RATS: 5 Babies one has weird fur and coloring plz help?

Question

I bought the female from a pet store who didn't keep males and females seprate. 21 days latter she had a litter of 10. Two died (1 still born, the other cushed during the birthing), 3 others were eaten by mother or cagemate. After the fur came in on all of the babies I noticed that 1 was much diferent than the others. All of them but one are dark brown like the mother and the odd ball looks to be tri colored. At first I thought he might be a hairless but fur started to come in. His is much shorter and really thin. He is also the smallest and of the bunch. Im intrested in finding out what type of rattie he might be. If anyone could help it would be much apreciated. Thankx

Plans for the babies- selling them who wants one?

located in fort worth tx

Answer 1

It's amazing how much genetic material pet store rats can carry when the stores breed their rats willy nilly. A breeding can result in any number of colors, markings, coat types, etc.

There is such a thing as a tri-colored rat and they are called Calicos. Odd Fellows Rattery bred the Solaris Line
http://www.skyclyde.com/SolarisLine.html but it seems like Solaris is one of a kind as he never reproduced babies like himself. See if your baby looks like Solaris. Solaris is what's called a "spontanious mutation", his type just popped up in a random breeding and that type of rat may or may not continue to produce others like itself. I had a spontanious mutation pop up in one of breeding and never again.

Shaz: There is no such thing as breeds of rats at this time, because a rat's body has not changed enough like the breeds of cats and dogs have with breeder manipulation, so breeders have rats in types or varieties. Example: An American Blue, Capped, Rex, Dumbo, Tail-less, Buck is a type, or variety, of pet rat.

mommycaleb: the technical name for a false hairless is a "Peachfuzz Hairless". They look hairless until you touch them, and then they feel like warm velvet because they have a very thin, very fine coat. Peachfuzz Hairless have whiskers and eyebrow hairs, while "True Hairless" are naked, period.
Here are some pictures of a friend's hairless rats for comparison:
http://www.80stoysale.com/ratbreeding.html
(Scroll down)

He could also be an Agouti Rex. This type has a short curly look to the coat. Agouti color is a pattern of shades of brown and black along the hairshaft.
http://www.afrma.org/rexrat.htm
With a Double Rex the baby's coat grows in first, then at around 5 to 6 weeks of age they go through an "ugly" stage when the hair falls out, usually along the back and sides, and the new coat is growing in. The Double Rex may go completely bald as they get older, or the coat comes and goes throughout it's life.
Then there's the Patchwork Rex..........................

Sadly, it is not unusual (not common though) for a first time rat mom to have difficulties in her first birth. If there was something physically wrong with the 3 babies, or they died, then it was the mom who ate them, this too is perfectly normal for rats to do, so you need not blame the cage mate.

Rats are not like other rodents, and they are not like other rodents when it comes to parenthood, but they continue to be generalized like other rodents. I don't know why the inexperienced keep saying to remove all cage mates from the cage of a mother rat and her babies????? Rats are communual animals and some mother rats welcome the help of another female rat who acts as an Aunty and helps to care for the babies.

Your baby sounds like he might be the runt of the litter. Are you sure he's getting enough milk? When they were younger, up to 5 days old, you could see a milk band, a white band across the left side where his stomach is.
http://www.ratsahoy.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=355
(Scroll down)
If he wasn't getting enough food in the first few days, then he could be malnurished. Since he's lived this long, you have a good chance that he will catch up sooner rather then later.

I would love to help you figure out what his color is if you send me some photos (see my profile). Remember though that a baby rat's color will continue to change up to about 2 months old. I have a boy who was Chocolate and slowly changed to Blue.

spazrats
"my life has gone to the rats"

Answer 2

Firstly, you really should separate any cagemates from the mother and her babies. How old are they now? On the baby with "weird" fur, the coloration isn't really an issue- probably just from the father or grandparents. How much smaller than the others is he, and do you have any pictures? It is possible that there is some rex in the background. Rex is what causes curly hair, and also hairless rats (by breeding rex to rex). Are his whiskers straight, or curly? If they are curly at all, he probably just inherited rex genes, which can lead to thin, patchy hair. Pictures are most helpful, but I could probably figure it out by the answers to those questions, too.

Answer 3

Just sounds like your typical tri colored fancy rat with sleek hair. With multiple father choices, it could be a recessive gene or somewhere in the background of the mommy or daddy rat could produce this type. If your baby isn't eating or is shoved out of the nest there isn't a whole lot you can do, but more than likely-he will catch up to his companion litter mates and be fine. Good luck and congrats!

Answer 4

He is probably a rat gene called double rex, there are no "types" of rats. The others probably have wavey textured fur. Those are rex rats.
What are your plans for the babies? Shaz

Answer 5

Perhaps he just took up after some of his family that you never saw or his dad or something. My hamster had a little and one was completely different. Turned out she had an aunt who looked exactly like her.

Answer 6

he could be a false hairless. i can't remember the technical name for them. where are you located?