Our Lines
SITH and/or Small Joys Ratteries are currently working with the following varieties:
Our show winning Roan line
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CH JOY/SITH Snowball fawn rex roan shown as a baby |
CH JOY/SITH Snowball age 2 1/2 |
JOY/ROUS Lady Luck agouti roan shown as a baby |
JOY/ROUS Lady Luck as a juevenile |
Lady Luck at about age 1 |
| European Roans are a marked variety that fade to white, or near white over the lifetime of the rat. They start out with a white blaze and white underbelly, with colored banding running down their their back and over their sides to the base of the tail. V shaped blazes and straight symmetrical markings are preferred. Their non white coloring is solid colored at first, but from the age of about 4-6 weeks, they start to exhibit roaning. This is a steady increase in the amount of white hairs intermingled with the solid color. With each moult of their fur throughout their lifetime, the rat becomes progressively lighter. The slower their color fades out the better. Roans can be bred in any color, but generally darker colors are preferred as the color lasts longer and is more noticeable. We currently breed roans in black, agouti, russian blue agouti and fawn. We breed them in both dumbo and standard ears, as well as both rex and standard coats. European Roans, are also known as European Huskies, but should not be confused with North American Huskies or "high whites" which can carry the megacolon gene. European roans do not carry this gene, at least not until some irresponsible breeder somewhere decides to mess theirs up. So far this line is doing very well in terms of health and longevity, with most making it well over two. SITH Snowball, shown above, from whom all my current roans are descended, made it to over 2 1/2 and was never sick a day in his life. More about the History of Roan rats in the Pacific Northwest. |
Our Dalmatian based lines
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| Possum | Variegated | Masked | Black eyed white |
| According to RatsPacNW club standards, which are the standards we breed to, a true dalmatian should have numerous non-symetrical color spots on a white body. They may not have a fully colored head but may have spots on their head. Obviously we are not producing many true show quality dalmations. We actually prefer to work with markings such as possum, variegated, masked and black eyed white, but we make the distinction of breeding "from dalmation lines", in order to reassure adopters that we are not working from North American Husky lines, which could carry the "high white" megacolon gene. The markings we specialize in, as shown above, can originate from either husky or dalmatian lines. From having pedigrees going back 10 years or more, we know for sure that our lines are dalmatian based. We have been working with these lines since March of 2006, with no problems. They are particularly well known for excellent outgoing personalities and good health. We are currently working with Russian blue, russian dove, black, mink and American blue, sometimes with a little bit of agouti mixed in. All are dumbo eared, and some have velveteen coats. | |||
Our Solid and Shaded lines
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| Russian blue Self | Sealpoint Siamese | Wheaton Burmese | Black Self |
| Our solid line includes self, black eyed Siamese and Burmese, both russian blue and black based. The colorpoint side of this line comes mainly from Mischief of Remis Rattery near Boise Idaho and we have only been working with it since 2009. We had originally worked with a previous colorpoint line, but unfortunately it got crossed into a tumor prone line and we were forced to discontinue it. So far our current line, which has origins with both UK and North American colorpoints, and has been much healthier. Descriptions of Siamese and Burmese rats can be found here in the RatsPacNW Standards. We have crossed these colorpoints into the self line that we have been working with since we first started breeding, a line well known for great personalities and better than average longevity. We also have a solid blue and russian silver branch of our self line, that has been kept separate from the colorpoint line. At the moment most of these lines are only available in standard coats but we are thinking of introducing our show winning rex coat into this line. | |||
Our dwarf lines
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| Dwarf rats are the result of gene mutation that first occurred in a California lab in 1977. Eventually they made their way from the lab to the pet rat fancy, and we were among the first to start breeding them in the Pacific Northwest. The lines we work with can in fact be traced directly back to Spike and Angel, the pair mentioned in this article, which explains the history of dwarf rats in more detail. The dwarf rat gene simply inhibits their growth, keeping them 1/3 the size of a regular rat, or smaller. In every other respect, such as behaviour and personality, they are the same as full sized rats. We are currently working with both solid and dalmatian based dwarfs. Most are dumbo in fawn, agouti, black, mink, blue and russian blue. Some are velveteen. Because they are smaller and more delicate, as well as very fast moving, we do not recommend them as pets for young children. Dwarf rats are more difficult to breed, and because of their size, their litters are very small. Also due to a higher incidence of birthing complications, we only breed our females once. If you are interested in this variety, we strongly advise getting on our waiting list well in advance. | |||
Berkshires
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| Berkshires were the very first variety we started working with. This is a rat with a solid colored body, a white belly and white feet. Blazes or headspots are optional, but most of ours do tend to have them. Our current Berkshire lines are mostly blue and/or mink based colors, all dumbo, with standard or velveteen coats. We have not been working with these lines quite as much lately, but we certainly could if there is enough interest. Needless to say, like all the rats at SITH, it is an incredibly sweet tempered, healthy line. | |||
Details on Hairless, Manx and Harley Coat lines will be coming soon!
Our Breeding and Adoption Policies
