Rat Genetics  
 

    

     Rat genetics are somewhat hard, but I think only because the people that care enough to understand it try to learn everything. To the right I have a list of some of the mutations and their genotypes.

To see my rats, go to the
Rat Gallery

     Because I'm still learning, I'll post my next breeding project with rats. It includes making a strong Hairless, possible Albino Hairless. By "Strong", this is what I mean:
     Naturally, all mutations affect an organism in a negative way, like the Hairless being more prone to respiratory infections, lung diseases, that sort of thing. But by cross breeding it to a couple normal rats to get some stronger genes in there, it will increase the offspring's life expectancy and decrease the chances of obtaining a disease. So the best way I think I can explain what to do is to draw up my plans. My project is expected to take about 5-6 months. Also, do not inbreed rats if you expect to keep them as pets or create your own breeding project.
     Keep in mind that G1 is the parent generation, and F1 are the first offspring, F2 are the offspring of F1, and so on.
 
DH: Double Het, or Heterozygous for two Genes.
 

G1: Hairless  X  Albino

F1: 100% DH Hairless Albino

       DH Hairless Albino  X  Albino

F2: 25% Albino Het Hairless

        Albino Het Hairless  X  DH Hairless Albino (Not Related)

F3: 25% Albino Hairless Rat!!!

On October 12th I produced the Albino Hairlesses, or Snows!

The Himalayan and Siamese genes are pretty cool. Albino and Siamese are both codominant with each other. If you breed a Siamese to an albino, you get 100% Himalayans.  Himalayans have brown on their nose, and Siamese have more darker brown and brown on their rear end going down the tail. The darker the brown the more valuable.  The first Siamese imported into the US were almost completely brown, but pet stores started breeding their new Siamese to everything and watered down the color.

 

  

A-B-C-D-G-M-P-R
Agouti:
Agouti A~
Albino A~cc
Amber Agouti A~pp
Blue Agouti A~dd
Cinnamon A~bb
Fawn A~rr
Mink Agouti A~mm
Lynx A~bbdd
Black:
Albino aacc
Amber aapp
Beige aarr
Black aa
Blue aadd
Champagne aapp
Chocolate (brown) aabb
Lilac aabbdd
Mink aamm
Platinum aabbgg
Blue:
Sky + Powder Blues aagg
Silver aaggpp
Platinum aabbgg
Albino
Albino cc
Himalayan chc
Siamese chch

Coat, Ear, and Eye:
Dumbo dudu
Hairless fzfz
Tailless stst
Odd Eye oo
Rex Rere
Double Rex ReRe

H Locus:
Self HH
Berkshire Hh
Hooded hh
Amberk/Veriberk Hh'
Veriegated H'h'
Bareback hh'
Cap/Patch/Dalmatian/BEW   h'h'
   
           
          A - Agouti a - Non agouti
          B - Black b - Brown
          C - Normal Color c - Albino, Pink Eyed White, or PEW
          D - Normal Color d - Diluted color or clumped pigment
          G - Normal Color g - Grey, black is diluted to blue/grey
          M - Normal Color m - Mink, black is diluted to grey/brown
          P - Normal Color p - Pink Eye, dilutes black/brown to yellow/grey/blue
          R - Normal Color r - Ruby or Red Eye, not as strong as p, r dilutes dark to be a little lighter
   
          St - Normal Looking st - Tailess, having no tail
          O* -Normal Looking o* - Odd Eye, two different eyes, ex: red and black
          Fz -Normal Looking fz - Hairless, lacking all hair except some whiskers, if any
          Du -Normal Looking du - Dumbo, ears are on sides of head, horizontal with eyes
          Rere - Rex rere - Normal Looking
          ReRe - Double Rex  
 

     I am now working on a High White Project. High White pertains to the ratio of white to it's given color, controlled by the H locus. Self is all one color, Berk is half white, Hooded is a little less, etc. until the BEW, or Black Eyed White, which is my goal. I am starting with all Caps, because caped have the same genotype as the BEW I want to produce, so every offspring potentially can be one. But What matters most is the polygenics of the rats. I will keep the offspring with the least amount of color of every litter, then breed them, and so on until my goal is attained.

~All high white rats carry the possibility of having~
~mega colon, a deadly disease, and I am aware of this.~
 

Alleles with (*) are ones without assigned symbol for the gene and are made up by me.

 

Agouti is a dominant trait that controls the amount of black, brown, and yellow in a rat's fur. An agouti rat will have banded hairs of all three colors.
 


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