# rusting?



## a___smith (Apr 4, 2013)

i've heard that rat coats can 'rust'; is this like roaning in horses? eg lots of white flecks in the coat? plus at what age does it usually start to occur? my boys - who i think are 2-3 months old - seem to have a lot of white flecks throughout the dark bits of their coats, but it's not all over; i assume it's rusting but from what i've seen on the internet (not a lot) this seems quite early.


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## Jenzie (Dec 26, 2012)

That sounds more like silvering. My Fievel has pretty heavy silvering - so basically he's mostly black, but with a lot of white flecks. Not enough to turn him white (which actually does happen in rats too, also called roaning), but just sort of interspersed in his fur. Rusting is when bits of their fur turn a reddish brown color - usually this happens in older, dark colored rats. I believe it's considered a sign of poor breeding? Though I could be wrong on that. The rusting itself doesn't have any negative effects. My brownish-gray boy Ratigan has had quite a bit of rusting since he was about 9 months old.


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## a___smith (Apr 4, 2013)

ah okay, that sounds like what they look like  it just took me by surprise, i got them a week ago and they were solid colours, and the last couple of days they've greyed slightly haha. thanks


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Yes. Silvering is when they get hairs that turn white. Rusting is when they get hairs that turn brown. Both of these are Extremely common in black rats. Silvering normally is genetic or happens with age. Rusting can be from genetics, low amount of copper in their diet, or from being in the sun.

However, since you are in the UK, are your rats actually all black or are they black with Berkshire like markings (with a possible blaze)? If they are Black with Berkshire markings are are starting to silver they could be Roans. Roans, I'm not sure are like Roan horses, are born Black (with a Berkshire like marking and sometimes have blazes. I believe they are recessive blazes so you don't have to worry about Megacolon) or any other color. As they get older they start to silver out and eventually they turn all white. It depends on the line they came from on how quickly this happens. For some it takes 6 months, For others it can be 3 years to become all white.

If they are all Black with no white on them then they are just silvering and won't ever turn all white. Btw, sorry if I keep saying black rats and your rats aren't black. These can happen in all rats just that's it is way more noticeable in black rats.


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## a___smith (Apr 4, 2013)

one is (i believe) an agouti blazed hooded, the other is a chocolate blazed hooded (or they may be banded, i've had slightly differing opinions). so maybe they are roans. both of them, however, have patches without roaning on the back of their heads; will these stay coloured, or eventually turn white too?


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Maybe post pictures?

I've never had a roan rat (extremely rare in the US, don't even think we have them anymore. There was a line that developed Megacolon and luckily the person was smart enough to stop the line. I don't think we have anymore roan lines.) so I'm not 100% sure on how they roan out. But considering that they turn all white eventually I would say that those patches will eventually turn white as they get older if they are roans.


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## a___smith (Apr 4, 2013)

I'll get some pictures up later today  On a slight side note, what are the signs that a rat might develop Megacolon (I've read something about high white, but not sure what that is)?


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## a___smith (Apr 4, 2013)

Not the best quality (also not sure why it's sideways) but you can see the colour difference between his back and the back of his head. His roaning is slightly more 'advanced' (if that's the word) than John's.


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## Jenzie (Dec 26, 2012)

To me that looks more like simple silvering than roaning, though I could be wrong.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Thats most probably a roan, a striped one at that. They will gradually roan until very little if any colour is left. Roans are pretty common over here, far more common than blazed berkshire, especially in petshop stock.


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