# Show us your RATLETS



## Cold-B-Hearts (May 5, 2012)

why not?
ill start it off my first litter of pups they "came out" tonight.


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## ingie (May 5, 2012)

Black recessive wedge blazed berkshires. 





Fuzzy mismarked black eyed whites (dalmatians)




Same ones just a few days older








Blues








Patchwork rex silk. (Some of these will be naked forever hehe)


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## vampstorso (May 5, 2012)

Ingie,
You're making me want one other than for reptile food  some adorable patterns there...and as a Dalmatian keeper, the dally-ish ones make me weak!
Love the two in the first photo. Are there any line bred rats that stay rounder like babies, vs the pointed heads of adults? Just curious


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## ingie (May 5, 2012)

My favourite rat has a big chunky boof head like a baby  So does another line of rats that I am working on called 'velour' with a really thick ringlet type coat. Very cute.

This is the dad of the black crimped looking ones in the last photo haha. He is a patchwork double rex silk and is named Fugly for a reason


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 5, 2012)

same the first photo is great, i swear i gotta make the trip and pick up some BEW and blues from you


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## smithson (May 5, 2012)

wow i want one asap


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## ingie (May 5, 2012)

Zoro




Triforce rat




Dalmatian




Variegated lightning blaze




Wedge berk




Blue




Fawn split cap wedge 




Mink rex variegated wedge and mink rex lightening blaze





Baby on the left a bit older





Mink dalmatian odd eyed white (one black eye one ruby red eye)


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 5, 2012)

lovely  in a few days ill post another when you can start to see there paterns


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## ingie (May 5, 2012)

Who knew rats could be so entertaining?


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## smithson (May 5, 2012)

Some of my lil ratters







Don't no what they are can some one help me?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## ingie (May 5, 2012)

It is a bit hard to see in those shots but looks like you have some minks and cinnamons in there. I can't tell if the pail ones are all white or not. It depends what colour their eyes are and also if they have any white face marks or anything


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## smithson (May 5, 2012)

thanks ingie i will get some nice pics 2morrow


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## Nes88c (May 6, 2012)

vampstorso said:


> Ingie,
> You're making me want one other than for reptile food  some adorable patterns there...and as a Dalmatian keeper, the dally-ish ones make me weak!
> Love the two in the first photo. Are there any line bred rats that stay rounder like babies, vs the pointed heads of adults? Just curious



i own a dalmation too =)... have owned three in my life time. first one was called snoopy (dont ask she was a free to good home) fantastic dog, loved her, she got put down at 16 after she just got too old. poor thing...

i also had a dalamation called "Dodie Smith" (original author of 101 dalmations) but unfortunatley she was bitten by some sort of snake (ironic i know) and passed away, we still have our other dally, scarlet, she runs the house now. but we still love her. dally's are excellent dogs!!! I recommend them.


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## moosenoose (May 6, 2012)

Such a shame they are generally lunch. I wouldn't mind a pet rat one day.


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## disintegratus (May 6, 2012)

rats are awesome pets. I have 6, they are very entertaining. Mine aren't nearly as pretty as some of these guys though, but I do have a lovely blue berkshire girl. It's a shame, she's stunning to look at, but scared of life, apparently she's always been like that.


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## pretzels (May 6, 2012)

ahhh i want another rat!!! i loveeee my little girl steve  shes the best out of all my animals lol


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## Blake182 (May 6, 2012)

umm the better the patten on the rat/mice 
you get a better patten on your snake


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## Sassquatch (May 6, 2012)

I have actually been missing keeping pet ratters for a while... Those are some amazing looking dalmations and love the berkshire wedges ingie!

There are some cooler colours about that when I bred... Although I won some colour awards back in the day.

I have never kept reps and rats at the same time, and I am seriously tragic and couldn't feed breed to save myself, I always got pre-killed for my reps.

How many of you guys keep pet rats and feed breed as well? Am I the only one conflicted about it? I just couldn't look at a live rat and knock it for food...


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## GlennB (May 6, 2012)

Oh look lots of snakey food


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## ingie (May 6, 2012)

You know how with dog and cat food you can buy different types of food for different breeds and needs?
I could do the same for snake food haha.

Velour: For the snake who needs some extra roughage in his diet.
Patchwork (the hairless ones): for green tree pythons.
Silk: For snakes needing to be force fed and have the food slide right down.
Berk wedge blaze: For the snake who needs a flashing sign to find the head.

Hahahaha 


I can't afford to be conflicted about it Sassquatch  Lots of hungry mouths to feed. I started breeding purely for the reptiles but later became really interested in the genetics behind producing all these colours, patterns and coat types, and how the genes interact and have different modes of inheritance. It is fun to be able to produce really cool looking ones and provide some friendly, healthy pets for people along the way. Rat people like to collect the different ones like Pokemon cards 

Some of the rats I breed are quite rare or have taken me a long time to selectively breed. It took me over a year of selective inbreeding many many rats to produce dalmation rats like the ones in the photos haha. I saw a photo of some produce by another 'feeder breeder' and decided I wanted to make my own instead of trying to buy them. I started with plain white rats and got a tiny bit more black each generation. A lot of people who breed rats strictly for pets never get anywhere in terms of producing cool patterns, colours and coat types. Being able to breed hundreds at a time means I end up with all the cool stuff and it sure keeps my reptiles happy  

If I have to breed a kazllion rats for my reptiles anyway, I may as well have a bit of fun with it! The cooler they look the better they taste?


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## bellany (May 6, 2012)

Wow, who would have thought little ratters could be so cute ! I had a snake food female escape once and she gave birth in my dryer then buggered off with all but one of them (we called her brittney because she was such a 'good mum'), then my daughter found her and theres only one thing she likes other than insects and thats rats. She ended up taking the little pup to the vet and feeding it etc and kept her for about a year, then for some reason Giselle died and my daughter has been upset ever since, and that was three years ago ! Now as i sit here with my coffee having a squizz at the pics, I didn't realise she was awake behind me .... squeel Ratters ! ... coffee everywhere ... and now she wants a baby girl ratter again. Any one know where i could get a girl curly hair, hairless or dumbo rat from? Today is going to be a long day of surfing the net to find one now.. bugger !


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 6, 2012)

I don't think we have dumbos in Australia I might be wrong can anyone confirm that? No hairless either just double Rex. They loose all they're hair for about a week when there 6weeks old, then there hair grows back in even tighter curls


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## vampstorso (May 6, 2012)

Liamb561 said:


> I don't think we have dumbos in Australia I might be wrong can anyone confirm that? No hairless either just double Rex. They loose all they're hair for about a week when there 6weeks old, then there hair grows back in even tighter curls



Pretty sure Ingie or someone else posted a photo of a rat with enlarged ears in another thread?


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## nagini-baby (May 6, 2012)

i breed for food, but i do get affectionate to my breeders. they are quite sweet


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## saximus (May 6, 2012)

I got a pretty cool colour when I bred a Wistar with an albino. It's like a light grey/brown colour. I'll try to get some pics when I clean their tubs tonight. 
Ingie I knew you bred a lot of them but I didn't realise you had such interesting ones. I really like the "wedge" ones as well


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## Manda1032 (May 6, 2012)

Ingie has some of the most beautiful rats. On day I will get to bris and buy heaps! Be warned!


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 6, 2012)

I just PM'd ingie to pick up a few you gotta beat me to em


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## kr0nick (May 6, 2012)

ingie said:


> Black recessive wedge blazed berkshires.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Hey loving those black rats. I have A black male with white chest. Who produced 4 young with the same colouring


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## Manda1032 (May 6, 2012)

Liamb561 said:


> I just PM'd ingie to pick up a few you gotta beat me to em



No fair dude... you probably live closer than me!


