# My first rats Nautica and Sookie.. marking help?



## meeka (Jun 6, 2012)

I just have pictures of Nautica for now (Sookie is odd eyed, pictures later when she's feeling better). Any idea on her color and marking? Maybe masked? Also I'm a little perplexed by her behavior. She's usually a super friendly (or seems) rat. These are my first rats, so I'm still learning everything. She will follow me around the cage if I'm doing anything or run over to you if you open it (constantly leaning out/trying to crawl up my arm...usually licking it). However, she also makes these chattering sounds as she does this. Or is that bruxing? >< She can't possibly be stressed/nervous. 

Also, if anyone sticks their fingers through the cage she will nip/nibble them. Sometimes even holding with her teeth down and pulling back. Not too hard but almost firm. Not enough to leave marks, however. Is there a way to break this? No feeding from hands? I've only had her a day and she came this way. I know she was originally from the pet store. I just don't want this to advance to biting and 'nip it in the bud' heh before it escalates. We haven't fed her through the bars yet.

My little 'anchor' head:



















































Ah yes, and I used the towel that my grandmother gave me when I was 21. -_- Apparently, I'm forever 10 XD


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## Sidurah (Sep 28, 2011)

Congrats on your girls! Nautica is very pretty. I really want a dumbo, but alas, I haven't found any.

One of my new girls, Gwen, bites. She's drawn blood twice, but not in a few weeks. I say "finger" when I'm reaching toward her, and "num-num" if I have a treat. It seems she bites because she's not sure what an object is, and assumes it's tasty. If she bites, I yip in a high-pitched voice. Also, NEVER give treats through the bars. Hope that helps!


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

She is either a blazed capped rat or a dalmatian. it looks like she has some silvering so it looks like she is most likely a dalmatian.She looks like a mink in one picture but looks more like a russian blue. that noise is doing is bruxing, if you see her eyes moving when she does it she is boggling (when they are happy and content, they brux, when they are Super happy and content they boggle). Its normal for female rats to be extremely hyper, actually all baby rats are normally hyper (my two year old male Charles though is still on the hyper side of the spectrum, same with all my other males). its normal for baby rats to do the nippy thing through the bars, rats have very poor vision (normally around 900/20 vision, ruby eyed and pink eyed rats tend to have over 1200/20 vision. the average near sighted person is 50/20 if that helps give an idea). typically what I do is when I give my boys a treat i'll say something to them different then what I say when I am going to pet them. it shouldn't escalate into something worth, I feed my guys treats through the bars all the time, and I've never been mistaken as food, well, only once but that was my fault, I had chocolate on my finger, and the rat I was going to pet through the bars I swear was blind (I don't mean near sighted, I mean truly blind) so that was really my fault. though after a while they learn to tell your scent from that of food. a trick is don't immediately put your finger in, put your finger near the bar, let your rat sniff you, and then put it close, if they attempt to bite pull it back and do it again. Also don't touch a sleeping rat, they will attempt to bite you (Sorry Storm, I didn't know you were sleeping, why must all of my rats sleep with their eyes open, lucky i pulled my hand back far enough away before he bite me)
She's really cute.


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## brittbritt (May 13, 2012)

She is super cute.


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## meeka (Jun 6, 2012)

Thank you all for the replies! Sorry, I've been a bit out of town ><

 I took some (hopefully) better pictures for her color. I'm going to try to train her to words (treats) if I have any. At the moment, I'm trying not to feed through the bars or even stick fingers through bars, but I do let her smell my hand first whenever I ever approach her (as a fist). I did almost make the mistake of waking her with the whole biting thing...her instinct was to lunge (not very fast or hard, but she had her mouth open). So I'll be sure to not wake them like that. 90% of the time she's mostly just making those soft sounds and licking my hands/arms.

The first picture is the no-sew hammock I made for them  I actually made 3 of them (a corner hammock, and the one down below with the ball pictures). but they both seem to greatly prefer the bunkbed one.  The last picture is probably best for her color.






































annnd Sookie was sleeping -_- so! I WILL get pictures sometime!


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Yep she is definably a minks.


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## missTin (Jul 15, 2012)

Sooo cute


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## meeka (Jun 6, 2012)

*SOOKIE! (finally)*

She's feeling better and becoming more social:

(odd eyed female) She's more of a beige than gray ....Dalmation?


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

looks like a mink, maybe even a russian dove (don't count on that one though), odd eyed, which is a high white sign (just because they are a high white doesn't mean they will get megacolon) She's most likely a blazed mis marked capped, or just a mismarked patched. She could also be an over marked varigated since her head area has no silvering but her other spots do. I'm not sure with her pattern. She's pretty though.


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## meeka (Jun 6, 2012)

Thank you again  So is she just a different shade of mink (she is certainly more of a brown/beige) than Nautica (more of a classic 'mink' I suppose with a mid gray with a tint of brown). Cinnamon? I think there are several shades of mink if I'm understanding that right >< though it's odd b/c her markings are more of a gray on her body (where her face is closer to a beige/brown). Is that from silvering? Here are some closer pictures (much larger) for pattern/color/marking help:


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

yeah its from silvering, looking closer she could be a beige, or a russian beige. I'm going with Mink or Russian Dove though, more so towards the russian dove (with is mink and blue put together).


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