Fancy Rats Coats and Colours
All the varieties listed here are of Fancy Rats and thus can be kept together. The natural 'wild' colour of Fancy Rats is Agouti.
Ears
Fancy rats normal ear position is at the top, this is known as top-ear. A variety known as Dumbo is where ears are positioned to either side of the head. As Dumbo and Top-ear are both the same species, they can be kept together. A pet shop or breeder that claims they cannot, should very much be avoided.
Colours
Pet Fancy Rats come in a huge variety of colours. These include:
- Self colours where the overall colouration remains the same.
Marked
- such as Badger, Berkshire, Capped, Chinchilla Essex, Irish, Hooded, Roan, Squirrel, Striped Roan, and Variegated.
- Russian this comes in Blue, Dove and Blue Agouti.
- Shaded such as Argente Cream, Blue Point Siamese, Burmese, Himalayan, and Siamese.
- Any other Varieties (AOV) currently includes Agouti, British Blue Agouti, Cinnamon, Cinnamon Pearl, Lilac Agouti, Pearl, Platinum Agouti, Silver, Silver Fawn, and Topaz.
Coat Types
- Standard the normal coat of a fancy rat is smooth and glossy.
- Double Rex/Hairless This variety is banned in the NFRS due to ethical concerns. Hairless mums can struggle to produce enough milk and hairless rats have unique health concerns. It is vital that a hairless rat has furred companions as they will need to sleep against them for extra heat. A hairless rat may have a light cover of fuzz across their body or be entirely naked.
- Rex these rats have curls to their coat and whiskers. As they age, coat condition may thin more rapidly than normal.
Marten
This variety was first imported into the UK on March 2010 and is known as the "red eyed devil" in Europe. These rats begin as red-eyed blacks but the fur lightens to a deep grey as they age. Distinctive features include a pale muzzle and outline around the top of the eye together with paler fur behind the ears. This variety is not standardised in the NFRS just yet.