Blue Rat News

Recently (January 2003), in Brisbane, a blue agouti female rat died after a small injury to her foot. Her owner, after desperately trying to stem the flow of blood from the wound, rushed her to the vet, who also could not aid in coagulating the blood coming from the wound. This rat died in only a few hours.

It has come to our attention that there has been a couple of cases of blue rats having bleeding problems, mainly females whilst giving birth, have bled, what is thought to be "excessively".

At the moment, I am the owner of 4 blue rats, and 8 black rats which carry the blue gene. To date, I have experienced no problems with these rats, and this includes 3 litters. Recently, in an effort to start the ball rolling, I had one of these rats blood tested, to ascertain the makeup of her blood. This was done by Louise Stevenson of Cremorne Vet Hospital, who is also a Government Accredited Vet, used by the AQIS (Aust Quarantine). Bella's blood work up came back as completely normal for a rat of her age and sex. Bella is the sister to Annie (black hood) and Tasha (blue berkshire). She is also the mother to Connor (blue berkshire). All three of these girls have had litters with no problems regarding bleeding. (Annie's litter had to be adopted out as she produced no milk. For this reason, she will not be bred again. Her babies survived, and are all healthy). Whilst I am aware that Bella's blood has exhibited all normal characteristics, I am also aware that *if* this does prove to be a genetic problem particular to blue rats, she and her sisters and progeny are not in the clear.

Presently, after studying the pedigrees of both mine and other blue rats, I consider animals of this colour to be incredibly inbred. However, unfortunately some rats in the background of some blue rats have originated from pet shops, so in their cases the inbreeding coefficient is unknown. I am fortunate to have pedigrees of some depth for my blue rats, and am continuing to breed these rats, with caution, restricting my breeding practices to outcrossing and line breeding, steering clear of the practice of breeding rats who are too closely related. If any problems do occur with my rats or their progeny, I will be ceasing to breed these rats until it is ascertained whether the problem is genetic, or particular to the rat affected.

There are those out who believe that the bleeding problem found in a few blue rats is indeed genetic, and particular to blue rats alone. However, we do not yet have categorical proof of this. Due to 19 years experience in breeding companion animals (dogs) I believe that it is possible that this is purely a problem associated with inbreeding, as this practice has the nasty habit of bringing out the very best type of animal, as well as the very worst. In this case, the inability of the blood to clot is the manifestation of the very worst.

Please, if you are considering buying a blue rat, or a rat which carries the blue colour gene, ask questions of your breeder, and be sure to look at a pedigree, and upon purchase, if you choose to go in that direction, have a pedigree to take home. Make sure you are able to see other rats related to the rat in question - mum, dad, siblings, and be satisfied in your heart that the rat baby is healthy and active. Listen to your gut instinct. If you do not feel comfortable, do not purchase the animal. This is a rule of thumb I have bred my dogs by, and continue to do so with my rats.

Please be assured that I have my pets' best interests at heart, and I will endeavour to ensure that no baby which is offered for adoption on this site, be they bred here, or be surrendered to me for Rescue purposes, will go to their new home unless I am comfortable with both the condition of the rat, and are happy with the prospective parents. I am willing, at any stage and for whatever reason, to take back any rats that I have adopted out, or am willing to help the owners rehome them themselves.

I hope that this little blurb of information has not confused you, but if you have any questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected]

UPDATE 8TH OCTOBER 2003

Here at Royaloaks, we have continued our breeding program with our line of blue rats, and the following events have taken place in my home since January 2003

February 18th, 2003 - Lacock Anastasia (blue berkshire) gave birth to 7 kittens, (6 survived, 1 stillborn) All black, all blue carriers(4 males/2 females) 4 kept, 2 rehomed (with other breeders)

February 21st, 2003 - Lacock Bella (blue berkshire) gave birth to 2 stillborn kittens

April 24th, 2003 - Mischief Makers Rubicaea Arabica (black bberkshire/blue carrier) gave birth to 1 kitten (blue female hood) kept

July 26th, 2003 Mischief Makers Rubicaea Arabica (black berkshire/blue carrier) gave birth to 1 kitten (blue berkshire female) kept

July 31st, 2003 - Royaloaks Renaissance (daughter of Anastaasia; black hood/blue carrier) gave birth to 13 kittens (all survived), sired by a blue carrier from Mischief Makers 1 kitten kept

August 15th, 2003 - our original blue doe, Anastasia, and herr sister, Tatiana, turn 18 months of age today

August 15th, 2003 - Royaloaks Opal Nera (daughter of Anastasiia; black self/blue carrier) gave birth to 10 kittens (all survived) sired by Royaloaks Phoenix Rising (son of Anastasia; black self/blue carrier) There were 3 blues, and 3 possible ruby eyed blues, born in this litter                   4 kittens kept - 3 blues, and one possible ruby eyed blue

October 4th, 2003 - Royaloaks Vegemite Toast (son of Anastasiia, black berkshire/blue carrier; owned by Mischief Makers) has just sired a litter, kitten numbers currently unknown, to a Mischief Makers doe

Other breedings: I have lumped the rest of the Rattery's breedings here. We have had 4 other litters since January, 2003, for 46 kittens (34 survived) This included one litter of 7 which were aborted in their entirety by the doe (non blue related)

From all of this, you can see that I have had more issues with my non blue animals than my blue animals, thus far this year!