# Personality of dark rats



## justboringSarah (Feb 6, 2013)

I will preface this with
We understand that all rats are individuals and will vary just like people,but

Has anyone noticed dark rats being more human oriented/friendlier/more outgoing then lighter colored rats? My daughter brought it up tonight when we were discussing if she would like a new boy for her colony and she said"maybe,but a dark Berk boy,they always have the best personalities" With a little more gentle questioning I see where she is coming from. With all the rats we have shared our lives with the dark Berk boys do seem to be much more sociable. I cant find another reason for it,they have come from breeders,chain pet stores,feeder bins and rescues,but it is always the dark boys that are big loves and beg for attention.
Has anyone else noticed anything similar


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## ratchet (Sep 27, 2012)

There's another article on here (or thread) discussing that black rats (not to be confused with the black rat species) are more domesticated:tame than their agouti or white counterparts! If I wasn't on my phone I would pull up the thread -- if I remember correctly the title of it is "do rats prefer companions of a similar color to them" or something of that nature -- and shouldn't be too many pages back. 

I've never had one myself.. Maybe someday!


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## zurfaces (Jan 16, 2013)

Both of my hooded girls aren't that snuggly but my pew is super sweet and snuggly i also have err not sure what the name is but it looks like she is wearing a hood and a cape? lol she is a little more relaxed but my pew is my favorite. They are all white with dark brownish black markings. So it's kind of opposite for me. 

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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Lucky.

Every single Black rat of ours have been, well, Jerks (and that's being Nice). our light color boys have been Extremely cuddly and people oriented. Though I do say Jerks in a nice way. Storm for example I would say been one of my favorite rats. He was a rat who loved to be loved, but from a far. When he Did decide you can love him up close he would nip you on the nose ;D Man I miss that guy  Our 3 Black Dumbos right now are odd, Liam and Bentley are taking after Soda, Niko took after Storm (which has given Niko a Huge personality. This guy is just full of Charm and other weird stuff). But all 3 of skittish even at 5 months but love shoulders and dark places. I want to say more about Einstein one of our first rats (Black hooded) but he died at 10 months and sadly, I can't say I can remember much of his personality because of that  He liked people though, loved shoulders, I have a ton of videos him, he especially loved our cat. Just like Storm he also Loved to steal stuff of mine.

I think it comes down to location actually. Different areas have different rat traits, which can be based down through generations. If I am right people down here breed more for light colored rats then the darker colored ones so the lighter color ones by default are friendlier.


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## dashielle89 (Apr 24, 2012)

Nope, I've never noticed this, though I'm pretty sure I've seen people bring it up at some point or another about the majority of rat colors/types, so it really is just individual rats or coincidences, maybe some of the ones that looked similar were related so genetically had similar personality traits. Some people say pews are the best, others think dumbos are friendlier, etc. I'm not sure how many rats you've had, though it sounds like a lot, but usually once you've had enough and have had close to every color, you will not see a relation between looks and personality. I currently have 2 dark rats right now (and actually they were from the same place so potentially related as well) and one of them is my girl with anxiety issues and cage aggression, she has always been pretty skittish and though she does beg for attention a lot, its more of in a needy way than affectionate. The other is very laid back and cuddly, though she tends to be shy with new people. Neither one is overly outgoing like some of my girls are or have been in the past, and neither of them are alike in any way at all.


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## HeatherElle (Aug 16, 2012)

My mostly black rat is the one with all the issues, he's our problem child. He's cage aggressive, he ONLY gets along with one other rat. If he gets near any of the other guys, he starts crab-walking and attacks immediately. He sort of wants to kill everyone and everything he sees. He's super jumpy and skittish. We've actually nicknamed him Kim Jong, if that tells you anything...lol. He's lucky he's so freaking cute because he is a handful! My black hooded, on the other hand, is a total sweetie and my little Frodo (RIP) was black and he was super sweet, too.


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## Jokerfest (Sep 25, 2012)

My PEW and Agouti boy are a lot more people orientated and loving than my two black hooded boys.
They came from a worse situation too. 
I guess it could depend on the area you live as to how rats are.
One of my black hoodeds Romeo had extreme hormonal aggression issues before I neutered him.


