My Black Eyed Siamese Line of Rats

The black eyed Siamese line is the first line of rats to be bred here at Farmhouse Rats.  "Siamese" refers to the beautiful color pattern of this type of rat.  Color is concentrated in the cooler areas of the body, such as the tail, feet, ears, and nose.  This is caused by acromelanism, a genetically determined, temperature-dependent pigmentation pattern.  Most Siamese have bright pink eyes, but the Siamese I breed here have black eyes.  The black eyed Siamese gene I am working with was only recently imported to the US from the UK.  There are many theories about how this gene works, but my understanding of it at this time is that it is a simple dominant gene that only displays on a colorpointed background.  Black eyed Siamese can be heterogeneous (Be/be) or homogeneous (Be/Be.)  When bred, a heterogeneous BES will produce 50% black eyed offspring and a homogeneous BES will produce 100% black eyed offspring.  If the animal who inherits the black eyed gene is not a colorpointed rat, they Black eyed gene will not express, thus the animal is call an "Unexpressed BES."

The black eyed Siamese line was established when my doe, PH Ilia of FHR, was bred back to her father, PCKG Forrest of PH.  So far, most of the animals in this line appear to be very hardy, healthy, well tempered individuals.  While I feel this line does have great potential, I have only been working with it since 08/08, and I still have a lot to learn about it.  In future generations I will be trying to remove white markings from animals in this line, as well as improve type.  This line is be bred for self rats in seal point Siamese and black, as well as Russian blue self and siamese.  There will be a mix of both dumbo and standard ears.  Coat type will be standard, with the hope of bring Satin into this line one day in the future. 

The First Generation (foundation stock)

Black eyed siamese foundation doe "PH Ilia of FHR" pictured at 17 months.

The Second Generation

"FHR PH Kyoto" pictured at 10 months.	"FHR PH Miyamoto" pictured at 10 months.

The Third Generation

"FHR PH Kyoto" pictured at 10 months.	"FHR PH Kirby" Pictured at 2 months old (Kyoto's son)

The Fourth Generation

"FHR Midnight" pictured at 8 months.	"FHR PH Kasugami" Pictured at 15 months old

The Fifth Generation

(coming soon!)