Quote:
The Breed (color pattern/shape) of a rat has little to do with personality-
There are:-
----Shapes---
Rex (curly coat )
Tailless (self explanitory)
Dumbo (Difrent attachment place for ears)
Dwarf (Self explanatory)
Hairless (Self Explanatory)
----Colors/Patterns---
PEW (Pink eyed white - often but not always albino)
BEW (Black Eyed white - dark eyes with the white coat- more rare)
hooded- (Self Explanatory)
dalmatian- (The line I got dalmatians from was 'short lived' not sure this is 'normal' or just anecdotal)
Self - Dark top light underneath, solid color
Reverse Hooded- (Self Explanatory)
Blue- (Self Explanatory, two colors American and Russian)
Moon- A newer dilute of the American Blue genes, currently bred by Bellaratta in FL
Himalayan/Siamese - like the cat
However Health Problems are associated with tailless (back problems) and Dwarf (heart failure and Failure to thrive) currently.
Some like Hairless need a little more caution due to not having any protective furs, some lines bleed more then others (see thin skin), or any Pink Eyed rat has a higher chance of going blind.
There are also lethal genes in those sets so please do not breed pet rats without a mentor, you may lose mommy and babies.
I -personally- know great breeders in FL for rats and if you can start with pet rat breeders (Bewear BYB (back-yard-breeders)) however I have also had horrible luck with breeder animals.
((
http://floridarat.com/phpbb3/index.php ))
Males are (usually) lazy and want to just cuddle and be held
Females are (usually) very active and curious, easier to train tricks
I keep Males, clean cages reduce/eleminate smells unless you get really unlucky (buck grease).
I keep more then 2 square feet per rat, that is the minimum. I always keep same sex pairs. (they can spay/neuter rats I find it expensive)
I have ad rats die on me under a year from a breeder and Garfunkle the morbidly Obese rat lived 4.2 years- average is 3 years.
I have had both breeder rats and petstore rats and feeder rats. (I suggest breeders for beginners, feeders for experts that know what they are dealing with)
I have had rexes and dumbos in PEW, hooded, and self colors... I currently have a Hemi (Himalayan) his partner died a couple months ago and he's too old for new intros (nearly 3).
I have noticed to plain furred rats rexes always look like thy are being aggressive (fur ruffled is aggressive rex fur is ruffled always)- this makes it harder for a beginner -
I would never keep rats in a fish tank the amonnia build up would be bad, see Martin's Rat cages - I have a custom one from there.
http://www.martinscages.com/products/cages/rat/
If you go to the Rat forum I posted you can get a good cage for cheap.
Thanks for the information! We had a female rat that we got for free from a lady who was returning a rat to the petstore.
