Brown and Mink Genetics by Debbi J. Needham
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Copyright D. Needham: 2000 - 2010. Please safeguard intellectual property by citing author and source.
Rat coat colors...Our Observations, by Debbi J. Needham 2010 Repost - 1st Post ~2004 Browns - chocolates, bb, and minks, mm, A few genes for brown rats, that are not agouti (wild type banded brown), occur in the USA, but it is difficult to determine which gene one has in their rattery. We have bred a few rats from various locations/ratteries in the USA and the results are below. Pictures of the rats that I discuss are at the bottom of this page. At Odd Fellows Rattery, we started with a line of browns that came from Moona of OFR, a Tacoma, WA, pet-store bred rat that we obtained in late 1999. She passed down a brown that I will call, for this discussion, 'Moona' brown. She also carried blue, and champagne, p.e.d. genes, which accompany the brown color, made the lilac color of Moona II and Moona II. We found this 'Moona' brown to be compatable with brown genes of NLR Solaris, tri-colored, whose 'brown' father was found in a pet store in Alaska, as well as DU/Perez rats we aquired from N. CA, and manx rats we aquired from S. CA. Moona Brown compatible with NLR Solaris Brown NLR Solaris, tri-colored was bred with OFR Moona III, lilac, and one of their offspring was brown. We named her OFR Chantilly. Solaris father was brown, from a pet store in Alaska. These brown genes were compatible. Moona Brown compatble with DU/Perez Brown We also found this 'Moona' brown color to be compatible with RG(Connie Perez) DU/Aussie Hybrid rats. OFR Rusty, a black self , son of RG Mr. Wrigley, our first agouti DU from Connie Perez, bred with Moona II, lilac, and produced lilac and blue babies. The brown genes are compatible. Mr. Wrigley's mother was from the USA, and did have SRR and MAR ancestors in her pedigree. Moona Brown and DU/Perez Brown compatible with Bonnie Walter's Manx Brown We bred Lightning, a dumbo cinnamon (mink+agouti) DU, to Bonnie's Lewis, and they had cinnamon and blue babies. When their daughter, Blueberry, was bred to Bonnie's pew manx, Clark, all babies were blue or platinum. These brown genes are compatible. Moona Brown & Solaris Brown NOT compatible with Prospect Street Rattery 'mock mink' We obtained a 'brown' dilute rat from Prospect Street Rattery, in Tacoma. His name is PStR Blazing Hot, a merled 'mock mink'. It is thought only minks can 'merle'. His pedigree contained Khats Rats from OR and SBR rats from Canada. PStR Blazing Hot was bred with OFR Chantilly, a brown from OFR Moona II X NLR Solaris. She had all black rats. This proves the two browns are NOT obvious alleles - are not compatible. Khats Norma Jean, Pearl Mink, X SBR Louis, bluish/mink called "English mink' NOT compatible? We obtained Khats Norma Jean from OR. It is thought only minks can pearl, although she is light and not obviously brown, other dilution genes contibute to that. She is still 'genetcially brown'. When she bred with SBR Louis, a bluish/brown rat, from Canada, all babies were black, except for one doe, OFR Charity. She was a brown that was different than both of her parents! The percentage of her brown phenotype in the litters, would mean that the above rats carried 'her' brown gene. When offspring from the two above breedings (black rats) were bred together, a couple brownish rats appeared! A black baby from each of the above litters were bred to each other. They produced beige, black, and the 'brown rats' that looked like OFR Charity. We kept one, and named him OFR Saspirilla - see his pic. below. New Brown! - Australian Mink This color was imported by Connie Perez in 2002 from Australia. The genes are considered not compatible with any known USA brown. See Kalarabi's pic. - below. New Brown? - English Mink Recently, minks from the UK, entered the USA. The breeders of these minks will try to test it against browns in the USA, but will also keep a line of them 'pure', so we don't further complicate the puzzle. Conclusion We may have several mink 'genes' in the USA. Which ones are really American mink, chocolate, or Mock mink? It is hard to tell by descriptions, because, after all we are talking about subtle shades of brown. Hopefully, with comparisons via the internet and through observations, like this one, and through rat clubs & groups discussions, we can unravel the mystery! |
| RG Kalarabi - 'Australian Mink' brown. Kal is a Cinnamon hooded mismarked. He was bred by Connie Perez, and is the son of two Austrailian rats. His mink is from Austrailia and may match up with some browns found in the USA. But, because their is alot of confusion on exactly what minks (browns) we have in the USA, determining the exact compatible mink gene has not been verified. We did get a doe of his color, bred from offspring of RG Mr. Wrigley, a DU Aussie/USA hybrid. So that mink gene has been passed into a few Down Under decendants. |
| When mink gets together with blue, you get platinums.OFR Moona - Dumbo Platinum Doe carries p.e.d.. |
| OFR Moona II- Lilac Doe, Daughter of OFR Thallasa, (Moona's daughter) Black X OFR Moses Jr. (Moona's brother's son) Black. Carries blue and p.e.d. genes. |
| OFR Moona III- Lilac Doe, Daughter of Moona II X OFR Princeton, blue. Carries Blue and p.e.d. genes. |
| Baby of Moona III X OFR Rusty Black Aussie hybrid. |
| OFR Chantilly, brown/mink. Daughter of Moona II X NLR Solaris, Tri-colored. Carries r.e.d. genes from Solaris. |
| OFR Saspirilla, caramel/brown. Grandson of OFR Chantilly X ProspectStRattery Blazing Hot. Grandson to Khat's Norma Jean, Pearl X SBR Louis, mink |
| PStR Blazing Hot - Merled 'mock mink' brown. Son of SBR Dylan, Pearl Merle X Khat's Kenzi, fawn. When bred to OFR Chantilly (right) offspring were all black rats. Not compatible alleles. Blazing won RatsPacNW Best of Variety - Merled. |
| OFR Charity, caramel/brown. Daughter of Khats Norma Jean X SBR Louis. Her dumbo black brother sired OFR Saspirilla, to the left. |
| Khats Norma Jean - Pearled 'mink' - another brown? When bred to a bluish/brown rat, Natalie's Louis, she had all black rats, except for one. Both her and him must have carried this brown gene, to have her- OFR Charity, below. But their homozygous mink genes were not compatible. |
| OFR Lightening - Dumbo Cinnamon, from DU/Perez brown. Daughter of RG Mr. Wrigley, Aussie Hybrid DU agouti X RG Meadow, dilute mink. Carries blue. Her daughter, OFR Blue-berry, blue DU, bred with Bonnie Walter's Lewis, blue manx and had blue and cinnamon babies. When Blue-berry bred with Bonnie Walter's Clark, pew, she had ALL platinum babies (mink+blue). The DU mink/brown is compatible to the Bonnie Walter's mink/brown. |
| OFR Cleopatra line - Dumbo Brown. Found in the dame petstore as Moona, but different litter, could be related. Her son won a Best in Show Reserve place and, he and her lived a long time, close to 3-years-old.. Her great grandson through Fawn doe X black Solaris offspring produced a mink rat. Which means her brown was compatable to NLR Solaris. |
Moona Browns...
Moona of OFR
OFR Moona II
OFR Moona III
| OFR Moona III X Aussie Hybrid from DU lines. |
OFR Chantilly
PStR Blazing Hot
OFR Saspirilla
OFR Charity
Khats Norma Jean
Cleaopatra of OFR
OFR Lightening
RG Kalarabi