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## Kitarsha (May 6, 2012)

Hehehe i have Wistars and fancies - and so far they've been sold as pets as it covers the cost of snake food...lmao. Eg one rat sold gets me a bigger frozen feed for one of my snakes that that lil rat would have made 





Berk mum and Wistar mum sharing the work load...and now they are all up and about i think they want to escape the bubs!


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## jinjajoe (May 6, 2012)

Variegated Berkshires !!!


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## ingie (May 6, 2012)

Gorgeous Joe 

Liam is correct. There are no dumbos in australia or true hairless. My rats are all the normal non dumbo shape. The naked rat I showed a picture of is a patchwork rex. He is nearly 2 years old I think but he occasionally grows random small patches of fur in different places (hence the name patchwork). 

Double rexes, double silks or silk rexes will all go naked when they moult at around 6 weeks, but they will grow all the fur back and not loose it again. They have to be double rex and have the patchwork gene to look like Fugly permanently. Lots of people have rexes but not many have patchwork rexes (yet).

I have nearly every mutation of rat that is in Australia  Because I obviously don't have enough other things to spend my time on haha. *sigh*


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## CaptainRatbag (May 6, 2012)

Yea kitarsha, when the babies are about to ween, the poor mothers look so bedraggled and look at you like 'get me out of here!'.... please :lol: Especially when the babies are able to chase her down and upend her so they can get a drink. I especially feel sorry for the mums with all those stretched teats.... looks painfull:shock:

The only special ones I have (except for all of them :lol is I have a fawn/reddish rex female and I had a blue rex female, but she died soon after giving birth.... so fanny, one of my other mothers bought up the blue rex babies 

So, at what age do you guys ween your rats? Mine ween at 3 weeks +1 day. They could ween earlier, they eat from about 2 and a half weeks, but I give them the full time.

I will post this then go and take a pic of the blue rex babies & edit in the pics in a while, ingie, you might be able to tell me what they are exactly?


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## ingie (May 6, 2012)

Yeah I can do that  

Mine wean around 3-4 weeks old. 3 weeks is enough. They do start eating at about 2 weeks old but like kittens etc they benefit from the extra time with the parent. Although I heard someone say that they catch up size wise in the end if weaned earlier. I don't make a habit of doing it to know because they look so little and helpless at 2.5 weeks.


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## jinjajoe (May 6, 2012)

ingie said:


> Gorgeous Joe
> 
> Liam is correct. There are no dumbos in australia or true hairless. My rats are all the normal non dumbo shape. The naked rat I showed a picture of is a patchwork rex. He is nearly 2 years old I think but he occasionally grows random small patches of fur in different places (hence the name patchwork).
> 
> ...



My double Rex trio are still 100% healthy with at least 1 of the 2 girls preggaz..... so I'll share with you as they progress...... 

& the Blues are good too !!!


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 6, 2012)




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## ingie (May 6, 2012)

Great! They are curly little possums aren't they hehe. Let me know if you want to add the patchwork gene (although they are much cuter with fur on lol). I think you would love velour too Joe, I will try to get some pics in the next few days.


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## jinjajoe (May 6, 2012)

sounds good...... I'll post some pics of my ginger mice soon aswell !!!


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## Wrightpython (May 6, 2012)

I wonder if they taste different with each variation


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 6, 2012)

Can someone show me a Rex or double Rex


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## CaptainRatbag (May 6, 2012)

I decided to post a new one instead of editing the other one. I just went out and took some pics.... they were all asleep  so I just took a few without disturbing them all too much

The fawn/red rex Isobel


Isobel again


and again



Notice the blue baby on top, that is one of the blue rex babies. See the ripply fur?


About half of the 10 blue babies have ripply fur, 4 are smooth & one is hooded


This is 3 of the blue babies, one hooded, one with long wavy fur and one with smooth fur. When the babies were just fuzzies, the ones with ripply fur looked 'frosty'? Different fur all together than the smooth ones?



Sorry for the fuzzy pics, camera is rubbish.... and the 'models' wont stand still


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## jinjajoe (May 6, 2012)

yep they are harder to photograph than Reps !!!!


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## ingie (May 6, 2012)

Wrightpython said:


> I wonder if they taste different with each variation



I would provide the rats if you wanted to try some? HAha 

Lovely Liam! I did put up a picture of some single rexes (the mink variegated wedge blaze that has a photo of it with it's sibling, then the older pic of it underneath. Single rex's look 'crimped' as babies and then just messy as adults. The double rexes are the ones that look curly although there are 'good' and 'bad' ones. My mink one would be a crap single rex  Joe might put up a pic of his older double rexes. I only have wiggly baby pics.


They are very cute Captainratbag  (None of those babies are blue though).


CaptainRatbag said:


> Notice the blue baby on top, that is one of the blue rex babies. See the ripply fur?
> View attachment 250831
> 
> About half of the 10 blue babies have ripply fur, 4 are smooth & one is hooded
> View attachment 250832



These are blue babies (amongst some chocolate and choc champagne). Yours are definately mink. This photo accurately shows the blue colour:






Blue 




Mink (going through a moult with temporary moult cap


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 6, 2012)

Love blues


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## Pinoy (May 6, 2012)

Liamb561 said:


>




Way off topic, but I used to go to that school


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 7, 2012)

Pinoy said:


> Way off topic, but I used to go to that school


Back when it was called camp hill?


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## CaptainRatbag (May 7, 2012)

So, Ingie, the ripply ones are mink? What colour would you say the ones I was calling blue are? Gray?



vampstorso said:


> Pretty sure Ingie or someone else posted a photo of a rat with enlarged ears in another thread?



Vamp, my original avtar was a pic of a rat I found kinda cute, turned out to be a dumbo. I pinched it off someone on gumtree (who evidently kicked up a stink with people thinking they had dumbo rats) 

So, I promptly learned not to plagerise other peoples pics  and took a pic of one of my own rats instead :lol: The ad is still on gumtree with the pic, someone else near me. Landsborough, qld. It is on gumtree, sunshine coast area, other pets or reptile section.

As far as I know, there are no dumbo rats in australia. Pity  someone should go to the states and bring over some in thier luggage :shock: if they get busted just say "crikey, how did that giant mouse get in there?" hehehehe


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## ingie (May 7, 2012)

The ones you were calling blue are mink  The ripply ones are rex or double rex.


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## Justdragons (May 7, 2012)

can some people show us your rat set ups, i have my pair "nigel and pam" in an old beardie tank but they trash it daily but i feel bad putting them outside. ive grown attached to these stupid rats.. lol so dam cute.


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 7, 2012)

justdragons said:


> can some people show us your rat set ups, i have my pair "nigel and pam" in an old beardie tank but they trash it daily but i feel bad putting them outside. ive grown attached to these stupid rats.. lol so dam cute.


I have a classic rat rack set up I can post a photo tonight it's made out of cement tubs

Can anyone help me out. One of the babies embolcal cords hasn't been chewed down all the way it has about 1cm still sticking out. Will it just fall off.


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## CaptainRatbag (May 8, 2012)

Yes, it should fall off by itself. You wont need to chew it off:lol:


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## ingie (May 8, 2012)

Hahaha! Yeah it will be fine so long as the placenta is off. I had a mum once who left them all on and I found the little bubbas all tied together :/ Felt weird pinching them all off. Not as weird as when I had to do the same for a cat though. Placentas are gross!

