 |
| November 6, 2012... wild rat at four months old |
Hi, it's been a while since I made a post here. Just to update you about what's happening...
WILD RATS RESCUE!
I found a wild rat on July 11, 2012 (approximately three weeks old at the time since it already had its agouti coat) and two days later, his sibling sister. I named them Thor (male) and Loki (female). Two days before catching them, I already saw them wandering around the garage, presumably orphan rats.
I really didn't catch them... I was
cleaning the rat condo and left out their food tray (I forgot to put it
back). So when I remembered and went back, Thor was already feasting on
the barley bonanza... and all I did was put the tray back inside the
condo =)
There was another litter of two weeks
being nursed by Alcina the silver fawn berk, and weaning was successful.
Unfortunately, the Loki died on the second week of August 2012.
I was then left with the only wild rat Thor, keeping my fingers crossed that he'd cope in captivity and be able to breed.
 |
| July 11, 2012 |
 |
| July 11, 2012 |
 |
| July 11, 2012 |
 |
| July 15, 2012 |
COPING IN CAPTIVITY...
During his first two months with me, he was very shy, but never aggressive or hostile. He just sort of stayed in a dark corner every time I gave them a visit. But that didn't stop me from tickling it every time (which really made him frolic).
He just got past his shyness from the third month and often wanted to climb up to my shoulders.
 |
| July 25, 2012 |
 |
| July 28, 2012 |
 |
| August 10, 2012... Estelle, Thor and Zelda, rampaging through my stuff |
 |
| August 10, 2012... Estelle and Thor |
 |
| August 10, 2012 |
 |
| August 10, 2012 |
BREEDING SUCCESS!
At this point in time, he's already sired two litters. The first one was with Zelda, a black undermarked berkshire. This litter was impressive... the pups were unusually large and fat in comparison to all other litters since I began having pet rats. I saved four from this litter: two black undermarked berkshire females + 1 male, and an agouti undermarked berkshire.
Judging from the belly of Thor, I presume he is a Self, and the undermarked berkshire comes from none other than Zelda. I've already had several undermarked berks, and I'm working to get a Self someday.
Now for the second litter, the dam was Estelle, the husky female I got from another breeder (with a history of hooded and husky). The size of the pups in this litter were ordinary.
 |
| September 16, 2012... a litter of undermarked berks, thanks to mommy Zelda =) |
 |
| September 23, 2012... the first litter is quite a chubby bunch |
 |
| October 11, 2012... 13 pups with Estelle! that's alot! |
 |
| October 28, 2012... second litter sired by Thor (they are 5 weeks old) |
 |
| October 28, 2012... second litter sired by Thor (they are 5 weeks old) |
OUTLOOK...
Today, Thor is has a very athletic build compared to his domesticated roommates. He's also a bit larger and heavier than the other boys
This is my only successful wild rat breeding of all the attempts I've ever made. The others I caught were adults who had difficulty coping so they were released back to their wildness. The only other wild rat I've raised from two weeks old was Mocha, who was less keen on breeding and lived only for 6 months.
A friend told me that it's possible to get mutations since agouti is the mother of all rat genes. Who knows, maybe I could get blues from this gene pool someday... but that's gonna take quite a while...
Thanks for dropping by! =)
 |
| November 6, 2012 |
 |
| November 6, 2012 |
No comments :
Post a Comment