We got Shelby some months ago, she looked like an albino when we first had her, then she had like a tea stained head which only lasted a short amount of time, before she turned pure white.
She would chew her bars whenever she wanted to come out to play, so when she developed a brown mark on her nose I thought it must have been off the cage somehow.
Tonight I just discovered there are such things as Himalayan (sp?) varieties, then it clicked.
Shelby must be a himmie, but she only has the brown on her nose and a brown and pink tail.
Can someone just verify from the pic for me?

is she on he own?

she's lovely.

if she's on her own and chewing at the bars its probably cuz she so bored.
i have 7 male rats.rats need company of other rats if they don't and on there own they can become depressed.they are very socialble little critters that love to groom and play with each other.and snuggle and sleep together.

rats are more active at night so while your asleep in bed your poor rat is having to keep herself occupied whereas if she had a friend or two of the same sex she could be haveing fun playing with them.

please read
Fancy Rats | Information | Why Rats Need Company

if she's not on her own and i've made a mistake i'm sorry.
so just ignore.x.

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I'm Amy I have a
German shepherd-blade.
11 male rats.
1 male mouse.

I think that rosie75 has 6 rats so chances are this one isn;t alone

Peace
Akai-Chan

oh good.thanks red.
sorry rosie

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I'm Amy I have a
German shepherd-blade.
11 male rats.
1 male mouse.

She was a lone rat for a short time , so she had lots of free range play time,
The only reason for this was all her cage mates where I got her, were very skittish and not handleable.
She was the calm one mainly stayed away from her sisters,
I knew having shelby on her own wasn't ideal but nor was her situation in the pet shop, so I was thinking long term for her.

my intention was to breed, and keep a daughter, which I have done.
She shares her cage with 3 of her daughters now, 2 on reserve, but then she will have her one daughter, which we are keeping
My daughter has named the Shelby's daughter Treasure
As Red said, I have 6 rats in all (not counting the 2 girls on reserve)
I'll pop some more pics up in a bit so you can see them all

Thats ok, I didn't take offence.

awwww babie rats.

sorry again rosie.i just hate seeing lone rats and i jumped to the wrong conclusion.

glad you rescued her.

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I'm Amy I have a
German shepherd-blade.
11 male rats.
1 male mouse.

No problem, I understand where you are coming from.
We are lucky enough to have 3 daughters that adore rats, so all the rats get lots of free range play too, cos I really think thats important.
Alot of my rats have been rescues in one way or another
Minky is our oldest boy, him and his siblings were all undersized (there are many reasons why, I have 2 different versions on how the ended up in the pet shop)
He is a lovely boy and he's the one we introduce to children, as he is so calm and friendly.
Nippy, (minky's cage mate) I saved from being killed. the original owners little boy kept putting his finger through the bars and would get bitten, so the mother was going to do away with him, so I promptly broguht him home.
He is now a well adjusted young man, who is following in Minky's foot steps.
Peanut and Billy are my other 2 lads, bought as a Christmas present for a grandson, the mother didn't like rats so put them in the shed and fed them hamster food.
I come across them on the internet free with cage. They were both underweight and wouldn't come out of their tube.
Eventhough they are still a little unsure, they run around on the settee, and even approach people out of the cage.
Though I've tried socialising them with Nippy and Minky, they really will not take to them, and are much happier being together.
Then there is shelby and her daughter treasure
My main reason for breeding was to be able to offer child friendly healthy rats, and thats just how they turned out.
Absolutely adorable babies, I have never seen such people friendly babies.
They come out of the cage straight on your shoulder, steal food, get tangled in hair, go up and down your top.
I'm rambling again, sorry
Will get some pics, that'll shut me up

Rosie75, did you know the history of the rats you bred from?? ie health and temprement wise, at least a few generations going back??

Breeding petshop rats is usually a pretty bad idea...

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No, I don't have that information. If I were able to get rats from proper breeders around these parts, I would have done.
Thats my one area of interest, creating a family tree, with as much info as I can
Health is important to me, and I have kept a close eye on my gang, I would never breed Minky due to him being undersized.
I haven't had any of them with breathing problems, temperament problems etc
Though it would be better, unfortunately it just isn't possible to already have the history
You have to start somewhere, and if I am going to be able to create a 5 gen history then I have to start from the very beginning and use my own knowledge and judgement.
I have taken in so many rescues, I really believe there wouldn't be anywhere near the number of unwanted rats, if they were bred and handled well from the very beginning.
If I am ever in need of advice, or am unsure of anything to do with my rats, I would come here first for honest and valuable advice