This is my rat area:





This long thing is where I put all the weaner females until I want to breed them. To make it to the next step they need to stay healthy in here and be friendly. Any poor health, slow growth, biting or skittish behaviour gets them culled:





A typical big tub will contain one sexy stud male and a bunch of females (One 'project' per tub):





When they become noticeably pregnant they get moved to the rack in a labelled tub till their babies are 3 weeks old. The rack holds 36 tubs. Then I choose if I want to put them back into the projects or cull them off. If they have sickly litters, bite me while with babies, get sick or anything else that I don't like, they and all their babies get culled. 

There is a giant tub just for males because I like to see how my stud males from different projects age over time and if they stay healthy. I need to be able to have back up 'genes' for all the different projects too so I have quite a number of extra males on standby. I test them by adding new baby males all the time, and by putting them in with mum's and pinkies that aren't theirs to see if they have any agression. As well as food I am breeding for long lived pets that don't fight, bite, and are genetically friendly, so I have to watch out for extra things. If any start causing trouble or don't pass the tests, they get culled.

I like all my rats to have a lot of space to live and things to chew when they aren't raising babies. They are still a living creature after all, even if 90% of them still end up as reptile food.


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## Sophia (May 8, 2012)

Love watching all the rats pics....thanks guys for sharing.


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## pretzels (May 8, 2012)

ingie if i get another rat im coming down to get a few of yours!!!


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## ingie (May 8, 2012)

Hehe thanks  My rats are still far from perfect in regards to health and temperament though. Because I keep bringing in new projects it takes a long time to improve those traits. Gotta start somewhere though!


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## CrystalMoon (May 8, 2012)

These rats are awesome guys  I had no idea there were so many colour and fur variations. We have just started breeding Guinea Pigs, rats might become a project too(I have no life ha ha ha ha)


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## Wild~Touch (May 8, 2012)

I'm hoping to produce pure black ratties, I have 3rd generation blacks, some have no white paws and only a sprinkle of white hairs on the chest.
I llike the little guys
Cheers
Sandee


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## ingie (May 8, 2012)

They are called selfs Sandee  Where they are one solid colour with no white. If you breed two together with white on the chest and feet (berkshires) you should statistically get 25% selfs(HH) 50% berkshires(Hh) and 25% hoods(hh).


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 8, 2012)

these were from yesterday you can start to see there marking now.
any selfs in there i know there is a few hoodeds


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## ingie (May 8, 2012)

There won't be any selfs in there because one parent was a hood. A hood x berk makes half hood half berk, and a hood x self makes all berks. You have a bunch of cute little hoods and berks


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## Justdragons (May 8, 2012)

cheers so so much ingie, im gonna set some up like that. i have a good shed for it. i had a rack set up but way way to small tubs i think. only really good for mice and they smell to much..


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## bellany (May 8, 2012)

If anyone has any berks preferably young female my daughter would love one ! getting to the point n ow tho that my hubby wants to just buy her a desk because im not having much luck finding one !


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 8, 2012)

Oh ingie that's great I have a better understanding I'll have to keep the berks than hopefully I got at least one male and female I love berks and selfs. In away everything is like co dominat. Bellany I'd be happy to sell you one of mine if I'm not to far away I'm se Brisbane.


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## CaptainRatbag (May 8, 2012)

ingie said:


> There won't be any selfs in there because one parent was a hood. A hood x berk makes half hood half berk, and a hood x self makes all berks. You have a bunch of cute little hoods and berks



You should write a book ingie :lol: I want the first copy (autographed) hehehehe


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## Kitarsha (May 8, 2012)

I have a berk mum and a hooded dad - they make the nicest babies! lmao - not that i'm biased at all!! From that pair i seem to get some dark berks, dark hoodeds (like mum and dad) a couple of light hoodeds (grey/blue waiting for adult coat to confirm) and an albino or two! I've put the dad over a couple of other light hooded girls to see what i get - one of those girls surprised me and has hatched her litter early...eg tonight! The other girl should go in the next few days so i'll pop the two girls and the bubs in a maternity cage tomorrow night 







They have black eyes if that helps narrow down the colour? i have a boy and a girl in this colour from the latest litter  my pic on the other page shows my berk mum  lol


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## ingie (May 9, 2012)

CaptainRatbag said:


> You should write a book ingie :lol: I want the first copy (autographed) hehehehe


Hehe thanks. I wouldn't go that far though  I learned all this from other knowledgable rat keepers and websites about rat genetics. I have had a while to see it all in action with my rats so I have a pretty good understanding of it. Some of those who taught me are on APS 

If you go to the website 'Sunshine Rats' you will find a lot of great info about rat genetics. It hasn't been updated to include details about some of the newer mutations, however it is the most comprehensive Australian site of australian rat genetics I have come across. It belongs to an APS member hehehe  There is even a litter predictor (although for it to be accurate you need to know what genes the rats carry), but if you fiddle with it for a while the other stuff makes sense.

Kitana the baby in that photo is mink.  By dark I guess you mean black? Both black parents must carry mink which is recessive. 

Sometimes mink babies grow grey fur from the start, and sometimes they start off looking a beige colour and turn grey when they moult. Depends on your line of rats.


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 9, 2012)

i have 3 berks and 8 hoodeds do you have a clue what the dad would be ingie?


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## CaptainRatbag (May 9, 2012)

Ingie, do you ever look at the site ratfanclub (dot) org ? It is american but has some interesting stuff to compare. Check it out if you like


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 11, 2012)

my other female is pregnant should have more babies in two weeks


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## raycam01_au (May 12, 2012)

my new ratty set up 
rats to come lol





 soon i will post up some little rattties


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## ingie (May 12, 2012)

CaptainRatbag said:


> Ingie, do you ever look at the site ratfanclub (dot) org ? It is american but has some interesting stuff to compare. Check it out if you like



I haven't gone on there but I will have a look. I prefer to look at relevant Australian info because we have different genes here so I want to know about what I am working with. There are some pretty cool genes overseas though!


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## animal-mad (May 13, 2012)

View attachment 251796
very awsome View attachment 251797
These are some of my babies


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 13, 2012)

Pic didn't come through  I'm going to post a new pic soon of my buns there starting to look cute


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## Jande (May 13, 2012)

Oh geez, you guys! They're all so cute. I'm going to feel so guilty feeding my snakes from now on lol! :lol:
Those wedged berks look fantastic.


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## CaptainRatbag (May 13, 2012)

Liamb561 said:


> Pic didn't come through  I'm going to post a new pic soon of my buns there starting to look cute



Do you mind.... this is a family show, we dont really want to see a pic of your buns :shock: The girls might like to see a 6 pack if you have one tho :lol:

Hardy har har har.......


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 13, 2012)

CaptainRatbag said:


> Do you mind.... this is a family show, we dont really want to see a pic of your buns :shock: The girls might like to see a 6 pack if you have one tho :lol:
> 
> Hardy har har har.......



Hahaha bubs** dam auto correct on iPhone haha


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## deebo (May 14, 2012)

not rats but saw these little critters today in my mouse setup - was cleaning all the tubs out. Pretty funny looking things - will be cool to see them once they are completely hairless. They look like little mice ballerinas at the moment!


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 14, 2012)

thats hillarious. 
a few more of mine 







*my male*



* and a recently pregant female*


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## Jay84 (May 14, 2012)

Here's some of my ratties.


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## CaptainRatbag (May 14, 2012)

Thats cool Jay84.... I like the little 'white pointers' :lol:

By the looks of your fingers, you habe been nipped a few times :lol:

Always pays to remove the mother before you touch the babies eh..... I learned that early on, trying to put a lone pinkie back in with mum and got a good bite to the bone for my efforts :shock:


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## Jay84 (May 14, 2012)

CaptainRatbag said:


> Thats cool Jay84.... I like the little 'white pointers' :lol:
> 
> By the looks of your fingers, you habe been nipped a few times :lol:
> 
> Always pays to remove the mother before you touch the babies eh..... I learned that early on, trying to put a lone pinkie back in with mum and got a good bite to the bone for my efforts :shock:



Whats wrong with my fingers?!?!?!?!?!?!? lol

No No, none of my female rats bite, they are all really good with babies.


