Had some baby rats born from a black hood dad and a cream hood mom that are like a tortoiseshell hooded?? Some had red eyes and some had black. Totally unexpected, but very pretty.
omg what an adorable little face!!! and such pretty fur!!! thank you so much for showing me this (now is a whole ramble about rats and genetics incoming, i'm sorry if you didn't sign up to this)
i'm no expert but these babies look like they might be mink? rats with this dilute have fur that's kind of a mix of different shades of cream, brown, and grey. when they change their coat the color of their fur can change pretty drastically, which is most visible in baby rats switching to their adult fur and can result in extra splotchy looking fur.
it could very well be that both of your rats carried this gene. because you mentioned the red eyes i'm thinking of the mock mink gene specifically, which in some rats causes ruby eyes but is otherwise very similar to "normal" mink.
actually "calico" or tricolor rats are very rare. i think they only happen as a chimera, which doesn't seem to be the case with these babies. they're still very unique though, i don't think i've ever seen rats that look like this before :0
I signed up for that exactly, lmao. Thank you for the info! I have two females from that litter that are that color and also not bitey, so I’m keeping them to grow them out and see what they look like as adults. Gotta do some research on rat genetics now, I suppose 🐀
@cecelovesrats forgot to add too that when they got their pattern but before their fur came in, their heads/shoulders looked almost roan. I didn’t get a pic, but I should have.
























