What would you call this?

[keysong]

When I was younger, I had a rat named Cheddar (imaginative, I know). She was a greyish hooded. (I know there's no colour called grey, but she wasn't very blue at all... is there a special name for a very grey blue?) Anyway, she had a black spot on her back, right in the middle. How often does this happen? Does it have a special name? I don't think I've ever seen another rat that was more than two colours...

 

[jorats]

Could she have been a pearl merle, the darker spot would be the merling.

 

[keysong]

I guess so, but it didn't really look like that - it was a fairly large, solid black spot, and just one. Other than that, she was totally blueish-grey and white. Does that still make sense? I'll have to try and find a picture of her...

 

[PiedPiper]

That sounds like a pearl merle to me. She must have been very pretty.

 

[keysong]

She was, and she was a sweetie too... but she developed a tumour that couldn't have been removed because of her age. She eventually had to be put to sleep, but she was my heart rat. She was a squish, and I've never met another female rat that was quite like her. She loved going outside. :heart: I miss my Cheddar.

 

[keysong]

I just found out that I remembered her wrong... she was indeed a pearl merle. Well, I'm glad I know now. I was always very confused.

 

[Godmother]

Do you have any photos of her? She must have been very beautiful.

 

[keysong]

Sure, I'll ask my dad if he can email me a couple of pictures. I'll be back in just a moment...

 

[keysong]

Found them!

 

[mamarat]

She was gorgeous.

 

[Moon]

Yup yup, she was a merle

Sometimes merle spots can be big.

 

[bruxxy]

She looks more like a mink merle than a pearl merle IMO. I had a mink merle and they are darker than pearls. She's very a beautiful girl. :heart:

 

[Moon]

Mink is a very different colour than that.
http://www.ratsauce.com/breeds/index.ph ... title=Mink

 

[keysong]

Thank you guys. She was a lovely girl. And despite being a pet store rat, she never head a single health problem up to the end. :heart:

On a different note, I went to PetStupid today and they had a single female rat in the tiny little tank. She looked like she was about 3 or 4 weeks old. I was angry, but I couldn't do anything about it. Graah, I hate pet stores.

 

[jorats]

Oh she looks like my Julia, more of a lilac merle.

 

[keysong]

Lilac, huh? Sounds exotic :wink2:

 

[bruxxy]

Mink is a very different colour than that.
http://www.ratsauce.com/breeds/index.ph ... title=Mink

Not always...some minks are lighter than others I think. I had a mink merle and the merle markings made her appear lighter. Granted she was full merle. I'm probably wrong about this rat though since I'm certainly no expert on colours...the second picture just looks a lot like Yoda who was a mink merle.

 

[jorats]

The merle is the dark splotches. There are light minks and darker minks... the lilac seems to be more on a pink side.

 

[PiedPiper]

Lilac, huh? Sounds exotic :wink2:

I was thinking the exact same thing, Christine! :giggle: Whatever she was, she sure was beautiful. :heart:

 

[keysong]

Thank you. :heart: