4 months for the eyelids to actually curl, at which point they may have already been bred anyway. It is very frustrating to work with recessive diseases in any animal, especially when they don't present until after breeding age.

It is good to see other people working on them though and I am sure that with so many of them breeding, it will be possible to breed it out completely if you cull off any affected ones and their babies. It would be great for pet people to have access to completely entropion free patchworks. They are so popular!! (despite being so ugly haha). The one in that photo above is so loved by it's owner that instead of having it PTS, it is booked in for experimental surgery to have the eyelids corrected, or eyeballs removed if it fails. I imagine a blind rat would have a better life than one with it's eyelashes scraping it's eyes. People who have rats as pets are just as passionate(crazy haha) about them as most reptile keepers! ....Maybe a bit more on the crazy side I am more interested in mine in terms of improving their genetics as a challenge, rather than as pets, but I admit I have gone a little crazy haha.

 

[Cold-B-Hearts]

 

[cathy1986]

dinner time lol

Cathy

 

[deebo]

Some quick pics from today.....

 

[Cold-B-Hearts]

gotta get some blues and patchworks off you david