This article is from the WSSF 2016 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

By Karen Robbins

Monica Markel, Facebook
Q Today I noticed this rat has some amazing colors, there is an orange red band going down her back…I figure she is a Cinnamon (and that means she is also an agouti). Is she a Russian Blue Agouti?

The color faded to her underbelly but she also has a line of white on her belly not chest. So is she a Berkshire too?

Also, I had a rat who went to a home this week and it was a fawn with blue-silver guard hairs, so the rat was orange with ruby eyes with the blue-silver guard hairs. I looked up Fawn but it says nothing about guard hairs. Silver fawn is supposed to have pink eyes. His undercoat was cream.

A On the monitors here the first photo looks like a very nicely colored Agouti with a little darker area on the rump that could be from molt. The second photo is more red that looks like it could be from the lighting when you took the picture. If the guard hairs are black like they look like here, then she is an Agouti. Cinnamon looks brown compared to agouti. They are an Agouti that also has Mink/Lilac to make this color (another name for Cinnamon is Mink Agouti).

Cinnamon vs. Agouti 5-week-old male rats owned and bred by Karen Robbins, Karen’s Kritters. Cinnamons look brown compared to the black/red of the Agouti. Photo ©2012 Karen Robbins.

A Cinnamon vs. Chocolate Agouti 4-month-old rats owned and bred by Nicole Housel, Black Wolf Rattery. Chocolate Agoutis look like Agouti next to Cinnamon but are really red and have chocolate ticking instead of black. Photo ©2016 Nicole Housel.

All Agouti colors have a naturally lighter belly. We have several photos on the Facebook page: Rat Belly Colors and KK Agouti, Cinnamon, Cinnamon Pearl Rats (2147).

We have a note on the FB page of color comparisons ID Rat Colors: Agouti, Cinnamon, Blue Agouti, Russian Blue Agouti, Russian Cinnamon.

Agouti vs. Chocolate Agouti male rats owned by Nicole Housel. Chocolate Agoutis are really red compared to normal Agouti and have chocolate ticking instead of black. Photo ©2015 Nicole Housel

Another color very similar to Agouti is Chocolate Agouti. They are Agouti with the addition of Chocolate and look like a very bright Agouti, and next to normal Agouti it makes the Agouti look dark and dull. These next to Cinnamon and they look like a richly-colored Agouti. The Zephyr rats page has a nice photo of Agouti vs. Chocolate Agouti (Comparison pictures of the darker shades section in the middle of the page). And on the Hawthorn Rat Varieties page is a photo of the two colors together.

Regarding the marking, I would have to see a photo of the belly marking. Berkshires are supposed to have the entire belly white. A poorly marked Berkshire (lightly marked) could be what we call English Irish/Irish which is not showable. You can see other markings such as English Irish and Irish on the Marked page. Ideally, these are what they should look like.

A 3.5-month-old Russian Blue Agouti male rat owned by Jozzette Hagemann, bred by Karen Robbins, Karen’s Kritters. They have a pale cinnamony look but with blue ticking instead of the chocolate. Photo ©2015 Karen Robbins.

Russian Blue Agoutis don’t have the red color and will have the dark blue guard hairs instead of black.

On the Fawn with the blue-silver guard hairs and cream undercoat, I would have to see a photo to tell you what that is.

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