# Adult Black English/Irish Rats?



## drownsoda (Mar 8, 2013)

Hey everyone! 

My little black baby had 3 little, itty-bitty white spots across her sternum up until recently. I've noticed over the past couple of days that they've sort of grown into eachother, forming a triangle. This means she is an English/Irish black rat, correct? 

If anybody owns any English/Irish black rats I'd love to see some pictures of them. I'm wanting to get a general idea of what Molly will look like as an adult  I couldn't find too many pictures on Google with the exception of lots of baby pics that appear to be of Molly's twins- I'm hoping mostly to see full-grown adults. 

Thanks everybody


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## ratclaws (Nov 11, 2012)

She will look like this: http://www.nfrs.org/images/varieties/mrkd_irish.jpg

Just plain black all round with that white triangle!


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

I have two Irish girls--one agouti, one black. It's hard to get pics of their chests where the triangle is, but otherwise they look like normal agouti or black gals. Super cute.


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## Booder81 (Mar 4, 2013)

My baby English-Irish dumbo has a heart shaped white spot right now, I hope it stays heart shaped <3









Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## drownsoda (Mar 8, 2013)

Awww! That's adorable! If she/he's anything like mine I think it will change  Molly's has changed a ton in only a month. 

She looks a lot like my girl(from what I can see). <3

Why does it seem like they all(English/Irish) have shorter noses than other rats?! Is it just me? Or coincidence maybe?

Editted to add: I guess that was part of my motivation for asking for adult photos of them too- the nose/muzzle thing.


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Yeah she would be an Irish.

Though it's odd that she would have 3 separate spots grow into one, since they are born with the pattern. Sounds like she might of just gotten a very large amount of silvering in that area making her look like an Irish (even if it was just 3 spots she would still be an Irish).


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## drownsoda (Mar 8, 2013)

Weird!!! I was wondering about that because I know that little specific things like that effect coloring/markings on horses and cats but I couldn't find any information along those lines.... Thanks so much for sharing LW, that's really interesting. 

They were the tinyest, almost perfectly round little spots, completely seperate from one another and it's been as if she's had a little more, and more lighter hairs popping up, eventually turning it into a triangle. I figured this was how it worked for all English/Irish babies. 

I'm learning so much on these forums! I friggen' love it


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

View attachment 26546
View attachment 26554


These are my two Irish girls. Do they have the muzzle you're talking about?


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## drownsoda (Mar 8, 2013)

Yes, to me it looks as if their nose/muzzle area is shorter than other rats' muzzles, but it also seems like it's "thicker" too. As in, their nose(nose-nose, the tip slightly above where their nostrils are) appears closer to their eyes. Other rats seems to have a very fine, almost feminine-looking muzzle. Their muzzles are thing and long, English/Irish's are short and thick; almost stubby like a persian cat. 

I wonder if I'm just seeing things since no one else seems to have seen it nor mentioned it, lol. Maybe it has to do with age or something? Also I feel like it's difficult for me to communicate what exactly I'm seeing :| Sort of reminds me of the difference between a quarter horse and an arabian horse- English/Irish's being more like the quarter horses if that makes any sense at all, lol.


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

I get what you're saying--and I've totally noticed it, too, but never made the connection! I have two black rats--Lulu and Euphie. Lulu is an Irish, Euphie is a berkshire, but when they're wandering around I don't see their bellies, I tell them apart by the difference in their faces. I do the same with my agoutis--Luna is a berk, Ashe is Irish, and Ashe's face is what I'd say "boxier" than Luna's. My PEW, Yuki, has a similar facial structure to the two Irish gals, though, and I've seen very few PEWs with very pointy faces, so I wonder if there is something to it, genetically speaking.


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

I'm not sure if it would be genetic, I would say it's more line based then what the actual gene causes since so many genes cause facial, bone, and muscle structure of a rat.

I've noticed that all of my Dumbos have very blocky appearances (in head and in body shape, Dumbos tend to have blocky heads due to their ear position) while all of my standard boys are always very slimmer looking. Though of coarse Charles, Soda, Bentley, and Liam are (were in Charles's case) my fatso, so both can become very chubby but they still have their blocky x slim/alongated appearance. Though I have seem long Dumbos and Blocky standards.


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