Agouti Line

One of the main varieties I would like to focus on is Agouti. I would like to produce agoutis, with a rich, saturated coloring, and at this point we are looking at aiming to have them be mainly self colorings, dumbo earred, in satin and satin rex, producing some cuddly, teddy bear rats! I want to see dark black and rich bright oranges and reds in their coloring. I think agouti is often under appreciated as simply the 'wild type' coloring, but I have seen a some that are truly stunning, and hope to help improve their type and show them as the natural beauties that they are capable of being!

The genetics of agouti rats is actually pretty basic, they are A/A or A/a rats, without other dilutes fully displayed. This is the 'wild type' coloring seen on many rodents, including wild mice and rats, squirrels, etc, since it can help them blend into their habitat. But this coloration, with good selection, is anything but blending and boring, and can be a very striking contrast of bright and dark colors on a rat. The hairs are ticked with different colors, and there are blacks and browns/reds/oranges mixed in to give the rat its overall look.

Satin is a simple recessive coat type, rats can carry it (and sometimes this can affect the coat of the carrier), but must have 2 copies of the recessive gene to be a satin. Satins have longer, finer guard hairs, which contribute to their overall appearance. Satin-rex is a rat who has both a satin and a rex coat at the same time. Rex is dominant, and 2 copies actually multiply the effect (double rex). A rat with a single copy of the dominant gene is rex, having a wavy/curly coat and whiskers, while having 2 copies of the dominant rex gene makes them double rex, often looking somewhat like a hairless. Our aim with satin-rex is to have a single rex gene copy, by breeding the satin rexes to satins. The satin rex coat, because of the longer, finer hairs from the satin, often has much tighter curling and waving, and can have a sheen to it that accents the coat. We hope to work on developing this coat type more here, as it can be a really stunning variety!

Dumbo ears are also simple recessives, with standard ears being able to carry the gene for them, without it displaying at all. We will be looking for nice, round, well placed ears, set low as they should be, without being tubular, wrinkled, or having other problems.

All of our breeding rats will be chosen as stated in our selection section.

Further reading on these varieties and the standards we follow can be found on the following Fancy Rats Wiki pages and the United Rat Standards Affiliation (URSA) pages.

Agouti:
URSA Standards
Fancy Rats Wiki Article

Dumbo Ears:
URSA Standards
Fancy Rats Wiki Article

Satin Coat:
URSA Standards
Fancy Rats Wiki Article

Satin-Rex Coat:
URSA Standards
Fancy Rats Wiki Article

Self Markings:
URSA Standards
Fancy Rats Wiki Article