This article is from the WSSF 2013 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

By Karen Robbins

Jessica Jones, Kadru’s Clutch, NC, e-mail
QMessage forwarded to AFRMA (originally sent to Australian breeder): I was told to contact you concerning a rat of mine. Recently he was discovered in my friend’s litters and now we have another from his sister like him. No one I know, knows what his color is. No one I know has seen anything like it. It appears that I have Aussie Mink in my colony and this new rat is directly related to that line. To clarify, I am a feeder breeder who noticed something different. To try to make a loooonnng story short:

I bought Cream (a shiny beige) and Carmel (like a cinn. agouti) from a pet store. I bred them together and got a variety of colors including Abby (blue) and Dave (blue/brown). This continues over a course of a year mixing several new rats into this gene setup of Cream and Carmel. A friend of mine, also a feeder breeder, needed some pretty breeders so I picked out a variety of rats for him. He bred two together and they had two female Black babies that had a slight silvering to them. He then bred the two females back to their daddy and this produced Ro, Rainbow, Pyrimidhead, and Butterfly. They came out Dumbo so he gave them back to me since I wanted Dumbos. Ro is the unique one. The other three are just red-eye white or silver. Since then Rainbow has had Luna (looks like Ro), Celestia, and Mickey. Again, no one I know can identify these guys and since it has been identified that I have Aussie Mink in my lines, I thought I would contact an Aussie rat breeder. Photos are attached. I hope I included all important information. Thanks so much for your time.

“Rowan,” Jessica Jones first “Frosted” rat.

Ro, a Frosted rat as an adult. Photo from Jessica Jones.

Luna, a Frosted rat as a baby. Photo from Jessica Jones.

Ro = Black base with banded silver top, black eyes, Berkshire, silver is in a mask on his face, belly is white.

Luna = same color as Ro except she is self.

Celestia = light blue base with banded silver on tips, black eyes, Berkshire, same silvering along face, back, and belly as Ro.

Mickey = light blue base with banded silver tips, black eyes, Hooded, same silvering along the colored areas and can’t tell on the white.

For more pics and better pics please visit www.facebook.com/SqueaksAndNibbles.

Everyone on this page is related one way or another.

AVery pretty and interesting color you have there! Thank you for recognizing them as being something different and are now working on trying to figure out what they are. Since your original male Ro is still young, it will be interesting to see if he gets more silvered/frosted over time similar to the Roan/Husky rats. But unlike Roan/Husky it looks like your babies are showing the Silvering/Frosting at a very young age where the Roan/Husky start out looking like solid colors, plus yours don’t need the Blaze Berkshire/Berkshire marking to have this unique color (www.nenuphar.plus.com/pendragon/features/husky/index.html, https://web.archive.org/web/20191019130757/http://pipsa.flaming-trout.com/husky.html).

Normal Silvered rats will not look like this and most lose all of their silvering when adult. The Silver Black Dalmatian rats also don’t look like this.

The new Marten/Red-Eyed Devil rats also don’t look like this (they have a marbled pattern as babies plus the red eyes: Hawthorn Rats Toyah Leitch in Scotland, Marten / red en donkeroog marten / red - Martin Braak, Netherlands).

Your rats seem to be frosted on the tips of the hairs rather than having whole hairs silver in color like a normal silvered. So, looks like you have something new here. Please keep us updated on your results and what they look like as they age.

Ed. Note: Jessica has now named this feature Silvermane.

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