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## CaptainRatbag (May 14, 2012)

Jay84 said:


> Whats wrong with my fingers?!?!?!?!?!?!? lol
> 
> No No, none of my female rats bite, they are all really good with babies.



On the second to last and last pic with the little black and white.... and the 5 bubs.... your fingers look to have bite marks (on thumb in pic 5 and all fingertips on pic 6) 

It was simply an observation.... not knocking your rats or yourself in any way  The bubs are extremely cute.


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## Jay84 (May 14, 2012)

Dont worry, I didn't take offense lol. It is probably cuts and scars from gardening. I spent the last few weekends digging out tree stumps at my parents house. 

How butch am I lol


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## Blake182 (May 15, 2012)

can't wait to i start breeding my mice/rats


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## Kitarsha (May 15, 2012)

Got some mice today...they are soooo weeny!!! Just chasing a couple of those big white mice girls now!


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 16, 2012)

I think there classed as fuzzies now


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## ingie (May 17, 2012)

Jay you have fantastic rats!!! Are you a closet rat fancier?? Or do you have ratty friends?  Your ratties look like my favorites hehe.


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## Fuscus (May 17, 2012)

xxxxx


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## Jay84 (May 17, 2012)

ingie said:


> Jay you have fantastic rats!!! Are you a closet rat fancier?? Or do you have ratty friends?  Your ratties look like my favorites hehe.



Thanks Ingie!

I always used to keep rats as pets as a kid. Now they are food but i still like to have pretty ones lol


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## vampstorso (May 17, 2012)

Jay those second and fourth rats are adorable, lovvve the fourth one! Wish I could have him! (not as food!) 
Awwww


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## Jay84 (May 17, 2012)

I sell the pretty ones as pets


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## Skelhorn (May 18, 2012)

So rats are used other then snake food :O


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## CaptainRatbag (May 21, 2012)

Skelhorn said:


> So rats are used other then snake food :O



Of course silly..... my local chinese resteraunt gives me a buck each.... what do you think is in dim sims & spring rolls? :shock::lol:


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## ingie (May 21, 2012)

Skelhorn said:


> So rats are used other then snake food :O


I use them to make fluffy slippers and hats.


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## Skelhorn (May 22, 2012)

ingie said:


> I use them to make fluffy slippers and hats.






CaptainRatbag said:


> Of course silly..... my local chinese resteraunt gives me a buck each.... what do you think is in dim sims & spring rolls? :shock::lol:



hahahaha brutal very brutal


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## Helikaon (May 22, 2012)

i have some very cute ones coming as soon as they get some more hair ill snap some photos, also some double rex bubs if the mums are smart enought to keep them alive. keep leaving them around.


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## deebo (May 25, 2012)

some dodgy phone pics from today - will have to take my proper camera out to the rat shed one day.

Also a pic of one of my now hairless mice Weird looking things they are......


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 25, 2012)

Holly crapola! Is that a dumbo? 
David do you keep fancies?

Oh dw I read it better it's a mice sorry anyway I need to buy some more rats


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## CaptainRatbag (May 27, 2012)

Settle down Liamb :lol:

It is a hairless mouse.... they all look like that :shock: really big ears and old looking faces 



Liamb561 said:


> Holly crapola! Is that a dumbo?
> David do you keep fancies?
> 
> Oh dw I read it better it's a mice sorry anyway I need to buy some more rats



:lol:Just after I posted I saw your last line 

What sort of rats are you after?


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 27, 2012)

im picking some frozen + live ones of david today 
and 4 live (special one of ingie today) ill keep you posted


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## jasethenut (May 28, 2012)

I like the last pic liamb561


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## CaptainRatbag (May 29, 2012)

If a baby cat is a Kitten...... doesnt that make a baby rat a ritten?:lol:

Nice looking black one Liamb.... the one in the last pic (the copper top) you should call Julia (Gillard) 

I have some aguti's together, cant wait to see how they turn out. Love the aguti colour....

And blue (hint hint Ingie)


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## Helikaon (May 30, 2012)

got quite a few rex bubs weaning now and a litter of double rexes born recently. though i still think the blazed are the best. 













pretty terrible photos sorry


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 30, 2012)

where are you im after some rex


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## Helikaon (May 30, 2012)

near ipswich


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## Cold-B-Hearts (May 30, 2012)

ok thanks i might get some in a few months or sooner 
captain rat bag if you like agouti im selling a male and female berkshire agouti along with a black and white hooded male for 15


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## Kitarsha (Jun 3, 2012)

Manx? are they like the cats in that they can be born tailess or with a much shortened tail (or even full length)? I have almost an entire litter of rats pups with shortened tails - they get around as easily as the other litter they have been brought up with - they just have tails of various lengths. I'll have to do a test breed with the same dad to work out which of the two Mums it was and see if it happens again - it doesn't appear to be caused by injury, will get some pics..

ETA pic/s







Another bub


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## Sdaji (Jun 4, 2012)

Ah, a rat thread!

Funny to see lots of pictures of my rats' descendents and my information repeated in here :lol: Interesting to see who is using what methods and where some of my rats (a few generations down the track) have gone to!

I'll throw in a few pictures too


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## ingie (Jun 4, 2012)

Those are great shots Sdaji!! love the arrow one haha.

The first day I joined the rat forum at the start of last year, I came across Sdaji's photos of his amazing rats including the dalmatians and blues!! I then started learning about how everything works, and started working towards copying Sdaji's famous dalmatians hehe. It took me a year and a half but I finally got there yay! 

All my blues come from rats that Sdaji kindly sent me  

  

Here are some new baby pics from current litters. They are all BEW but the black is starting to come through so much in a few of them that they will look hooded if I am not careful 










And some random hooded blazes for cute factor:


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jun 4, 2012)

This female looked normal untill I got her home from David's within a couple of days she got fat and a week or two later 7 more rat bubs (haha thanks David). One of my rats is looking big (shes looked like she is ready to explode for over a week now)She was looking fat before this girl even started getting her buldge. Could something of gone wrong internally ( this is her first litter. I can unload a pic tomorrow if she hasn't dropped anyway heres the bubs.


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## ingie (Jun 4, 2012)

I see a big blazed baby!


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jun 4, 2012)

ingie said:


> Those are great shots Sdaji!! love the arrow one haha.
> 
> The first day I joined the rat forum at the start of last year, I came across Sdaji's photos of his amazing rats including the dalmatians and blues!! I then started learning about how everything works, and started working towards copying Sdaji's famous dalmatians hehe. It took me a year and a half but I finally got there yay!
> 
> All my blues come from rats that Sdaji kindly sent me


Dose that mean my line of blues basicly come from Sdaji aswell  



ingie said:


> I see a big blazed baby!


Relly :3 the third one from the top? 
Whats the difference between wedged and blazed. I want the ones that look like lightning bolts :3


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## ingie (Jun 4, 2012)

Liamb561 said:


> Dose that mean my line of blues basicly come from Sdaji aswell
> 
> 
> Relly :3 the third one from the top?
> Whats the difference between wedged and blazed. I want the ones that look like lightning bolts :3



Yes their parents came from Sdaji  I just put them together and hey presto blues!
A wedge is a blaze  I just can't tell if it is a proper wedge shape or an irregular shape in that photo. Lightening blazes are pretty cute


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jun 4, 2012)

In a week I'm sure I'll have a better idea of what the babies will look like :3

No blazed. My other female had a litter of 12 she is younge and it's her first litter aswell 




And these are the rats from the first post on this thread


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 10, 2012)

Hi Guys, got these ratties, unsure on colouring, would love to know 
My Small Rats:


- 1 female champagne coloured hooded striped rat (Unsure on actual name of colour?)


