AFRMA

American Fancy Rat & Mouse Association

This article is from the WSSF 2015 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

Colors & Coats


Facebook Notes: ID Colors

By Karen Robbins


We have added some new notes to our Facebook page to help in identifying colors in rats and the differences between similar colors.

ID Colors: Agouti, Cinnamon, Blue Agouti, Russian Blue Agouti, Russian Cinnamon Agouti looks black/red where Cinnamon looks brown. Blue Agouti is a pastel color compared to Russian Blue Agouti which looks like a washed out Agouti (instead of red color it is brown with blue ticking). Russian Cinnamon looks like a milky-caramel color and is a diluted Cinnamon. [note now on the web site, 5-27-21]

ID Rat Colors: Lilac, Mink, Silver Lilac, Silver Mink, Pearl Lilac and Mink can look the same and will make other colors the same way (i.e. Agouti + Lilac/Mink = Cinnamon) but are not the same gene. Silver Lilac and Silver Mink can look the same but the Silver Minks don’t normally keep the silvering into adulthood whereas Silver Lilacs do. Pearl have the lighter undercolor with dark tips where Silver Mink/Lilac don’t have this lighter undercolor. [note now on the web site, 6-7-21]

We also have other comparison pics for both rats and mice on our Facebook page in the photo albums: (also on the web site)


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Updated October 9, 2022