A ratty blog for the scientifically inclined owner
Rats are grain-based omnivores. This means, like humans, their diet is open to a range of ingredients, but they primarily focus on easy-to-digest grains such as ground whole oats and wheat middlings.
For a long time, it’s been preached across the fancy to NEVER allow your male rats to eat citrus fruits or have the juices. Why is that?
Agouti is the natural color of wild rats. Each individual hair shaft is banded with yellow, red and black pigment vs being a solid-colored shaft. The typical Agouti color is a rich chestnut with dark slate at the base of the hair.
Chocolate was first bred in 1915 and was standardized in 1935 in the UK. In 1976, it was taken over by the NFRS but removed from standards in 1978. In 1981, Chriss Lown reintroduced the color and in 1983 it was again accepted in the NFRS standards. Chocolate was first scientifically described in 1932. Chocolate agouti is the agouti variant.