- 2 female small rats, 1 male small rat and 1 large male rat all have this black hooded/striped marking? Again unsure on actual colour name?


- Champagne female rat?



- Unsure on this girl, this is one female small rat, black with 2 white front socks and a white belly? Unsure on name?

My Large Rats, I have 1 Male that looks like the Black Striped Back/Hooded ones and the 4 Females are Albino - White with Red Eyes and pink skin.


- Just thought I would add this one of my large female albino rat laying on my black striped back/hooded male. So cute 

Cheers


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## CaptainRatbag (Jun 10, 2012)

Very dark pics BH92, I really cant make many of the colours out 

Rats are so funny how they sleep..... I like it when they roll thier head forward and crash in a little ball :lol:

Or when they stack themselves in a pile.... pity the one(s) on the bottom 

Liamb, I see you are using wood shavings? Is that Hysorb? I keep hearing you shouldnt, should, shouldnt, should when it comes to wood shavings and rats....

What do people think? yes, no or depends on brand?

I use it (cant find any at the moment) and breeders choice ($ :shock


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jun 10, 2012)

yea i just do a mix, breeder choice for odor and the shavings for the cheap factor.
it doesn't worry me if it effects the long term health of rats. they're breeder feeders and will be culled before they get to their old age dying stage anyway, saying that i buy it in the rodent section of pet city. so i presume its healthy for them. 
(non of that was said in a cruel way, my rats short term health and happiness is a priority.)
WOOHOO my BEW (caring blue gene) is pregnant she has been in with a BEW male and blue male so here comes some nice babies  only worry is she is very small around 200g. has anyone had experience breeding very Young rats?


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 10, 2012)

CaptainRatbag said:


> Very dark pics BH92, I really cant make many of the colours out
> 
> Rats are so funny how they sleep..... I like it when they roll thier head forward and crash in a little ball :lol:
> 
> ...



Sorry about that, will take some better pics tomorrow, just took them from my Iphone and also when it was getting dark.
Thanks anyway


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## FAY (Jun 10, 2012)

Merle, is now preggers.


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## CaptainRatbag (Jun 11, 2012)

Liamb561 said:


> yea i just do a mix, breeder choice for odor and the shavings for the cheap factor.
> it doesn't worry me if it effects the long term health of rats. they're breeder feeders and will be culled before they get to their old age dying stage anyway, saying that i buy it in the rodent section of pet city. so i presume its healthy for them.
> (non of that was said in a cruel way, my rats short term health and happiness is a priority.)
> WOOHOO my BEW (caring blue gene) is pregnant she has been in with a BEW male and blue male so here comes some nice babies  only worry is she is very small around 200g. has anyone had experience breeding very Young rats?



The 2 bad things I have heard about wood shavings is the chemicals in it and the dust? Breeders choice is quite dusty too so it is really the chemicals that are a worry, the fact that the rats will ingest it, then of course, so will the snakes.


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## Kitarsha (Jun 11, 2012)

I use the back to nature paper pellets for my guys and it has little to not dust which is great  I also give them hay/stray at times too which they loooove digging through!

If you check out this website - What Rat Is That? - you'll be able to work out what colours/patterns you have


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## woody101 (Jun 11, 2012)

Can someone tell me what a rex rat is ??


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## FAY (Jun 11, 2012)

hahaha Down Under Hooded.....the mind boggles :shock:


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## Kitarsha (Jun 11, 2012)

Rex rats are the curly coated ones


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jun 11, 2012)

CaptainRatbag said:


> The 2 bad things I have heard about wood shavings is the chemicals in it and the dust? Breeders choice is quite dusty too so it is really the chemicals that are a worry, the fact that the rats will ingest it, then of course, so will the snakes.


its hysorb  i checked today.

i knew it wasnt pine so its nothing serious. you'd be surprised how many big rat breeding companies use pine.



FAY said:


> hahaha Down Under Hooded.....the mind boggles :shock:


if better downunder berkshire!


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 11, 2012)

Better Pics of my ratties: Wanting to know the colour of them, just new to breeding rats. Cheers.




- Champagne Female?

- Champagne head, black eyes, champagne stripe down back? Unknown colour? Female

- Like the one above but black instead of the champagne colour... I have 1 male and 2 females in the smaller rats and a large male that all look similar to this pattern.


- These two pics are just to show the different colours.


- All Black female except has white "socks" and a white belly. Colour unknown? Female

- Just a cute pic of the "Champagne" girl 


Heres some pics of my large ratties, 4 Albino females and 1 Black Hooded/Striped Male 






Any help would be great, cheers


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jun 12, 2012)

Hey I'm not sure what your asking when you say it's a black rat with whites socks and belly. It's called a black Berkshire. Any rat with a white tummy is a Berkshire.in your first pick it looks like 2 of the hooded rats are brown? I can see there colour that well but they look like agouti.
im new to breeding myselve so I'm preety useless


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 13, 2012)

Liamb561 said:


> Hey I'm not sure what your asking when you say it's a black rat with whites socks and belly. It's called a black Berkshire. Any rat with a white tummy is a Berkshire.in your first pick it looks like 2 of the hooded rats are brown? I can see there colour that well but they look like agouti.
> im new to breeding myselve so I'm preety useless



She is Black, white underneath and white feet. Awesome thanks 

They look black but then go a dark brown with lighter flecking through the coat.
Thanks


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## Jason.s (Jun 15, 2012)

You all have some nice coloured rats.












Heres my setup larger ones for the rats small ones for the mice.


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jun 15, 2012)

produced my first BEWs


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## Jay84 (Jun 15, 2012)




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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 15, 2012)

Everyone has some good looking rats 
One of my Red eyed Whites is confirmed to be pregnant.
I think another may be pregnant as well.

My Berkshire is a possible as well.


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jun 15, 2012)

I got 3 more definatley pregnant aswell


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## Jak13 (Jun 16, 2012)

but Ingie u dont transport lil blues or dals to Adelaide ( ..or will u ??? they are totally AWESOME...

I love all your dalmation marked ones )) very cool ...


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## raycam01_au (Jun 16, 2012)

i likes em


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 17, 2012)

One of my girl's belly is really big, interested to see when she will have the pups/kittens/babies (hear many people call them different things lol), she is still acting "normal" but there is a slight change to her temper tonight. :lol:


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## CaptainRatbag (Jun 17, 2012)

BlackHeaded92 said:


> One of my girl's belly is really big, interested to see when she will have the pups/kittens/babies (hear many people call them different things lol), she is still acting "normal" but there is a slight change to her temper tonight. :lol:




Like I always say, if a baby cat is a kitten, isnt a baby rat called a ritten? :lol:


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 17, 2012)

Still no Ritten's 
She is due in a few days, so hopefully all goes well, will be my first rat litter


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## CaptainRatbag (Jun 17, 2012)

It is so funny when the mothers to be are nearly due..... mine hang off the bars and looking at thier tummy, looks like they have eaten a tennis ball :shock::lol:


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jun 17, 2012)

yep. its funny how some females look MASSIVE and they have 4 babies then others look massive and have 15 haha


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 17, 2012)

ha ha, my girl looks like she has eaten a pear whole 
My other girl is still early so I am not sure if she is very fat still or is pregnant.

Edit - 8 Rittens were born yesterday morning - 18th, all are healthy, mum is feeding them and all seem to be about the same size, no runts 

Edit 2 - 8 Rittens were born to our other mum today - 19th, again, all are healthy, mum is feeding them, no runts


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## deebo (Jun 20, 2012)

this one is def too cute for the freezer!


