# Reg Fancy vs Dumbo..



## UrbanThreadzRattie (Oct 25, 2015)

Can you tell me if there is a true difference in personality and temperament between a reg Fancy and a Dumbo.. I have heard Dumbos are sweeter but I'm just wondering how often everyone finds that to actually be true?


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## LilCritter (Feb 25, 2014)

I find that there's no real trend between dumbos and fancy temperments... I have a shy dumbo and a shy fancy. I have an outgoing dumbo and an outgoing fancy. In fact, Ria, one of my fancy girls is the sweetest in my current mischief... And the attention hog... She'll tug on my shirt to get my attention when I'm paying attention to anyone else... Or crawl up my arm... or stand up in my face to lick all over.


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## Kuildeous (Dec 26, 2014)

I couldn't say for certain. My own limited anecdotal evidence is that my wife was on the fence in regards to adopting rats. We looked at some at a couple of pet stores, but she held a Dumbo at one shop that made her fall in love. We adopted that rat and a cagemate that very day. With our whopping three rats, our Dumbo is sweeter than the other two.

But I would not be surprised that there is no difference in temperament. I think we Dumbo owners may have a bit of bias when comparing them because Dumbo ears give rats an additional d'aww quality (they already are full of d'aww as it is). Everything they do is just plain cuter. 

So when our Dumbo scampers back and forth in her cage when one of us comes home, it looks cuter with those ears. When our Dumbo grabs my finger and licks it, it's cuter with those ears. Even when she holds a Cheerio and nibbles at it, it's yet again cuter with those ears. 

Maybe Dumbos don't have a sweeter disposition in general, but they have a slight edge in cute (IMHO) that makes us feel like they do.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Some dumbos might have a little more trouble locating sounds than top eared rats... and yes they look cuter so we tend to see and treat them differently than the top eared rats.

No two rats are alike and the difference between any two rats is likely more than the difference between dumbos and top eared rats. I find eye color to be a more reliable indicator of behavior. Normal brown eyed rats tend to see better than black ruby, ruby or pink, roughly in that order, so they are and act more confident and are likely be more outgoing in general... But even that is just a generality. I might add that outgoing doesn't equal affectionate.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

(technically both are fancy rats... it is really standard ear vs dumbo ear)

There is a big fat zero difference in personality. 

All of the stuff that gets said is purely anecdotal and IMO people just say dumbos are sweater because their faces are just adorable and it gives them a sweet look.

I breed dumbos and they are my favorite just because of the look. It is truly adorable! I have both dumbo & standard eared rats. 

Personality is based some on the temperaments of the parents, and how they have been raised and their own quirks. Being dumbo is purely a cosmetic feature.



Also eye color again does not have some magic control over personality either. Purely anecdotal. Yes eye sight may play some role but IMO it would in no way be enough to outweigh who the rat is. Infact my most outgoing & confident rats are pink/ruby. We all may have experiences with certain type of rats that color our perception but it just is not the case for the wide range of rats out there.

In the end it is all going to come down to genetic temperament, and how they were raised/handled. If you want a truly sweet rat get it from a really good breeder who has bred for temperament and has handled it since birth.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Actually... moonkissed is overall correct that eye color isn't a predictor of "personality"... Our two brown eyed, bred for meat rats both had brown eyes and wonderful eyesight.... Fuzzy Rat was absolutely charismatic while Max was reclusive and stubborn. At the park Fuzzy Rat would play with us and then lead us back to the car while Max just hung out in a tree and then took off and went back to the car on her own... Both rats were very competent true shoulder rats with very different personalities... On the other hand we've inadvertently adopted two rats with black-ruby eyes, which is marginally inferior... both preferred to be carried under the coat and were more likely to exhibit stress outdoors in wide open places. Indoors both brown and black-ruby eyed rats act about the same.

Certainly blind humans, vision impaired and sighted humans may have similar personalities, same with rats, but when it comes to competency and confidence the people and rats that can see better have the edge.


Fuzzy Rat could identify humans she liked from over 50 feet away, even when they were down wind. She navigated vast distances by sight. And I believe it did make her more outgoing.

This is what I mean by confident and competent...

https://vid.me/BzNQ

Fuzzy Rat and Max had no trouble running in the middle of the path or crossing open spaces, our black-ruby eyed rats prefer to stay closer to shelter and avoid wide open spaces. By the age of 5 weeks Fuzzy Rat had already escaped outdoors gone exploring on her own and come back twice. Max passed her true shoulder rat final exam under the town fireworks at only 6 weeks old...









We adopted Misty at 3 weeks old and she wasn't confident enough to come out of the covers for another 6 weeks, much less go outside...

Misty finally overcame her fears to a point to qualify as a true shoulder rat, but she sticks to us like glue...

Below you can see Misty playing with the kids, notice she prefers to see her humans close by and tends to follow their fingers. She's no where as confident or competent as Max or Fuzzy Rat.

https://vid.me/SgmU

However she's friendly and perfectly indoor competent and loves to play... She's a great rat and despite her vision impairment she survived the outdoor fireworks test without panicking.

As to dumbo's being competent... this is Cloud, she seems to have some difficulty locating the direction of sounds so isn't likely to come when called... she tends to obey hand signals though. She has brown eyes and pretty good eyesight. Despite her handicap, this is a photo taken after my daughter lost her in the marsh... she didn't exactly find us, but had the sense to return to precisely the same spot she fell into the brush and wait to be recovered after about an hour of exploring...









