Thin fur in rescues

[reflex]

I didn't have much time to read to see if this question was asked earlier, so sorry if this is one of those repeat questions.

I was given 8 rats by the owner of my local pet store (and friend of mine) who had escaped their cages in march, and they had just caught them a few days ago. They had apparently lived off the dog and cat food stored back there, and got little water from a leaky pipe.
So of course they came to me pretty skinny and dehydrated, but they also have very thin/dirty looking fur. Could this have been from an improper diet?

As of now, they are getting as much water and food as they want, and are currently eating Mazuri rodent food that I use for my ASF rats.
How long do you think it will take them to have their hair back and looking normal again with proper diet and hydration? (by the way, one of them in the pics is a rex I think, I'm pretty sure you can identify him pretty easily)

 

[jorats]

I would think it shouldn't take long for a proper diet to turn start getting them healthy again. Under a month would be my thought. When I was feeding dog food and suebee's mix then I switched to a good quality block, the change was instant.They sure are an adorable bunch!!!
How old are these little guys?

 

[lilspaz68]

They are beautiful and I see more than 1 rexy rat in the bunch. Some may be poorer coated rexes but rex all the same. Look for curly whiskers. Yeah I would say 1 month and you will have some much happier/healthier rats on your hands

I take it you have separated girls from boys?

 

[TwilightRatz]

I see they are Rexes, they could be losing some of the hair due to that, Both Parents could have been rex, cause the the Double Rexing, will make there hair Fall out or just thin all over of even in Patches. My friend she has one that when that small had all there hair and then when He was bigger He now has very little Hair.

I think it even works if one parent is rex and the other Parent isn't but has the Rex trait but not the Hair.

You should read on the Double rex coat and see about it, is interesting.
Hope it helps, they sure are CUTIES though :happydance:

Goodluck
:wink2:

 

[ryelle]

I've read that to keep a nice coat (thick, shiney, soft) on a rat, the diet needs to contain a minimum of 14mg/kg Copper . If they have been on a poor diet, then it will show through their fur.


haha that little white guy in the first pic

 

[reflex]

Thanks for the replies!!

How old are these little guys?

Most of them are about 3.5-4 months old. Gosh I wih I could remember exactly when they were born, I was there!

Both Parents could have been rex

Actually, none of the parents of the rex rats were rex. They were all normal coated rats.
That brings up something, though, that's confusing, that I may want to make another thread in a different topic for. The genetics behind coat types...

 

[lilspaz68]

Not even a poor rex?

Better check those whiskers then...its the only way to tell if their coat's are as poor as all that

Poor bubbies, I just wanna kiss them! :heart:

 

[Moon]

How old do babies have to be to get a revolution dose? I'd be inclined to dose them just to be on the safe side.

 

[henry's_mum]

6-8 weeks, no?
i'm with Mooners, i'd dose 'em with revolution just to be safe!
revolution, and good food will bring them around in no time!

They are CUTE!!!

 

[jorats]

Non rex rats can't produce rex babies. Unless it's a freak of nature. I was trying to look at the whiskers in the photo, they don't seem curly to me. These babes in the picture are 4 months old? ...that is a concern because they are very tiny.

 

[Godmother]

Poor little sweeties! So glad that you were able to rescue them. They'll be needing a lot of TLC.

 

[reflex]

Hi, sorry I haven't been on in awhile.
I know they are small, most of them got out when they were very young (right about the time they were weaned).

They are all growing in their hair very nicely. You can now definately tell there are no white rats - They're a light cream color! They are quickly gaining weight. It's surprising how fast they've turned around in such a short time!

But that's really weird that non rex rats can't produce rex babies. We just had another litter a couple weeks ago from two normal haired rats and one came out rex. I know how to check for rex traits. I know the curly whiskers, etc. And they had none of that. Could it be possible that the rex fur is a recessive gene, maybe both parents weren't rex but were het for it?