# Blindness - Common in Albino?



## Condoulo (Aug 30, 2007)

Ok, I am just wondering, how common is blindness in Albino rats? Because I am wondering if my rat is blind or not (which is not a problem because she has been doing fine so far. ). She is very healthy, and a great rat. (oh, I believe I posted about a problem about her head being sideways, she is normal now)


----------



## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

rats are almost completely blind normally anyway. they can see some color but mostly they only see high contrast shapes. to get an idea of what they can see, close your eyes until you can only see out through your eyelashes, that's basically what they can see. however, the redder their eyes become the less contrast they can see. so the pink eyed whites (PEW) or albinos are going to have the worst vision on average then the darker eyed rats. this is why you will normally see a pink eyed rat sway more then a black or ruby eyed rat. the swaying is to help them focus on something they are trying to see and is incredibly cute! 

because of their lack of vision rats sense of smell and touch is what guides them more then anything else. this is also why they will mark things and people. it helps know how to get back there easier.


----------



## Condoulo (Aug 30, 2007)

Ok, thanks for the information.  My rats eyes are more of a darkish red.


----------



## Kima-chan (Jan 12, 2008)

If your rat's eyes are darkish red, it means she's probably ruby-eyed. Cute! I would love to see pictures sometime!


----------



## Condoulo (Aug 30, 2007)

Kima-chan said:


> If your rat's eyes are darkish red, it means she's probably ruby-eyed. Cute! I would love to see pictures sometime!


Heh.  I should probably upload a picture of her.


----------



## Kima-chan (Jan 12, 2008)

T'would be luverly


----------



## Condoulo (Aug 30, 2007)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b390/silvershadowrat/Picture46.jpg

Ignore the crazy person in the hoodie, just take note of the pretty white rat.  (I didn't put the img code because I think it might stretch the page)


----------



## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

what a sweet ratty. is he a rex too? 

he seems like a PEW to me from the pic though. their eyes will actually normally look red until you get a picture of them with a flash, that's when the eyes look like they are glowing and are pink rather then red. ruby eyed rats often aren't noticed to be ruby eyed until their eyes are caught in a flash and show up glowing and pink/red in a picture. though you can notice a reddish tinge to them if the rat is held in the light.


----------



## Condoulo (Aug 30, 2007)

I'm not sure what else she is. I never really payed attention to breeds actually. 
I also have another picture here:


----------



## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

there are no breeds of domestic rat (well other then the gambain which so far is illegal in the states and canada and his freaking HUGE) merely different variations which is based solely on combinations of markings, eye type and fur types. 

for instance, from the pictures i would say your girl is a standard PEW which means your rat has a non-rex white coat with top of the head sitting ears, and has pink (also known as red) eyes. without knowing her genetics i would not be able to know if she was a true albino or not. i forget who it was that gave me the link and i didn't keep it but what it said basically was that there have been hooded rats that have been bred to have less color to them until they actually looked white, this is how the BEW (or black eyed) white is possible. it also said that this is why you can get hooded or marked rats even from completely white looking parents. it was an interesting read. hopefully the person that had the link will come by here and and post the link again.


----------



## Condoulo (Aug 30, 2007)

ah.  Yeah, that does sound interesting.


----------



## madeittothemoon (Nov 1, 2007)

http://www.ratbehavior.org/RatCam.htm

That website has videos of how rats (regular and albino) see... it's really interesting.


----------