So yes, rats can work around their handicaps, to a point.


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## Love My Rats (Sep 3, 2015)

I have to regular and 2 dumbo females both are very sweet but to me my 2 dumbo girls are way more affectionate , Summer will give you kisses all day long and so will Breezy , my 2 regulars are Mickey and Snowball they are sweet but not to affectionate although they love attention and love to be with you , I think it's just what ever u decided you want


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## Ephemere (Sep 8, 2015)

There's no difference like others have said, but I have two dumbos and neither of them are very affectionate. They're about a year old and kind of prefer to run around, explore, and do their own thing. One of them is a little aggressive, but of course it's unrelated to his ears. The other one is timid and skittish, though he has improved since I got him. I have two regular fancy rats and they're both very kissy, playful, love to interact with people and be involved with what you're doing. I got them both very young, and I think being handled a lot when they're babies can really make a difference. My other two I got when they were older and while they will sit on my shoulders, they are a lot less comfortable with being handled.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

I also want to point out that rats eye color is either pink, ruby or black. Just so there is no confusion  Kindof getting off topic, but eye color is super fascinating and how it relates to coat color as well.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Partly due to our policy of only adopting rats with natural color eyes and the Creator's special sense of humor we've managed to adopt two rats with "black-ruby" eyes. Oh yes they do look black in normal light but they flash red when the light hits them right. If you look in bright sunlight natural rat's eyes look kind of brownish, black-ruby looks black or perhaps a shade of greenish, but not brown... But when artificial light refracts, it refracts red... So technically I suppose they would be ruby eyed rats, but for all intents and purposes they look black. Unlike ruby or pink eyed rats I don't have any reservations about taking them outside in daylight because their eyes are actually darker than normal eyed rats. We've only seen Misty's eyes refract red a couple of times, but Amelia could flash her eyes stop light red almost at will. The first night we adopted Amelia my daughter was sleeping on the floor and Amelia was standing on her head and looked up at me and flashed her eyes for the first time... It was the first time I ever saw it and an image right out of a horror movie, I'll never forget... 

The woman we adopted Amelia from told us her eyes were black, as did the breeder we adopted Misty from... We adopted Amelia at night in a parking lot and Misty when she was only about three weeks old and her eyes were barely open... and we were fooled twice.


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## Fu-Inle (Jan 22, 2015)

I think its just something people say to non-rat people to make pet rats seem more "acceptable", to sugar coat the fact that there, well ....rats. If you were persuading someone who had an irrational fear/hatred for rats its easier to introduce them to dumbos because they look cute and goofy, then saying their not like normal rats, their friendlier, sweeter etc. Certainly alot more convincing then saying: "Pet rats are just domestic versions of the rats that destroy your house and steal your food, oh and they also breed them with deformed ears"


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

LOL.... Are you suggesting that pet rats don't steal your food and don't destroy your house?

Actually we've had a few that didn't and most eventually learn better than to destroy my house, but leave a snickers bar or pork chop unattended where your rats can get at it and tell me your rats won't steal your food...


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

Rat Daddy said:


> Partly due to our policy of only adopting rats with natural color eyes and the Creator's special sense of humor we've managed to adopt two rats with "black-ruby" eyes. Oh yes they do look black in normal light but they flash red when the light hits them right. If you look in bright sunlight natural rat's eyes look kind of brownish, black-ruby looks black or perhaps a shade of greenish, but not brown... But when artificial light refracts, it refracts red... So technically I suppose they would be ruby eyed rats, but for all intents and purposes they look black. Unlike ruby or pink eyed rats I don't have any reservations about taking them outside in daylight because their eyes are actually darker than normal eyed rats. We've only seen Misty's eyes refract red a couple of times, but Amelia could flash her eyes stop light red almost at will. The first night we adopted Amelia my daughter was sleeping on the floor and Amelia was standing on her head and looked up at me and flashed her eyes for the first time... It was the first time I ever saw it and an image right out of a horror movie, I'll never forget...
> 
> The woman we adopted Amelia from told us her eyes were black, as did the breeder we adopted Misty from... We adopted Amelia at night in a parking lot and Misty when she was only about three weeks old and her eyes were barely open... and we were fooled twice.


Yeah ruby can come in a bit of different shades, from more red to almost black. Sometimes they seem so black it is really hard to tell! 

Ruby is probably my favorite  It just has such a pretty look to it. Two of my girls have really dark ruby eyes and they look completely black, but since they are beige they have to have ruby eyes. Then my boy Dean has ruby eyes and it is easy to tell.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Amelia was a high white so the black-ruby didn't surprise me too much. Even though she looked pretty much black and white, high whites are always a bit wonky. Misty looked like a blue hoodie as a pup until her adult hair grew in and she's got a tan kind of a sheen.... She's the nondescript color used in some 1990's car upholstery that was meant to match any color on the outside of the car... So yes... black-ruby was well within the scope of possibility had we realized she wasn't a true blue.

I've always wanted a fawn with natural eye color, but I doubt it exists or at least I have never found one.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

> I've always wanted a fawn with natural eye color, but I doubt it exists or at least I have never found one.


Yeah fawn has to have red/ruby eyes.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I suppose you always want the one you can't have...


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