# Hairless vs double rex vs rex babies?



## Sally2tits (Oct 16, 2012)

Hello my names Veronica im new to the site and I have a surprise litter of rats from a rat who turned into an abandoned pet sitting job  (who btw is looking for a home with her mom just sayin;D)soo anyhow theres 11 3 week old fuzzy babies now except one who is nearly naked with tightly curled whiskered, he seems to loose more fur everyday is there a way to tell what his fur typoe is at this point? or is it too early to tell? Ive heard of hairless babies who start out fuzzy and loose the fur


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

are any of the other babies in the litter rex (curly furred), there's a lot of genes out there that affect the coat, that might help work out which it is


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## BlackCat99 (Oct 9, 2012)

If the mom and some of the babies have curly/wavy fur I would guess the naked baby is a double rex which means they got a rex gene from both mom and dad. However if mom is not a rex then it is likely another gene causing the hairless look.


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Can you get a picture of the mom? that will help out a lot with if it is a double rex. As Double Rex is two rex genes (Re/Re) and hairless is recessive (hr/hr) so if the mom is a standard (re/re) there is no way for them to be double rex and they would have to be hairless, but if the mom is a rex or double rex herself then the chances of them being double rex are almost 100%.


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## Sally2tits (Oct 16, 2012)

The mom is smooth coat she was almost satin/shiney before the litter none of the others are rex or ''furless" just one poor naked boy  I think he may be double rex though his coat litterally is changing from day to day one day its thinning the next its filling in and what little fur he does have is looking a little wee bit curly sooo Im thinking double rex?this site was kinda helpful and where I got my info
http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/other-pets-exotics/163155-hairless-rat-rex-rat.html


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## Sally2tits (Oct 16, 2012)

heres some pictures of the naked babie in question


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## BlackCat99 (Oct 9, 2012)

if mom is smooth coat the baby cannot be double rex as he would have to have gotten rex from both parents (rex always shows in rats) Though that baby does look like it has some coat issues. it does not look rex to me as there is no curl to the fur or really to the whiskers, my double rex girls look like someone took a curling iron to their whiskers, I don't know much about true hairless genetics (which is different than double rex) but it is my understanding that they have hair as pups that falls out around the time they hit 2-3mo.


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## BlackCat99 (Oct 9, 2012)

This site has good information on rex rats http://www.afrma.org/rexrat.htm


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

I do think its unlikley to be normal rex. It may be that he carries one of the other genes (something recessive) like fuzzy. Thyve not been massively pinned down though so I doubt there's any way of prooving it.


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## Sally2tits (Oct 16, 2012)

well I do plan on keeping him so Ill post pics once hes ummm hmm figured out how much fur hes going to keep?


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

wait until he's 6-7 weeks old, kittens generally go through there first major moult then, and given he's already a little balding he will probably loose most of it lol. He should settle down after that, though if he's anything like dominant rex then he will probably get balder when he's an old man.


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## LaTortue (Oct 17, 2012)

My (unprofessional lol) opinion is that the baby is a "true" hairless caused by recessive hairless genes (it is now thought there are most likely multiple recessive genes out there that can cause hairlessness too). Hairless rats can also have kinks or waves to their fur before most of it is lost after molting as well as their whiskers and eyelashes just like double rexes. True hairless rats are, in theory, supposed to appear "more" naked than a double rex, with very little to no peach fuzz, whiskers, or eyelashes at all vs double rexes who tend to retain varying amounts of peach fuzz on their body and whose whiskers and lashes are definitely much sparser than a furred rat but definitely still present. But, for various reasons--a big one being irresponsible breeding--most hairless rats in the hobby now here can end up having just as much (or little) peach fuzz, whiskers, and eyelashes as any double rex, so that it is virtually impossible to accurately label a rat as hairless or double rex judging by phenotype alone. Knowing the coat types of the parents is necessary to be able to say for sure.

ETA: The fact that all the other babies in the litter all have standard coats is another thing that leads me to think he's hairless vs. double rex


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

The mom could carry true hairless.

He could be a satin. Satin rats that aren't bred for their fur before molting into their adult coats are known to go "hairless", though typically it's between 4 and 5 weeks. My rat Storm is a Satin. They have crazy whiskers, and have longer thinner guard hairs. Often it gives them a shine (not always true). Though without a picture of mom I can't help you with telling if he is a satin or not.

He could also be a hairless.

Also he could be a rex. Remember that even if the chances are 50/50 50/50 won't always happen.


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## LaTortue (Oct 17, 2012)

LightningWolf said:


> The mom could carry true hairless.
> 
> He could be a satin. Satin rats that aren't bred for their fur before molting into their adult coats are known to go "hairless", though typically it's between 4 and 5 weeks. My rat Storm is a Satin. They have crazy whiskers, and have longer thinner guard hairs. Often it gives them a shine (not always true). Though without a picture of mom I can't help you with telling if he is a satin or not.
> 
> ...


I would be pretty surprised if it were satin. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "bred for their fur" and what you mean by "crazy" whiskers? I know that satin rats' whiskers do curve slightly away from the face in a noticeably different way than standard fur whiskers, but thats not really what I'd consider crazy. And accurately identifying an adult rat as a true satin, especially from a picture, is very unlikely. The shine that is characteristic of satin rats tends to be most visible when they are very young, by the time they're adults their fur appears pretty identical to standard fur. Presence of the longer, thinner guard hairs can sometimes be a clue, but there are also many rats that are definitely not genetically satin who also have unusually long, thin guard hairs.

As far as being a rex, that is a possibility, but only if the father was a rex. And yes, a 50/50 percentage definitely doesn't mean that its actually going to occur. In the case of a rex being paired with a standard, the 50/50 percentage of rex/standard coat isn't even talking about the whole litter, it only means that each individual baby has a 50/50 chance of having either a rex or a standard coat. So it is definitely possible that only 1 out of 11 ends up rex, but it still isn't really probable.

I still think it most likely that he is a "true" hairless, but thats just my own opinion and I could very well be incorrect.


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