AFRMA

American Fancy Rat & Mouse Association

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

Colors & Coats


Drastic Color Change In Rat

By Karen Robbins


The rat in question

Taylor Holzer, e-mail
Q She was near white up until recently—looked like a gross urine-stained color. Eyes used to be very bright red. Father is Black carrying Mink and Siamese. Mother is Blue d’Argent. Grandpa on mother’s side is a Beige d’Argent. Grandma on mother’s side is Blue d’Argent. Grandpa’s parents are the Black father and Blue d’Argent.

A On the monitors here the photos look like a dark Beige/brown/Siamesey almost Burmese color. Is it that color in real life? Or is it more gray? Normal Beige or Siamese/Burmese do not change like you described, so it is hard to say what she really is. Sometimes the temperature can affect the colors of babies but those are usually dark, then lighten. Since there is Siamese on both sides, she could be a dark Siamese. If she molts out into Siamese (lighter body color with points) then she would be a dark Siamese in this photo. Please send photos after she molts her baby coat as we’d love to see what color it turns out to be.

D’Argent are normally a darker color that silvers by this age and I don’t see any silvering on her. *

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April 18, 2019