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## FAY (Jun 20, 2012)

Liamb561 said:


> I got 3 more definatley pregnant aswell



I think maybe you should reword this comment


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## CaptainRatbag (Jun 20, 2012)

BlackHeaded92 said:


> ha ha, my girl looks like she has eaten a pear whole
> My other girl is still early so I am not sure if she is very fat still or is pregnant.
> 
> Edit - 8 Rittens were born yesterday morning - 18th, all are healthy, mum is feeding them and all seem to be about the same size, no runts
> ...



They are all born the same-ish size, the fact that the mother has only 12 teats means that the first 12 that latch on, will hogg the teats and the remaining 7 will have to fight to drink, or go without.... this is when they become runts 

When I have huge litters, If I have another mother with less babies about the same size, I spread the babies around with other mothers. If I have no mothers with babies similar age, I sometimes split the babies into 2 groups and move the mother between them, or periodically remove the biggest, healthiest (7 in your case) so the weaker ones get to get a drink. I have also had success giving excess babies to a mother who has just weened and she will lactate again and care for the 'imports'  Rats are very caring creatures to the young of the species..... if you put a baby in with a new mother.... she just cares for it like it is her own


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## Jason.s (Jun 20, 2012)

Liamb561 said:


> yep. its funny how some females look MASSIVE and they have 4 babies then others look massive and have 15 haha


I've seen that before!


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 20, 2012)

CaptainRatbag said:


> They are all born the same-ish size, the fact that the mother has only 12 teats means that the first 12 that latch on, will hogg the teats and the remaining 7 will have to fight to drink, or go without.... this is when they become runts
> 
> When I have huge litters, If I have another mother with less babies about the same size, I spread the babies around with other mothers. If I have no mothers with babies similar age, I sometimes split the babies into 2 groups and move the mother between them, or periodically remove the biggest, healthiest (7 in your case) so the weaker ones get to get a drink. I have also had success giving excess babies to a mother who has just weened and she will lactate again and care for the 'imports'  Rats are very caring creatures to the young of the species..... if you put a baby in with a new mother.... she just cares for it like it is her own



They are both great mum's, both have their "nest boxes" with their bubba's in and they are all looking pretty cute 
I tried to tell their gender but some are harder than others, I will just wait until they get fur and see if they have nipples  The second lot of ritten's, it looks like there are more girls than boys, in the first litter, the opposite, I think there is only one female :/ Oh well, will wait and see


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## Jason.s (Jun 20, 2012)




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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 21, 2012)

^ Ha ha, love it 

Got some pic's of my pup's today(yes I call them pups ).

Litter 1 - 8 Pups, 3 female, 5 male - Mum is called Snow



Litter 2 - 8 Pups, 6 female, 2 male - Mum is called Spark


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## Jason.s (Jun 21, 2012)

I like how some of them make realy good parents and watch your every move.


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 21, 2012)

Yeah, they are both really good with me handling the pups though.


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## CaptainRatbag (Jun 21, 2012)

Yea, but I found out the hard way that the mums tend to be very protective and bite (hard!) if you try to go near the babies :shock: not to mention they launch themselves great distances very suddenly to bite you too :shock:

Since a couple of bone deep bites, I always remove mum before touching the babies :lol:


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## deebo (Jun 21, 2012)

I've never been bitten by a rat and none of my mums get defensive with their pups....I don't ever let them pay too much attention to my hands bur mums on babies I just give a little nudge and they generally move on and then I can pick the pups up and the mums dont do anything.


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## nagini-baby (Jun 21, 2012)

I only have a few protective mums but they are great mums so I'm not to fussed. They are never aggressive only if I bug them to much


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## CaptainRatbag (Jun 21, 2012)

Yea, I dont hold it against them.... they look really bewildered after they have bitten.... like to say "what did I do that for?":lol:

It is just thier wired in defense mechanism.... only some do it.... but I just separate any mum before tampering with bubs just in case


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jun 21, 2012)

My Bew had 10 babies tonight (wink wink David) 
And also a verigated black berk had a litter of 9 tonight.


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 21, 2012)

One of the mum's has made a massive ball of nest - made from newspaper, can't even see the pups, lol.

The other mum is currently suckling her pups, they are so cute 
Took some pics will have to upload them later.


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## raycam01_au (Jun 24, 2012)

love the colours on these


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 24, 2012)

I got another mum who has just had pups, awesome


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## nagini-baby (Jun 24, 2012)

Have 54 pups atm yay


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## -Katana- (Jun 25, 2012)

Got lots and lots of rat pups at the moment and grow out weaners.
Eeeppp!
Time to buy more tubs.


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## nagini-baby (Jun 25, 2012)

as of this morning its now 74 pluss growouts... yay...


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jun 25, 2012)

i have 41 pups atm haha 
check out this video i made for some of my friends. my BEWs looks so cute
Caring for pet rats - YouTube


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## nagini-baby (Jun 25, 2012)

they are rather cute huh


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## Kitarsha (Jun 26, 2012)

My lovely Berk mum had a litter of 17 - i was rather impressed!


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 26, 2012)

Wow 17 :O
Currently:
Mum 1 - Snow - 8 pups, 1 F, 7 M
Mum 2 - Spark - 8 pups, 4 F, 4 M 
Mum 3 - PinkEye - 5 pups, 3 F, 2 M
(I didnt name Pink Eye, my brother did )


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jun 28, 2012)

an over cap of my litters
fawn headspot - 7
fawn hooded - 12
BEW - 10 
agouti - 7
black berk (blue & BEW carrier) 8 babies
varigated berk - around 8 i forget
and another litter i cant remember haha


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 28, 2012)

Awesome, I will have to take some new pics of my guys, probably on the weekend though, lol.


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jun 28, 2012)

im going to make a quick video now  of my whole colection atm


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 28, 2012)

That would be cool.
All mums and pups are doing really well 
The first two litters with 2 different mums are ow in the velvet stage and are so soft.


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## Helikaon (Jun 30, 2012)

one of my first double rex's, looks to be going through a molt


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## Troy06 (Jun 30, 2012)

i had 1 drop 18 she is a 1st time mum and the stock she come from the best he has ever dun was 24 has any one ever bet that and i love the blue ones is there any one down near wagga that has any or coming down this way


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## Helikaon (Jun 30, 2012)

Most of my snake feed breeding stock average about 10-14 but i prefer them to have around the 10 mark as the more they have the smaller the pups are.


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## CaptainRatbag (Jun 30, 2012)

I like the look on the mothers face when she has a dozen babies (nearly due to ween) under her and she cant even touch the ground :shock::lol:

Or when she tries to get away from them and they drag her back again :lol: She has that 'Help!' look on her face


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 30, 2012)

One of the pups from the first litter(only female) wasnt looking so well and my female had pushed her out. So I decided to test her with my other two females, again, they both rejected her. So I had the decision to euthenize her as she was getting weaker and weaker. It was kind of sad, even though they will be fed to the snakes later :/


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## Troy06 (Jun 30, 2012)

well my girl has 18 babys and i have a nother line that has small numbers like 9 to 12 and the 18 are the same size at the same age so no problems there i just had one from the same line have 16 so looking for the 20 lol the guy that breeds the rats i have has been breeding for high numbers for many many years so they are sooper rats now any one else out there getting numbers like this


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## CaptainRatbag (Jun 30, 2012)

One of mine had 19..... most first time mothers have between 7-12 & the second time (+) mothers tend to have between 12-15

Like I have said before, I generally spread any over 12 among other mothers (with similar size babies) so there is less chance of a runt. I actually had one mother die soon after giving birth.... I put her babies with another mother who had just weened 2 days earlier..... she just began lactating again took on the newborn (day old) pinkies


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## Kitarsha (Jun 30, 2012)

One of my girls just had a litter of 17, she had at least a litter of 16 when we got her and her bubs were about 6 weeks - as she had been with the male she had a back to back litter with 14 and she was rather underweight leading up to that one. She probably has the biggest litters of my girls, tho most go above 10 per litter.


