Help with rat gender identification?

The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

RogerTrevor44

New Member
Joined
May 26, 2020
Messages
3
Location
UK
Hi all,
We bought 2 rats about a year ago now, and were told they were both male. However neither rat appear to have testicles, but one does produce buck grease. Could this rat possibly be intersex, or do some female rats produce grease as well? I have attached some photos, would greatly appreciate if someone could help identify what gender they are.
20200526_190921.jpg
20200526_190921.jpg
20200526_190934.jpg
20200526_191005.jpg
20200526_191935.jpg
 
Wow, thank you for that, surprised it took me that long to notice! Do you have any idea about females producing buck grease? Roger often has orange oils on his (her now i suppose) fur
 
Could the orange specks actually be live? How long have you had them, and when did you notice the grease? I've never heard of girls producing buck grease, but I could be wrong. I think that's why it's called "buck" (meaning male) grease....
 
The staining in this picture isnt very visible and is only on Roger's head although it is usually over her back, it is a sort of pink orange colour. I will try to take a better picture next time it is over more of her body. I've had both rats for just over a year now, and the grease has been visible for most of this time, definitely not a recent occurrence. It's more of an oily coating rather than flecks, so I dont think it is caused by anything live. Thanks for all the replies
20200527_201429.jpg
20200527_201432.jpg
 
Thank you for posting a picture of your little girl Roger.
That looks like porphyrin staining.
Please see the link I posted above concerning porphyrin (from ratguide.com, a vet approved medical site for rat owners.)

BTW Welcome to the forum :)
You might find the information in our Reference Thread to be useful, and you should be aware that it is important to spay girls for health reasons if you have access to a good vet with the knowledge and experience to spay rats safely REFERENCE Thread - Read Only
 
Last edited:
Hello, I am also very curious about the gender of my two baby rats and need help!! They're under 8 weeks old and we were told both were female, but one has grown quiet larger than the other, had a much longer tail, and appears to have a sack? Can someone please verify if these are both girls or not??
 

Attachments

  • 20201114_190603_capture.jpg
    20201114_190603_capture.jpg
    27.1 KB · Views: 129
  • 20201114_185843_capture.jpg
    20201114_185843_capture.jpg
    28.6 KB · Views: 138
At 8 weeks, males would already have testicles visible. It's VERY obvious they are males by then. Only in a few instances will you not see testicles by then. Those are both girls. Sometimes they grow at different rates, and have different body frames. I've had LARGE females, and I currently have a tiny female who is almost a year old, and has two female cagemates who are the same age, but larger.
 
At 8 weeks, males would already have testicles visible. It's VERY obvious they are males by then. Only in a few instances will you not see testicles by then. Those are both girls. Sometimes they grow at different rates, and have different body frames. I've had LARGE females, and I currently have a tiny female who is almost a year old, and has two female cagemates who are the same age, but larger.
Thank you so much!!
 
At 8 weeks, males would already have testicles visible. It's VERY obvious they are males by then. Only in a few instances will you not see testicles by then. Those are both girls. Sometimes they grow at different rates, and have different body frames. I've had LARGE females, and I currently have a tiny female who is almost a year old, and has two female cagemates who are the same age, but larger.
I have 2 large females and one really small female. She's half the size of her sisters!
 
Hi there,

I can also weigh in - I have some 25-day old ratties (12 of them) at the moment. I have 5 boys and 7 girls.

BOY - you can see he is developing testicles and has a little bloop penis. The penis and anus are far apart and they have testicles - eventually you will just see these and no anus really - they kinda take over. Very noticeable.
X0wfAYG.jpg


GIRL - you can see they have a vaginal opening. The vaginal opening and the anus are close together.
PvH8N7N.jpg


Your rats, are both girls, guaranteed. The can differ in size a lot. I have boys and girls (adult rats) of the same age, and 1 is always noticeably larger or smaller by a large margin - they just come in so many different shapes and sizes 😝
 
Back
Top