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Curiousv - Rats glossary Category: Animals and Nature > Rats Date & country: 09/08/2014, UK Words: 55

Sendai
A contageous virus that affects rats and mice and is similar to distemper.

Sphynx
Hairless rats.

Stud
A male rat that a breeder borrows for breeding.

Waiting List
List of people who are interested in adopting a rat or rats from a current or future litter.

Rex
Rats with curly or wavy fur and whiskers.

SDA
Abbreviation for the Sialodacryoadenitis Virus, a highly contageous (to rats) upper respiratory infection that causes swelling of the throat and eye problems. SDA is not fatal, but allows for myco and other secondary infections to flare up and possibly kill.

Rat, pet
Any domestic rat being kept as a pet.

Recessive
A genetic trait that can be masked by more dominant genes. Recessive traits can be carried.

RED
Abbreviation for red eye dilute, the gene that causes beige, fawn, platinum, and other dark ruby-eyed colors..

Registry
A database of individual rats used to track pedigrees and health information or for the purpose of entering shows.

Reserve
Having a rat that is not ready for adoption yet held for you so no one else can adopt him.

Rat, lab
Rats bred for the use of experimentation or scientific observation. (Same species as feeder and fancy rats.)

Rat, Norway
Any rat of the species Rattus norvegicus. Usually is used only to describe the wild rats, not their domesticated counterparts.

Postpartum Estrus
The heat cycle rats go into immediately after giving birth.

Punnet Squares
Diagrams used to predict the outcome/ratios of a cross/breeding.

Pups
Baby rats. A term used most by American breeders. (In Europe, they are usually called kittens.)

Rat, fancy
Rats bred specifically to follow set standards and to be good pets. (Pet stores often label colorful rats as fancy and albinos or black rats as feeders, but this labeling is used incorrectly.)

Rat, feeder
Rats bred and/or sold for the purpose of being food for another animal. (Pet stores often label colorful rats as fancy and albinos or black rats as feeders, but this labeling is used incorrectly.) Feeder rats are sold according to size. Some terms used to categorize them are pinkies, fuzzies, weanlings, small, medium, large, and jumbo.

Poryphin
The red discharge that comes from a rat's eyes and nose when he is sick, stressed, or has an allergy or sensitivity to something.

Pinkies
Newborn rats before their fur grows in, usually used to describe this size/age of feeder rats.

Phenotype
A description of an organisms charateristics (regardless of hidden/carried recessives).

Phenols
The oils in pine, cedar, and other softwoods that cause liver damage and respiratory problems in small animals.

PEW
Abbreviation for pink-eyed-white, usually referring to an albino rat.

Pedigree, partial
A pedigree that contains unknown information (example

Pedigree
The known family history of a rat (or any other animal) including parents, grandparents, great grand-parents, etc.

Myco
Short for Mycoplasma Pulmonis, a bacterial infection all pet rats carry, but most do not show symptoms unless they are stressed, old, or have another infection.

Nocturnal
Being most active at night.

Odd-eyed
Having two different colored eyes (like one red and one black or one pink and one red).

PED
Abbreviation for pink eye dilution, a gene that results in champagne rats, pink-eyed fawns, and silvers.

Locus
The location of a gene on a chromosome.

Malignant
Cancerous.

Manx
A genetically tailless (not simply docked) rat. Manx rats include rumpies (having no tail at all), stumpies (having a stub, resembling a hamster tail), and risers (having an end vertebrae that rises up).

Mendelian Genetics
The branch of genetics associated with Mendel. The study of heredity.

Lab/rodent blocks
Pelleted food made specifically for rats and mice.

Lethal genes
Alleles of genes that result in death of rats with a certain genotype (usually homogenous) either before birth or while the rat is young (before sexual maturity).

Litter
(1) The offspring born to one mother at one time. (2) The substrate used in a litterbox or in the bottom of a cage to control moisture and odor.

Heat
The period of time when a female is receptive to a male and can become pregnant.

Hooded
A rat marking/variety in which the rat is white with a colored head and shoulders and a stripe or splotch (or splotches) down his back. (Bareback rats are like hoodeds but without color on their backs.)

Kittens
Baby rats. A term used most by European breeders. (In America, they are usually called pups.)

Genotype
The genes that make up an organism.

Gestation
The length of pregnancy from conception to birth.

Head Tilt
A condition in which a rat's head is tilted at an angle (not swaying, which is normal behavoir for focusing). Usually caused by an upper respiratory/sinus/ear infection.

Gametes
Cells that contain only 1 set of chromosomes (regular rat cells contain two sets). Sperm cells and egg cells.

Crepuscular
Most active at dawn and twilight.

Doe
Female rat.

Dumbo
Variety of rat that has ears placed more on the side than the top of the head. Ears also are shaped differently than standard rats'.

Buck
Male rat.

Carcinogenic
Causes cancer.

Altricial
Being helpless, blind, and hairless at birth. (Opposite of precocious.)

Barbering
When a rat pulls out his own fur the fur of another rat.

Benign
Non-cancerous.

BEW
Abbreviation for black-eyed-white, a variety of rat that results from white marking genes.

Bruxing
Grinding teeth (often accompanied by bulging eyes and licking lips), which rats do when very relaxed and happy or when nervous.

Alleles
Variations of a gene.

Agouti
The wild color of rats. It appears brown from a distance but the color is caused by bands of color on the individual hairs.