Is my rat a Berkshire or Agoui?

[Christie]

So I have 2 girl ratties and they just turned one. My one girl was a bershire when I got her but then at about 6 or 7 months of age, she SLOWLY started turning brown on her lower back, like an agouti. She is now one and she is still about 1/2 berkshire and 1/2 agouti. Shes have white paws and a white belly. I dont know what she is. So what do you think?

 

[twitch]

well berkshire in a marking, not a color so she's always a berk

as for the color it sounds like you are describing a black rat that is rusting. blue rats will sometime do this too, i don't know if aqoutis can, i think some white can get dingy but i'm not sure if that is related to the coat or the cleaning habits of the rat.

anyway, back to what you are describing. your black berkshire is rusting. i'm not really sure why some rats do this and others don't or why it is not always related to the age, could just be the genetics, i don't know. but i don't think its anythign to concern yourself about. happens a lot of the time in black rats and i've never noticed a health concern for it. often i have noticed that it happens in older rats or gets more pronounced as the rat with the rusting gets older. so maybe it does have something to do with age.

anyway, as far as i know your rat is fine. just rusting. which is fine and normal for dark rats.

 

[Lindsay]

Agouti is a color. Berkshire is a type of marking.

From what I can tell of your description, your rat is a berkshire for sure (the white paws and belly indicate this). You said there's brown on her lower back but you didn't say what color the rest of her is. It's possible that she could be molting.

It would be a lot easier for us to help you identify her color if you could supply a photo.

I hope this helps.

 

[Christie]

I did no know that...lol. She was black when I got her and she still is....kinda.lol

 

[user 78]

As Twitch said, it sounds like she's just rusting. Badly bred blacks tend to rust out very early in life. it doesn't mean anything really, just that she doesn't have the greatest color by "standards."

I personally have a soft spot for silvering, when they get silver/white hairs through the black. Absolutely gorgeous!

 

[PiedPiper]

:nod: I'm with Kat on that one! My sweetie EarlGrey is a black berkshire with loads of silvering! Gorgeous!

.... But then again, I think the schmeezies (Chai and Tazo) and the Himi's (Zen) and the hoodies (Mokka and Rooibas) and the beige berkies (Keemun) are all gorgeous too! :giggle: