Rat colors and patterns I breed for:
I have outlined what my specific specialties are, but I must say there are many different colors I just adore. For patterns my main specialty has always been Self, it's been that way for years ever since I opened Camarattery. But my favorite colors to breed my Self patterned rats for are:
My non diluted darker American Blue (my favorite and main specialty color)
Russian blue
Russian Blue Beige AKA Russian Platinum
Mink
Merle including pearl and mink
Sable Burmese
Siamese Burmese
Siamese I adore both eye colors
Ivory
Pink eyed white (when you see a nice one they are breathtaking!)
Black (although not my favorite it is a useful tool for everything else)
And surprisingly to me Agouti. When I 1st started breeding I didn't like the color. But I hadn't seen nice ones until I shipped them in from California in 2007 from HGLR and RRLM, whom all of my Agouti based rats come from. Now I am in love with the color! And Agouti makes so many nice color combos who can not like it! Here is what Agouti does for me in my rattery:
Agouti of coarse...
Wheaten Burmese
Cinnamon
Cinnamon pearl merle
Fawn
Russian Blue Agouti
Blue Agouti which is American blue and Agouti
These are all colors I love to breed and are specialties of mine in their own way because they pop up in most litters in my rattery. You will see these colors more than anything coming out of my lines. All of these colors are bred into my Self pattern lines. Self being the solid colored rat with no white on them. I am very particular about my Self rats patterns. I do not like to see any white on the toes at all. Since I have been working on the pattern for so long, genetically the good patterns are very dominant at this point. So almost all of my Self rats are born with very nice feet. And I have worked very hard on that for a long time to get them where they are now. Although a few white toes will pop up at times.
Now my hooded and down under rats come in all sorts of different colors too! But my favorites are:
American blue (non diluted)
Mink
Platinum
Burmese
Black
My hooded rats also have a very nice straight wider stripe down their backs. I don't see broken hooded patterns very often. There are 2 sets of genetics that make hooded rats one is the h/h(s) gene this is a "short" gene making the hooded stripe broken and dotted. I have bred this gene out of my lines and only deal with the 2nd hooded gene h/h(L). This gene causes a"Long" stripe on a hooded rat. And this gene is my second specialty pattern I work with in my rattery right after my Self patterns. In my hooded rats I breed for a long, wide stripe that goes from the bottom of the shoulders where the hood ends all the way to the half way point on the tail itself. You will see the actual stripe on the tail but only half way! That is the AFRMA show standard for the hooded rat.
My Hairless are all bred for the Self patterns and pink skin. This means they are a solid pattern with only the genetics that would cause a haired rat to be white. On a hairless this shows as pink skin as the hair is not present. And I like for their eyes to be either black or pink not red. Pink hairless in my personal opinion are much cuter. On a hairless that is genetically a darker color like black, agouti, blue and so on the skin is blacker. And I am fond of the pink so that is what I breed for. And all of my hairless are bred for the dwarf size. This is because when a hairless has forgotten to grow hair and size, there is nothing more adorable to me! That's just to cute to be real.
Dumbo's are also my main specialty. I am much more fond of dumbo. Most everyone loves the dumbos and I am no exception. I love their puppy dog like faces. Standards don't have that. I don't just breed for any dumbo ear shape as there are several. Some are more oval shaped, some have creases or folds or a cauliflower look to them. Those are the varieties I do not breed for. What I breed for is the round shape. I like the ears that are round as a dinner plate. With dumbo ears the AFRMA show standard is the rounder flatter shape. This also what I prefer.
With all of my specialties, if I get an ear shape I don't prefer born in my rattery I won't breed that rat, if I see white toes on my Self's or a dotty line on a hooded I won't breed that rat. I only select for the correct type. This leaves me with superior quality animals to work with, and thus my out comes from every litter are of good quality.
Rats come in so many varieties!