April 8, 2011 Just a Jump to the Left…
Well, my hope for renewing my Black Satin line by using BVR-FSTR Mad Hatter with BVR So… Yeah is pretty much gone.
Hatter never had a ton of interest even when he was younger, and his fertility was in doubt when repeated breedings to ODD Mountain Chickadee went without pregnancy. She finally did get pregnant, after many observed couplings, so clearly there were at least some good bullets in his gun then.
Now, trying to pair him with Sobe when she was obviously in heat and interested was just sad. He had no interest whatsoever. He sniffed her and followed her a bit, but never even attempted to breed. He groomed her head a little and then went to sleep. Repeated attempts pretty much resulted in the same thing, so I’ve decided to end the attempt. There’s no point in getting Sobe all het up and hormonal with an old male who isn’t the slightest bit interested and won’t even try.
So Hatter and Sobe are both going to a well-earned retirement status, and I’m stepping back a few to another branch of the family. Sobe and Pippin are both descended from side-bloodlines of the Black Satin line through BVR-FSTR Mimsey, through FSTR Bread Crusts and FSTR Popsicle Sticks. Because of that, I’m going to be using their Agouti son, BVR Jolt, to re-jump the line.
The problem is that, aside from Pippin and Jolt, I have no other un-colored (Black or Agouti) rats to breed from out of that line. Pippin will likely not be successfully able to breed by the time any of the does I have now available are old enough to breed, and that leaves the bulk of expectations on Jolt. The best doe that I have available to breed to him is going to be BVR Black-Eyed Susan, simply because she’s a very nice, very dark self Russian Blue girl, whose father is BVR Jazz Chicken (Sobe’s brother) and so she is also descended from that same line. I wish I had a Black or Agouti girl to use with Jolt, but lacking that, Susan is a really nice-looking girl who I hope improves as she ages.
I’ll have to spend a lot of time cleaning out the recessives in this line before it can really be “Black Satin” again. My goal is to have at least 2 generations of all-Black litters before I can consider the line “working” again, and available to be used as an outcross by others. And of course, never neglecting the health, temperament and conformation that’s always been a highlight of the Black Satin line.
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Uncategorized
