# husky rats?



## cccgina1 (Nov 11, 2012)

Anyone heard of these? At first I thought they were big rats, but turns out they are husky dog colored.


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

Yes. They are more commonly known as "roan", and will fade further with time.


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Husky, also known as roan, rats fade over time. They start off looking like a banded rat (basically a Berkshire with the white going up high on it's side, but not a hooded) and slowly their fur turns white. There are also Blazed Roans which just have blazes (I believe in Roans the Blaze is recessive and does Not have Megacolon).

Normally Roans are Black or Russian Blue since they don't "fade" as quickly (it doesn't look like they do since their fur is darker then say a Beige roan). Also some Roan rats will fade very quickly (turn all white by a year old or even 6 months) or some fade Very slowly (maybe not turning all white in till up to 3 years).

Roans are also more common in the UK. I think maybe one or two breeders in the US works with them since the original line in the US had megacolon, so I'm not sure if anyone still breeds from that line in the US or if they are trying to import Roans from a different line to the US to prevent the Megacolon.


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## ratclaws (Nov 11, 2012)

Yes, I have a husky and a roan, two of my girls are.


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## Babs (Jan 26, 2012)

Yep, I've got four of 'em! Funky looking guys  

As said, they fade noticeably as they get older.


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## ratclaws (Nov 11, 2012)

Babs said:


> Yep, I've got four of 'em! Funky looking guys
> 
> As said, they fade noticeably as they get older.


This is very true. My husky girl Storm moulted most of her colouring within the space of about 4 months. She went from having the typical grey/silver hood/band from her eyes to her tail to now having just a few silver hairs and a small darker patch on her head. My girlfriend's rat Bella shed all of her roan colouring so she's completely white now. My girl Ellie is almost 3 months old now and she's definitely lightening up and I've only had her for about a month and a half now! I'll post pictures of Storm before and after for you in a few minutes.


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## ratclaws (Nov 11, 2012)

Here she is when younger with her Husky coat:
View attachment 21729
Then when she was a bit older with my girl Rosie. You can see her lightening over her eyes:








Here she is today, hardly any colouring. She has slight silver hairs and just a tiny dark patch on her head. When she's wet you can see the pigmentation in her skin though and all the colour shows through:

View attachment 21745














And here is my girl Ellie as of recent, she will get lighter as she gets older but I'm not sure if all her colouring will disappear:


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## binkyhoo (Sep 28, 2008)

They sure are pretty.


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## Babs (Jan 26, 2012)

I have a really good example of how husky roans fade over time. This is my boy Martin, from when he was born (January 2012) through till just a couple of months ago. 

































































As you can see, his adorable little eye patch didn't stay! Sorry for the large pic spam, they won't upload any smaller for some reason.


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## KelseyShea (Jan 20, 2013)

*gasp* Martin is absolutely beautiful!!!! I love his baby markings especially.


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## Babs (Jan 26, 2012)

> *gasp* Martin is absolutely beautiful!!!! I love his baby markings especially.


Thank you so much, it's always so nice when people think any of my ratties are particularly cute!


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## Cstaar (Mar 7, 2012)

I have a husky/roan rat, she started off grey and white, and like the girl storm, is now pretty much completely white. I think she is beautiful, she has the most expression in her face.

The first picture below is when we got her, just over a year ago at about 3 months old. The second and third are a few months later and you can see she is fading. The 4th is a recent picture of her - as you can see she has no colour now she is just white, she only has a few random grey hairs in her coat now, you can hardly see them.


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## ratclaws (Nov 11, 2012)

Awwww, she's roaned out even more than my Storm! I'm glad mine still has then patch of grey on her head though it gives her character.


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## stacibolluyt (Oct 4, 2012)

Looks like my Heisenberg was a husky/roan!! She passed due to cancer when she was just about 3 months old ): so I didn't get to see much of her change; adorable!!


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