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## raycam01_au (Jun 30, 2012)

omg i couldnt resist these so freaking cutes













































thanks for looking


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## nagini-baby (Jun 30, 2012)

love the one with the ear patch


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## raycam01_au (Jun 30, 2012)

nagini-baby said:


> love the one with the ear patch



so freaking cutes lol

its a keeper


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## Kitarsha (Jun 30, 2012)

If you are after some interesting rats to add to your mob the pet store at Aspley is great! A friend picked me up a rex girl, a vari berk girl and a headspot lad  they don't charge the increased prices that a lot of places do for the 'different' types.


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## raycam01_au (Jun 30, 2012)

yeah i heard they goods


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## Venomous_RBB (Jun 30, 2012)

CaptainRatbag said:


> One of mine had 19..... most first time mothers have between 7-12 & the second time (+) mothers tend to have between 12-15
> 
> Like I have said before, I generally spread any over 12 among other mothers (with similar size babies) so there is less chance of a runt. I actually had one mother die soon after giving birth.... I put her babies with another mother who had just weened 2 days earlier..... she just began lactating again took on the newborn (day old) pinkies



I am guessing there was something wrong with my pup if the other two mothers rejeced her :/

Also my other mum has had 7 Pups  5 M, 2 F

Mum 1 - 8 Pups - 7M, 1 had to get euthenised unfortunately, rest are very healthy, All have colours - Fuzzies. 17/06
Mum 2 - 8 Pups - 4F 4M, All happy and healthy, All are starting to get colours through or are just white - Fuzzies. 19/06
Mum 3 - 5 Pups - 2F 3M, All suckling, Velvets. 24/06
Mum 4 - 7 Pups - 2F 5M, All look like Premies :/ But all are suckling, stomach belt looks good etc, Pinkies. 30/06


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## CaptainRatbag (Jul 1, 2012)

I'm not sure BH ^

I have never had a rat reject a live baby? Maybe the mother and the one you tried to place the baby with, knew there was someting terminal wrong with that particular baby? The mothers might have a sense that the baby is not going to make it?


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jul 1, 2012)

some blues and Bews  these are my first blues and 2 have headspots


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## Troy06 (Jul 1, 2012)

i want some blues and is any of u rat breeders breeding supper mice dont no what the breed is called but there big white mice that have lots of babies if any one can help that would be good im down near wagga but if i can pick them up or get them hear some how that would be good thanks every one


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## Venomous_RBB (Jul 2, 2012)

CaptainRatbag said:


> I'm not sure BH ^
> 
> I have never had a rat reject a live baby? Maybe the mother and the one you tried to place the baby with, knew there was someting terminal wrong with that particular baby? The mothers might have a sense that the baby is not going to make it?



Thats what I was thinking as well. As I said it was sad


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## CaptainRatbag (Jul 2, 2012)

Unbelievable  last night after posting I have never had a rejected baby, I found one baby, about 9 days old, in a front corner all by itself looking all forlorn  and only about 2/3rd the size of the others. It did have a milk belt tho? so it was obviously getting some milk.

I looked it over and is seemed ok, so I put it in with a mum with only 6 3 day olds and she is looking after it, maybe it will catch up.Its mother has got 12-13 left now.

I think that when the babies are born, they get like a number (like at the deli at coles) and number 13 onwards dont have a claim on a teet.... so they fight for every feed or fall behind?

I'll let you know how it goes


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jul 2, 2012)

I hd a litter of 10 Bew the female wouldn't produce milk. I didn't notice because she was ontop of the babies trying. Unfortunately none of the babies survived


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## Venomous_RBB (Jul 2, 2012)

Captain - Sorry to hear about your pup, hope it gets better 
One of my oldest pups have gone missing???? I couldnt believe it, yesterday there was 7, woke up to see how they are all going (now 2 weeks old) to see if they have opened their eyes.... yep one is completely missing, tore the whole bloody box apart? Now thinking she ate it :/
No possible way for it to escape....

Liamb sorry to hear about that  That would of been hard.


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## caleb96 (Jul 3, 2012)

What do you guys use for bedding and where do you get it from?


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## shrinkie (Jul 3, 2012)

i had 4 rats origonally but then they bred and i ended up with 33 then i bought a dimond now i have none 

shredded papper, newspaper, sawdust chips and chavings from local petshops or coconut fibre stuff you get in hanging baskets from gardening or DIY shops


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## CaptainRatbag (Jul 3, 2012)

I would say the mother prolly ate it, unfortunately 

I tried breeding an unknown mother I was given, who I think is really old... too old to breed.... I think she ate all her babies. I knew she was close to popping her babies... then there was a bit of blood around.... but no babies..... then I found one dead pinkie, which I removed. I kept watching for her to have more so I could rescue them.... but havent seen any more alive or dead 

Was worth trying, she is very nice looking, a fawn self rex.... but I think she is either really old or she has lost her marbles :lol: She keeps biting onto her tail and running around and around in circles..... then stops, looks over her other shoulder and grabs it from that side and around and around she goes :shock::lol:



caleb96 said:


> What do you guys use for bedding and where do you get it from?



I have gone back to breeders choice paper pellets. I tried hysorb but found alot of the rats got sniffles and sneezie.... breeders choice is more expensive, but the rats get far less sniffles and also it vacuums up heaps better than hysorb when I clean the cages

Have others had trouble with sniffly and sneezie rats on hysorb?


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## Helikaon (Jul 4, 2012)

heres two very terrible phone photos of another double rex which is almost naked at its molt


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## Venomous_RBB (Jul 4, 2012)

CaptainRatbag said:


> I would say the mother prolly ate it, unfortunately
> 
> I tried breeding an unknown mother I was given, who I think is really old... too old to breed.... I think she ate all her babies. I knew she was close to popping her babies... then there was a bit of blood around.... but no babies..... then I found one dead pinkie, which I removed. I kept watching for her to have more so I could rescue them.... but havent seen any more alive or dead
> 
> ...



Yeah I guess so 
All pups are doing well 
And all mums are as well.
sorry to hear about your litter 

I am sure my champagne female is pregnant, that will be interesting.

I use newspaper/ dust free wood shavings (just two handfuls for the pups)


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## deebo (Jul 5, 2012)

sorry about the dodgy pics but grabbed a few of this little girl today. Is it just a plain BEW or something different? It has a black tip to one of its ears and a black mark just above one of its eyes too.....

Helikaon - dont know if i like those or not but they certainly are different! haha!


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## Venomous_RBB (Jul 5, 2012)

David - Very cute rat, how old? My little buggars are just opening their eyes now, so cute


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## deebo (Jul 6, 2012)

Not sure exactly - id say about 2 weeks.....I have another one almost identical in another litter too. They will be kept as pets and spared from the freezer! I love them when they are this size - cleaning all my preggo mum tubs is my favourite part.


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## Helikaon (Jul 6, 2012)

I believe the the bews when bred can produce black spots thats how they make the dalmatians


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## deebo (Jul 6, 2012)

cheers helikaon - i have male and female that look identical from different litter so will hopefully put them together in a few months time and see what happens.


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jul 7, 2012)

Bews often have black spots.


