This article is from the WSSF 2007 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

Mayumi Anderson, Bii Rattery, Fresno, CA
QI put my Pearl boy with a Russian Blue girl a few days ago. I was thinking these two will make Russian Blue Agouti. Will they?

Could you tell me if you can make Russian Dove out of Pearl and Russian Blue?

Russian Blue Agouti rat owned by and photo by Karen Robbins.

AYou need Agouti and Russian Blue to make Russian Blue Agouti (A– dd).With Pearl and Russian Blue you should get Black babies. Try one of your Cinnamon Pearls with a Russian Blue to make the F1 Agouti that will carry Russian Blue, then breed those together.

A Russian Dove rat owned by Karen Robbins. Photo by Craig Robbins.

To make Russian Dove, to the best of my knowledge, yes, this should be possible (unless the believed genetics of Pearl have changed recently). You might even be able to make Russian Dove Pearl (which would be rather pretty I suspect). Karen Robbins & Nichole Royer

QCan you make Lilac Agouti mice? There is “Lilac Agouti” in England/Europe but it is what AFRMA calls Dove (chocolate blue) Agouti (A– bb dd) or Blue Cinnamon. They have a nice picture on the Finnmouse site http://www.hiiret.fi/eng/breeding/?pg=4&sub=11&ala=6. Or you can make a pink-eyed version of the Blue Cinnamon called Lilac/Lavendar Argente (A– bb dd pp).

AFrom a genetic standpoint, Lilac is a pink-eyed Black (aa pp). Pink-eyed Agouti (A– pp) produces the color that has been named Argente. Technically, Argente IS Lilac Agouti. Because of the way this gene works, however, you don’t see any color but orange in the hair tips. The undercolor should be Lilac, though. Nichole Royer

Candy Evans, NRMCI, New Jersey, e-mail

QOne thing I’m confused about is Mink and Blue Agouti. Is it possible to explain the colors?

An English Mink rat owned by and photo by Karen Robbins.

AMink is black based and the English version of our Lilac. We breed for a dove gray (pastel) color but a lot of times they come out too dark, whereas the Mink is bred to be a dark color. When we imported the English rats in 1983 and got Mink, we accepted the English Standard to go with them.

A Blue Agouti Dumbo rat owned by Sarah Cameron. Photo by Karen Robbins.

Blue Agouti is agouti based and a Blue version of Agouti (A– gg). Instead of red, slate base, and black ticking, they come out slate base, yellow-tan (creamier looking), and Blue ticking. They are easy to create. Breed a regular Blue with an Agouti, then breed those F1 together and you will get some Blue Agouti babies. As babies, they have that agouti look with the multi-colored hairs but cream/blue instead of red/black. You can also make them in mice. They look very similar (just remember the Blue mice are more like the Russian Blue rats). You can also create Russian Blue Agouti the same way. They are just a darker Blue. I’ve seen several photos of Blue Agouti besides ours on the Internet and it looks like the color. Karen Robbins

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