This article is from the WSSF 2017 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

By Karen Robbins

Hannah Grover, e-mail
Q I have two 6-month-old Hairless rats (male and female) and I was interested in registering them. Is it similar to registering a dog? What do I have to do to register them? I’m looking for keeping track of lines as my female just had an oops! litter. The previous owner and I believe two males sired this litter. Is that even possible by the way?

A We only have a fun pet registry at this time where you get a certificate and the animal’s names listed in our newsletter and Directory. We do not have a breeder registry as this would require seeing each animal in person and doing a critique on them to determine if they are breeding quality (like what is done with rabbits and cavies).

To keep track of your lines, we have a whole record keeping section on the web site that has different printable forms to use to keep track of your breedings. We also have links to several computer record keeping systems.

Yes, more than one male can be the father of a litter. If you know what the males were and they are different enough, you could tell by what the kids are as to which one is the father of each kid. Otherwise, just sell them as pets if they are not good enough to keep back for further breeding. One breeder did a breeding on purpose of two distinct males with one female knowing by what was produced as to who the father was for each kid.

Q How would I do the records if this litter has two fathers? I’ve seen both and own one of them. One is Hairless with Hooded pigment markings, the other is all black with a white belly. Momma is Hairless but she has a purplish hue to her skin. Both Hairless parents have curly whiskers so I assume they carry the Rex gene. The pups turned a week old yesterday and two or three have a very nice peach fuzz where the others don’t feel quite like that. Also, I believe the majority of them have curly whiskers so I assume Rex gene? Could I predict parents of the Hairless once they get their coats? And can a trait from either father be in a pup?

A Any furry kids will be from the furry guy and any Hairless kids would be either from the Hairless guy or the furry guy if he is carrying Hairless. In that case you would have to list both males as the fathers of any Hairless kids since you wouldn’t be able to know for sure. The only way to tell for sure would be to breed the furry guy to the Hairless female; if you get all furry kids, then he wouldn’t be carrying Hairless and you would then know exactly who the father was for each rat in the current litter.

I’ve seen Hairless with curly whiskers. The only way to know is to breed the Hairless to furry rats and if you get all straight coated rats, then you have Hairless. If you get curly furry kids, then Rex/dominant curly is what they are (your Hairless would not be Hairless but actually homozygous/double Rex or another curly gene that would cause hair loss). Also, Hairless kids will usually be smaller (not because they are runts) than furry kids when in the nest/little.

Each kitten rat can only have one father but there could be different fathers for the litter (some will have the Hairless as dad, others will have the furry guy as dad). You’ll need to wait until they get more hair to see what types of coats you have and colors. If you get curly haired furry kids, then mom would be a curly gene rat and not Hairless (unless you have a recessive curly gene carried by both the mom and the furry dad).

Regarding the markings, if two parents are Hooded, then they can only have Hooded kids. By your description the black furry father is Berkshire (white on the belly) so when bred with Hooded you will get Irish/Berkshire and Hooded, if bred with another Irish/Berkshire you would get Self, Irish/Berkshire, and Hooded. If bred with Self (no white markings at all on the underside), then you would get Self and Irish/Berkshire. You don’t say if the Hairless mom is marked but since you got Hooded kids, then she is likely Irish/Berkshire as it sounds like her skin pigment is dark enough to see markings. You can read more about outcomes with marked rats in the Variegated x Self = Berkshire, not Variegated article. We also have many articles on our Info pages, Breeding & Showing section and an article on Hooded Rats.

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