South African Rat Varieties
by Annalie Combrink (written January 2006)
This is a short description about our local rat varieties that I have seen and collected in South Africa for some years. The aim of this article is to help pet owners to identify and become familiar with our local rat varieties. Until recently these were the only varieties available to us, but thanks to Bester Birds & Animals and Moonstones Rattery more varieties have been imported recently. Among these include colours such as pearl, cinnamon pearl, mink, blue, black eyed siamese, burmese, black eyed white and beige and markings such as essex, spotted and blazed. Imported coat and body types are listed in the section below.
As we do not have as many varieties available as overseas, I am only dividing our varieties in three sections, namely coat and body types, colours and markings. I have only described our local varieties in the colours and markings sections, but in the coat and body types section I also gave descriptions of some types found in the USA.
Coat and Body TypesA big "Thank You! :D" goes to Annalie Combrink for being so generous as to supply us with her Varieties articles. Without her, we wouldnt have these. You can click here to email Annalie. Please do not use any of the photos in these articles above without her consent!
Colours
Markings
Design