This article is from the July/Aug. 1991 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

By Karen Hauser

Michele Buck, Rootstown, OH
Q Why shouldn’t Rex rats be bred together? What do they look like?

A If you breed 2 Rexes together, you will end up with some babies that will lose part or almost all of their coats. These are homozygous Rex. They will grow their coats back, but it is very short and usually will get sparse or thin at times. Some people have made Hairless rats by breeding Rex to Rex several times until they get bald rats. However these will still have some fuzz on their faces and feet. Refer to the July ’84 issue, Rex Breeding and May/June ’85 issue, Breeding Genetics for more information on breeding Rex rats.

Spencer Matthews, Ozark, MO
Q My Argente mice are of course P.E. Agouti with silver blue undercoat. I’m a little confused about the exact shade of top color. Mine are orange, just a bit lighter than normal Fawn. Should it be lighter?

A The American English Gold (England’s Argente) will have a light fawn color - usually no variations in the shade (yours sounds OK), where the pure English Argente are a lot darker, being more of a red color (however, the undercolor is not any darker like you would expect with the darker top color). One problem you may encounter with this color is more with the lilac undercolor running too high into the fawn top color making it a very dirty looking color.

Michael Emerson, Burnham, ME
Q I read that Siamese, P.E. White and Himalayans when bred together should produce any of these. Right. Mine are throwing mis-marked babies and babies with funny coloration. Some are reddish, some a blueish-gray, and some are a brownish-red. One is even a Chocolate Tan with the dark points. My understanding is that the Siamese gene is supposed to suppress the red coloration, so I doubt the Chocolate is a true Siamese. I also have some P.E. White Tans. Not genetically Albinos. I’ve just managed to breed out the top color with the bottom color also suffering. In mating two P.E. White Tans together I get litters of Lilacs, Champagnes, white with dusky gray or yellow cast and the P.E. Whites all with Tan bellies. Very unimpressive. The Tan is so light sometimes the edging or flanking is the only hint of a Tan.

A You obviously have the spotted gene in your Siamese stock, along with the Tan gene. You don’t want to get the Tan gene into your Siamese stock as it will give you Siamese Foxes, something that can go unnoticed if you don’t carefully watch belly colors. It will become fixed into your stock making it near impossible to get rid of unless you scrap the whole lot and start over – it has happened.

The blueish-gray ones sounds like Dove. I have gotten some Dove in my Siamese by crossing the Siamese with English. Yes, Siamese is supposed to suppress the red coloration – I tried, unsuccessfully, and other breeders have too, to make Fawn Point Siamese. The Chocolate Tan with point color may be a Sable Tan Siamese. (Chocolate is not a red gene, so you can get Chocolates out of your Siamese stock.) As far as the strange colors that you have, I don’t know what they would be. Try taking your best Siamese stock and cross with Self Black (not out of Tan or Spotted) if you want to start over. Cull anything with white tail tips, white feet, or white on the body. If anything comes out with white bellies, then try to find who is carrying the Tan gene and cull it out. (See the March/April ’85, May/June ’85 and Sept./Oct. ’87 issues for more on breeding Siamese.)

I too, have had some P.E. White Tans which I figured were extremely pale Champagne Tans as I also got colored mice from them.

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