# New baby soon/vet visit today



## Enchilada (May 29, 2014)

So one of my boys (3 yrs) we recently discovered a fast growing tumor on, and took him to the vet, vet says he should be okay for now, might live a minimum of 6 months, the tumor Isn't bothering him. However we decided to get another boy anyways from a breeder, just in case he passes away and leaves our other one without a friend. 

This breeder is also reserving a hairless boy for us a litter down the road, We'll be able to pick up this boy soon though, about 2 weeks from now, so I'm looking for name ideas, preferably not regular people names, our other boys names have been Moose, Scout, and Masala. Any ideas appreciated! 

Too excited to meet our new little boy!


----------



## RavenTheRat (May 28, 2015)

Awww, what sweeties! 
Names huh?
Hm.....
Some of my favorites for boys are Bela, Barley, Ashes, Phoenix, Snoopy, Ouija, Hex, Furby, Cookie and Nyco.
Weird names that you probably won't like, but I offer anyway xD


----------



## TuxedoGilma (Apr 25, 2015)

Pepper. His back side reminds me of pepper lol. He is absolutly adorable!


----------



## Enchilada (May 29, 2014)

So The lady we planned on getting the hairless boy from had me prepay for the boy, then the next day tells me she hasnt got any, and she just had different colors, so my boyfriend and I are picking up the other boy today and hopefully going to find a hairless someplace else another time. I just found it very weird/ kinda scammy? I dont know. I would think you would wait till you know the colors to reserve/ ask for money.


----------



## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

Enchilada said:


> So The lady we planned on getting the hairless boy from had me prepay for the boy, then the next day tells me she hasnt got any, and she just had different colors, so my boyfriend and I are picking up the other boy today and hopefully going to find a hairless someplace else another time. I just found it very weird/ kinda scammy? I dont know. I would think you would wait till you know the colors to reserve/ ask for money.


Sounds to me like she's probably just a bad breeder and thought she'd end up with hairless and then didn't because she doesn't understand the genetics. Sorry it didn't work out for you but perhaps it's for the best if she doesn't know what she's doing.


----------



## lkoechle (Aug 5, 2015)

Was it a prepay in full or just a deposit? I know some breeders request deposits upon application approval in case you back out, they still have money to go into the pot to care for the reject until a home is found. Or if its not what you desired, you remain on the "wait list" until the specific rat you asked for is produced (if you're being picky) and the rat that did not come out as desired, moves on to the next person. This is a very common practice among responsible dog breeders. You never want to have babies with no homes lined up.

Did the breeder give you an option to wait for a future litter? If she did, then its not scammy, if she didn't, then that's a little shady. Some rats with the hairless gene don't always produce hairless babies and you don't want to breed hairless to hairless (kind of like breeding white tiger to white tiger) The gene causing the morph usually can cause other issues like a weakened immune system. Responsible breeders won't breed hairless to hairless but haired to hairless or two haired with hairless genetics. It gives the hairless rats produced a better genetic backbone. So it's possible she knows her genetics but no hairless were produced in the litter.


----------



## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

lkoechle said:


> Was it a prepay in full or just a deposit? I know some breeders request deposits upon application approval in case you back out, they still have money to go into the pot to care for the reject until a home is found. Or if its not what you desired, you remain on the "wait list" until the specific rat you asked for is produced (if you're being picky) and the rat that did not come out as desired, moves on to the next person. This is a very common practice among responsible dog breeders. You never want to have babies with no homes lined up.
> 
> Did the breeder give you an option to wait for a future litter? If she did, then its not scammy, if she didn't, then that's a little shady. Some rats with the hairless gene don't always produce hairless babies and you don't want to breed hairless to hairless (kind of like breeding white tiger to white tiger) The gene causing the morph usually can cause other issues like a weakened immune system. Responsible breeders won't breed hairless to hairless but haired to hairless or two haired with hairless genetics. It gives the hairless rats produced a better genetic backbone. So it's possible she knows her genetics but no hairless were produced in the litter.


If she knows her genetics and she knows her rats then there would not have been the case of "oops no hairless this time." If she's a reputable breeder, her breeding stock would have come from another breeder who would have well informed her of what recessive traits the rats carry. Hairless isn't a gene that just poofs into existence or out of it at random. Unless you're playing with colors and markings, a breeder who knows their rats knows what they're going to get pretty much down to the number of pups with whatever trait is to be expected.


----------



## lkoechle (Aug 5, 2015)

You can say what the probability is. You can't say you know for sure unless you're god. A dog breeder of rough and smooth coat collies can say "I expect to have both smooth and rough coat in sable and blue merle" and produce a litter of exclusively rough coat sables. Genetics are always a gamble. My husband and I both have brown eyes born of brown eyed parents and no blue or green until grandparents. We expected our son to have brown eyes. He has green hazel. You never know. You can breed two champion horses and they throw out a terribly conformed horse who would not be good for what either of the parents did. It is always a gamble.


----------



## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

Genetics with traits that are not strictly dominant or recessive are a gamble, yes. Hairless is a recessive trait to the standard fur dominant, meaning there's no maybes or halfways if you know what you're working with. If you breed two rats that are recessive for hairless, you're going to get 1/4 hairless pups. If you breed a hairless and a hairless recessive, you're going to get roughly 1/2 hairless. If you breed a hairless and a standard, you're going to end up with a bunch of standards that are recessive for hairless. Hairless and dumbo are about the easiest rat traits to understand. Too often it's the case that a breeder will get a hairless rat and breed it to a standard furred rat and expect to see hairless pups on the first pass.


----------



## blakeduhh (Aug 9, 2015)

you could name the little guy freckles


----------



## Enchilada (May 29, 2014)

I guess she said both the mother and father of the hairless litter were carriers, but I dont know specifically what they are. I ended up picking up the one boy sunday, was a long drive there and back. She had me pay for the hairless and the one boy ahead of time I think because the hairless litter hadnt been ready at the same time as the other one, so she was going to have to keep the one boy longer. I ended up finding another breeder for the hairless I want, the new boy seems to have gotten used to his surroundings very well so far. Hes incredibly clever, on the first day he learned "hand" to jump into my hand and wait for a treat, and then up, and now he knows to run on his wheel, and to crawl onto my arm to my shoulder. My boyfriend and I are still stuck on names, we want something a little less childish than what most people name puppies. He keeps trying to look up names in other launguages, but I have a feeling we'll eventually come up with it. I'm pretty happy with him, hes certainly the most cuddly rat I've ever had. Earlier today he was content to lay with me on the bed, on my shoulder and lay under my sleeve.


----------