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## Awaiting_Abyss (Jul 24, 2012)

I highly doubt color has anything to do with how tame a rat is. This idea probably came from the fact that light colored rats (mostly PEW) are bred as feeders and have little to no human contact. 
I've had more light colored rats that were friendly than dark colored rats. Currently I have a very friendly dark colored rat and a friendly, but lazy blue rat.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I think it's likely how you treat your rats affects how affectionate they become. You expect your dark rats to be more friendly and treat them accordingly and they get more friendly. 

The only real difference between some dark and some light rats is eye color. Dark rats are more likely to have natural color eyes and can see better. As they can see better than PEW's for example they are less afraid in social situations and might appear more friendly... But otherwise our capped rat is more affectionate than our black high white.... The difference being that we hand raised the capped rat and adopted the high white after she was neglected for 7 months. 

I don't think fur color makes any real difference. Vision might and rearing definitely does.


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## bbrats (Jan 21, 2013)

I have two girls. One is a black berk and the other is a masked rex. I joke about them being a ying-yang. They get along like two peas in a pod but they couldnt be more different. My berk, Basie, is outgoing, loves to greet everyone that visits, loves to sit in my sweatshirts and is generally very friendly. My white rat, Banditt, tho is pretty skittish alot of the time, doesn't like people, and is very scared of noises and being approached. (though Banditt im discovering now that she really more so moody haha. sometimes shes my best friend and loves to play and loves sitting on my shoulder, while other times she tries to avoid me...maybe its because shes black and white, hahah)


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## WinonaGun42 (Feb 2, 2013)

I'm like bbrats. My lighter coloured girl is the friendly, outgoing one. My black hooded is the more cautious one that doesn't like new people until she has been around them for a bit. My beige hooded is still skittish. I think it has to do with his old home and that he can't see very well, but he is impartial to new people as long as they don't try to hold him. He is just a big, lazy boy.


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## Gannyaan (Dec 7, 2012)

My black berk is more friendly, my pearl Merle is more cautious and not cuddly... However, I think part of the reason shes like this, is that she has bad eye site and has to stare at something and wobble her head a bit to see it! It makes her more skittish mostly... 


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## ratchet (Sep 27, 2012)

Melanin, a pigment, also affects hormones in the brain. For rats that have less of this pigment (PEW etc) it makes sense their behavior reflects this. 


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## Gannyaan (Dec 7, 2012)

Sorry, I am not sure what you mean by melanin affects hormones in the brain... Are you maybe referring to neuromelanin in some parts of dopamine pathways....? Those don't interact with the melanin found in skin, but I can see why the confusion  sorry, don't mean to be rude... 


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## Poisoned (Nov 17, 2012)

Well, my personal limited experience, my black rats have always been my favorites. And the friendliest. But that's not very conclusive, since the other colors have been rescues, and are a little scared.


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## ratchet (Sep 27, 2012)

Don't mean to be rude either.. Google it! I'd pull up articles but I'm on my phone. 

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

This is one of many - perhaps I didn't word my post right, and that article can do far better than I can. 



> Pigment cells are found in the skin and at the base of hairs, where they produce pigment that colors the fur. But pigment cells and pigments aren't just found in the skin, they're also found in the brain, including brain regions related to mood and stress.
> 
> During development, pigment calls start out at the back (in an area called the neural crest) and migrate to the rest of the body (Gilbert 1994). Anything that affects the distribution of pigment cells in the body affects not only the hair color, but mood and stress as well. The hooded gene of the Norway rat (Wendt-Wagener 1961) and the star gene of silver foxes (Praslova 1993) are examples of genes that delay the migration of pigment cells from the back to the rest of the body.


A good place to start. 

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## ratclaws (Nov 11, 2012)

I don't think it makes that much of a difference at all... Sure it probably has a minor effect but not huge. People like to make links where there are none sometimes!


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## Gannyaan (Dec 7, 2012)

Hmmm, what I know (knew maybe) is that most solid and reputable research in the last 20 years with fMRI, MRI, neuroscience, etc. indicates there is no connection between melanin and behavior... a lot of older studies/studies from very low impact journals cite otherwise with little to no scientific validity... BUT I'm definitely going to reconsider it now and look into it... although it seems those sources date from 50 to 20 years ago.... But, I'll check it out... Thanks for the info. Where did you get it from? 


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## Gannyaan (Dec 7, 2012)

Oh wait... my expertise is in humans ONLY... hahaha... it could be your sources are totally correct with animals. Anyhow, I'm still curious! Where'd you get your info  ?


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