Rat Terminology
This is a simple dictionary to help explain the terminology used to describe rats, color types, etc., unique to this hobby. The information on this page will continue to grow over time, however, here is a few that I think you may find helpful.
Rat Color Types
| BEW | This is an acronym for any rat that has black eyes and a white coat. |
| RES | This is an acronym for any rat that has red eyes and has dark points as in the siamese. |
| RED Based | This is an acronym for any rat that has a coat that is diluted by the red eyed gene. |
| PEW | This is an acronym for any rat that has pink eyes and white fur. |
| RB | This is an acronym for any rat that is Russian Blue. |
| AB | This is an acronym for any rat that is American Blue. |
Rat Genetics and Breeding
| Het | The term, "Het" stands for heterozygous. This means that the rat carries a recessive trait. For more of an explanation click here. |
| Hom | This term, "Hom" stands for homozygous. This means that the rat has two copies of the same trait. They can be either the dominant form, such as CC or the recessive form, cc. |
| Genotype | This term refers to the genes that any rat possesses. For more of an explanation please click here. |
| Phenotype | This term refers to the way the rat looks due to the effect the genes have on the development of the rats coat, color type, amount of color, shape and size of the ears, eye color, health, amount of spotting, lack of spotting, body mass, etc., |
| allelic | Traits are said to not be allelic when they are determined to be two separate mutations or genes. |
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