Accidental conception with high white

Question

Badger   QUESTION: HI, I have several female rats and one male, in separate cages, in separate
rooms, and didn't plan on my male escaping and mating with my female rat,
Badger. When I got her, I named her badger because she looks like one. Until
he mated with her I didn't know that he coloring was known as "high white". I
found out about it while learning all I can about rat babies and all of those
things. I will attach an image of her so you can help me out, but I'm incredibly
worried that she might be a high-white and that she'll give birth to sick
babies with megacolon. She has had no health problems at all, and she's
about 8 or 9 months old. Dad is a hooded silver fawn. She doesn't have a
"wedge" on her face, but she does have a little lightning bolt, and she has
dumbo ears. Thanks so much, hope you can get back to me soon so I can
prepare for sick babies, if there are going to be any in her little, if she's
pregnant. From the day they got at each other, he due date should be Feb.
4th.

ANSWER: Yep; Badger is high white. Luckily these babies probably WON'T have any issues being that daddy is a hooded. Now, if Daddy comes from a high white line also, there may be megacolon, however its pretty rare. Megacolon is dominant but there requires two MC genes. Since Badger will only be providing one, this makes your litter "safe" from having MC however they will carry it, thus why they themselves should NEVER BE BRED. Make sure when you adopt these babies out that you ensure the adopters are aware of how deadly an issue this is and that they should never ever ever be bred intentionally.. preferably be spayed and neutered to prevent it altogether.

That being said, at three weeks of age when babies begin eating solid foods is when you'll be able to tell if they have megacolon. They will begin to swell and bulge, and will be unable to pass feces on their own, or have bouts of constipation followed by severe diarrhea. It would be wise to have sick babies euthanized, however you could of course proceed with MC treatment, which can include surgery, daily enemas and a special diet.

I personally think her litter will be fine though.

Good luck! She's adorable, by the way!

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QUESTION: I actually recently showed someone a picture of dad and they said he looks
high white as well. I contacted the person from whom I got him and asked
about his family history. His old mom said that all of his siblings and parents
were free of disease. Here's a link to my website where you can see his
pictures: www.web.me.com/misslasagna , if you click "the rats" and then look
at Sam, he's the beige guy, in some pictures with flash you can see his
coloring really well. I'm just worried about the babies...=|
Thanks again, and I hope you can find his pictures easy enough.

ANSWER: I don't think he's high white at all. Unless the pictures aren't picking up a facial marking (headspot, blaze, streak, etc.?) that I can't see.. but otherwise he's just a beige bareback.

High-white markings are facial markings, high-sided berkshires and bandeds, and dalmatian or patchwork type markings (if you google "high white rat" it'll give you good descriptors). I still stand by that I don't think he's high white. :)

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Sorry for all the follow ups, but here's a picture that shows the coloring all
the way, and his back is far from bare, it's spotted on his bum and pretty
much a line down his back, http://gallery.me.com/misslasagna/100090/IMG_8704/web.jpg.
And here's a picture that shows the speck on his forehead, http://gallery.me.com/misslasagna/100090/IMG_8699/web.jpg. It's really
hard to tell where the white parts are because his hair color is soooo light. He
has a white itty blaze on his forehead and SOMETIMES in the right light it
looks like he has a wedge of the yellow and around his eyes are white. It's just
hard to see or capture. I'm just scared that he's a yellow "high white" and not
the traditional black and white ones I've seen online. If he IS a high white,
would you say I have something to worry about? Thanks so much =)

Answer
ehh I don't see a blaze, but I DO see the headspot. I still don't think you have much to worry about, but if he comes from a long family history of rats with a ton of the typical high-white markings, you should expect the worst and hope for the best. Have you asked his breeder what his parents looked like? That would be the clue. If they have dominant blazes, large headspots, etc. then it's likely he does carry the MC gene.

There's no way to tell for sure if the litter is safe unless they all get sick.. if they get sick, they're MC babies.. and if they're healthy; unless you wanted to take two of the babies and breed them together, you never know if they're carriers due to Mom being high white.. so I stand by my original assertion that they should never be bred.

There isn't much to do for the litter either way, at this point. Is she nesting, getting fat, etc.?