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## raycam01_au (Jul 15, 2012)

some great little colours i have no idea wat they are called, hooded wooded berks, derps ans sherps rex n flex
n sew n bews i no no
hahaha
but i freaking think they cute n they fill ma snakes belly also
cute


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## Sdaji (Jul 16, 2012)

raycam01_au said:


> hahaha
> but i freaking think they cute n they fill ma snakes belly also cute



Haha, whatever colour or pattern they are, they freeze, thaw and digest the same, right?


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## JrFear (Jul 16, 2012)

Is there such thing as super rats?
can any one point me in the direction of where i couldnt get some lab rats and lab mice in sydney!

Thanks


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## deebo (Jul 16, 2012)

Dodgy pic but do these look like blue rats? In the flesh they look a lot different to mink rats....


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## ingie (Jul 16, 2012)

As far as I can tell in the pic they look blue or blue mink


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## deebo (Jul 16, 2012)

I was hoping you would jump on and give your opinion ingie.....I have a few random females in the tub that these appeared in so no idea where they came from (unless the blue trait is recessive) but they do look different to the bluey coloured rats that go through the moult that ive had before.....

Im still a newbie when it comes to rat genetics and it makes my brain hurt sometimes!


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## Sdaji (Jul 17, 2012)

Blue is recessive, and yes, they look blue.


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## nagini-baby (Jul 17, 2012)

Head cound of babies today, a nice round 80


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## ingie (Jul 18, 2012)

If rat genetics makes your brain hurt don't try mice LOL. I recently thought I'd look into mouse genetics and was absolutely lost. It is like rat genetics with a zillion more combinations 

Look at this LOL https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=e464...d=E464A9E86DFDCF8A&resid=E464A9E86DFDCF8A!107

Looks like you have got some blue carrier breeders David  If your previous rats look different to these ones then they were likely not blue, but just mink.


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## Jag It (Jul 29, 2012)

HI Guyz n Galz, I'm after some Blues,Topaz and Rex or Double Rex,if anyone can help me out,even better if your traveling past,as i'm not sure how you would transport them,cheers


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Jul 29, 2012)

Jag It said:


> HI Guyz n Galz, I'm after some Blues,Topaz and Rex or Double Rex,if anyone can help me out,even better if your traveling past,as i'm not sure how you would transport them,cheers



i will have blues and double rex's avalivle in a few months (only 2 for the blues) probaly 4 for the double rexs


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## Helikaon (Aug 5, 2012)

some of my babies jsut took some photos they are sooo cute, Also have a couple more blues just show up to so im excited.
double rexs












after hair grown back they dont look much different to a rex





blaized
















bew








i assume this is some variegated looks awesome though









finally these are looking promising as blues


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## Jak13 (Aug 21, 2012)

Beautiful Blues )


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## ingie (Aug 21, 2012)

Very cute Gary! Yep that one is a variegated berkshire. I love those 

Some more of mine

My favourite picture ever of some of my dalmatians (mismarked BEW)




Some blazed rats 




























Blue rex and drex




Standard blue




My old hermaphrodite rat and his crazy fur




An ugly patchwork rex that will always look like this


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## Helikaon (Aug 22, 2012)

i cant wait until i start producing some mismarked BEWs they are awesomely cute


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Sep 1, 2012)

im exploded withs Bews these days I have tones, project blue is still crappy my male seems to be infertile. but on the bright side my drex is pregnant


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## nagini-baby (Sep 1, 2012)

I'm getting some really cute blazes/white face and minks coming through yay


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## Fuscus (Sep 1, 2012)

A harvest


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## Robynne (Sep 1, 2012)

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.


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## Chondrobsessed (Sep 1, 2012)

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


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## caleb96 (Sep 1, 2012)

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.


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## eddie123 (Sep 1, 2012)

wow fuscus. NICE


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## ingie (Sep 2, 2012)

Robynne said:


> 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!

- - - Updated - - -

Cute rats 

Blues, blue dalmatians, black dalmatians






Blue patch





Fawn





Cute wedge blazes





Blue





Silks


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## Helikaon (Sep 2, 2012)

caleb96 said:


> 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


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## ingie (Sep 2, 2012)

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.


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## deebo (Sep 21, 2012)

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


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## raycam01_au (Sep 21, 2012)

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,


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## deebo (Sep 21, 2012)

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.


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## deebo (Oct 12, 2012)

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


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## CaptainRatbag (Oct 14, 2012)

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


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## jinjajoe (Oct 14, 2012)

deebo said:


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



you excel at random tho Dave !!!


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## ingie (Oct 14, 2012)

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)


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## jinjajoe (Oct 14, 2012)

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 !!


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## cathy1986 (Oct 14, 2012)

deebo said:


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



i name the first one in the photos ZORRO lol 

Cathy


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## ingie (Oct 14, 2012)

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.


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Oct 14, 2012)




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## cathy1986 (Oct 14, 2012)

Liamb561 said:


>



dinner time lol

Cathy


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## deebo (Oct 21, 2012)

Some quick pics from today.....


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Oct 21, 2012)

gotta get some blues and patchworks off you david


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## KristenJ (Nov 21, 2012)

This is my baby boy Elliot, he is a dove hooded I believe? He has ruby eyes. 
His a boy, and whatta boy! 
I got him about a month and a half ago and he has grown so much! His already nearly outgrown his cage (I expected it to last him a bit more than a month, haha) I'm pretty sure his about two months old.
Just a quick question, does anyone walk their rats? I got him a harness on the weekend (mostly just for the backyard) but I was wondering if I could walk him down the street, or to the park (its about ten houses down my street)? He loves his playtime! The picture of him in my hand is from maybe two weeks ago, and the one of him the box (he was so little he just chilled in an iphone box, haha) is when I first got him.
Thank you!


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## Helikaon (Dec 1, 2012)




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## ingie (Dec 1, 2012)

Lovely


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## Helikaon (Dec 1, 2012)

they are pooping up everywhere in my colony now qute little buggers, these were from blue berk and a blue hodded pairing though


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## ingie (Dec 1, 2012)

Yea the variegated gene is lovely


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## KristenJ (Dec 2, 2012)

I went for a walk with Elliot and he liked it! most of the time he was sitting on my shoulder though.
I did get quite a few strange looks from people though :?


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## CaptainRatbag (Dec 2, 2012)

KristenJ said:


> I went for a walk with Elliot and he liked it! most of the time he was sitting on my shoulder though.
> I did get quite a few strange looks from people though :?



:lol: Thats pretty cute...... I have been into woolies with a rat on my shoulder a couple of times.... went up to staff and asked if they have any mouse traps.... my rats dont like mice :shock::lol:

Havent been kicked out..... yet

I wonder what the facial recognition software in the store cameras make of it? :shock::lol:


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## KristenJ (Dec 2, 2012)

CaptainRatbag said:


> :lol: Thats pretty cute...... I have been into woolies with a rat on my shoulder a couple of times.... went up to staff and asked if they have any mouse traps.... my rats dont like mice :shock::lol:
> 
> Havent been kicked out..... yet
> 
> I wonder what the facial recognition software in the store cameras make of it? :shock::lol:



Haha he says thanks 
I went to Woolies with him too. A big shopping centre is about a three minute walk from my house, so thats where I went with him today. But I kept him in my hoodie pocket because a friend had her rat out in the shops and got banned! Hahah


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## CaptainRatbag (Dec 3, 2012)

KristenJ said:


> Haha he says thanks
> I went to Woolies with him too. A big shopping centre is about a three minute walk from my house, so thats where I went with him today. But I kept him in my hoodie pocket because a friend had her rat out in the shops and got banned! Hahah




Make him a little blue coat and tell them it is your 'companion rat'


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## Cold-B-Hearts (Dec 3, 2012)

I like berks 




Solid mink sadle. Why oh why are they scared of me maybe I should go into a diffrent room when culling 




first wedge


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