~*Dazzle Me Rattery*~

Russian Cinnamon Line

A bit of history..

This line is more than just breeding for a particular color. This line originates with rats we had in 2003 and 2004, from the midwest and west coast, and were used to develop a Marked line. In 2004 we acquired TEK Matthias who quickly made it known that his extraordinary temperament was what we wanted in ALL of our rats. He was a special boy who, in effect, was the cornerstone of our rattery. We waited for the perfect female to compliment him, but she never surfaced. In the end it was decided to breed Matthias to the best of what we had at the time - a dark American Blue female from our developing Marked line. Matthias sired his first litter at 19mos old. The resulting pups were robust, healthy and super friendly. We wanted to seal in the qualities of what Matthias had to offer, so we waited for his daughter to be old enough for breeding. Matthias was 27 months old when he was bred to his daughter. Those pups were exceptional compared to what we had thus far experienced.

The line was outcrossed in 2007 to bring in better size, definition, and quality rex coats. We have been working hard since then to select pups that mostly reflect the qualities seen in Matthias. In the end we have gained some size improvements, and the rex coats were cute but have not held up to the quality we had expected. The rats continue to have exceptional temperaments, but still need improvements in type.

Health

See The Fast Track

Color Focus

Russian Cinnamon is a combination of Russian Blue and Mink on Agouti.

We did not start out with the desire to breed for Russian Cinnamon. Our litters have been a rainbow of color due to the recessives lurking behind our Marked line and TEK Matthias, and the linebreeding done since then. In Matthias' first litter we thought he had produced an American Blue Agouti. Hope went through many molts as she grew up and became an adult. After looking through some UK websites, we finally pegged her as being a Russian Cinnamon. We loved her color so much that we decided to try to reproduce it. By breeding her to Matthias she produced two Russian Cinnamons -- one dark version, and one light. Mink is a highly variable dilution and can mess with any color it is paired with. The darker RC was never bred and the light one was sent to TEK and produced more of his color.

We have produced a few more Russian Cinnamons, one of which being DAZL Carry On Amadeus. We consider him to be an ideal example of a proper Russian Cinnamon. He is just the right combination of Russian Blue with agouti ticking and mink highlights for an overall dusky Cinnamon appearance.

Moving Forward

As any good breeder will tell you, it does your program no good to continuously breed litters that throw every color under the sun. This makes it impossible to get the proper coloration in any variety, much less one such as Russian Cinnamon. Our line is heavily influenced by RED and in turn we often have Fawn, Russian Fawn and Russian Beige pop up in our litters. By perpetuating this cycle of unfocused breedings, this gives less of a chance for proper Russian Cinnamon to come through and even when it does, it could be muddied up by both the Mink and the RED running in the genes. That is no way to properly focus on improving the whole rat in your program when you cannot produce a solid, consistent color. If you are going to breed, then one must breed toward the standards they subscribe to. Skittle litters are fun, but they are unpredictable and become very difficult to get any consistency in the colors produced.

We have decided to begin clearing out the recessives of our line while still continuing to get the wonderful temperaments and fun-loving pups we know and love. Not wanting to scrap our lovely Fawns, we have begun to separate them out into their own line. RED may muck with the other colors, but the Fawns that we produce are deep orange and we'd like to keep them around.

Markings

Our original Russian Cinnamon was a lovely self doe. However, half of her genes were from our Marked line. Due to a bad outcross in 2006, we thought we had lost what was our developing Marked line. This was not so. After a few generations of Self and low-marked Berkshires and Irishes, we have recovered the markings from our old line in our Russian Cinnamon line. This was a welcomed surprise. The genes were hiding in the small headspots that after a few generations have flourished into beautiful Variegated rats. Careful steps are being taken that these rats are not crossed with questionable marked lines.

While we would like to keep a line of Self and Berkshire Russian Cinnamons, we will also be working to explore the markings that have come through from our Marked line. We would like to develop a nice Hooded line, however this will be tricky given the Variegated markings running through the line.

Coat Type

We've made the decision to keep this line in Standard coats. Our line tends to throw a few individuals out of each litter that have super soft, fluffy coats. After working with Rex in this line for almost two years, we've decided to start selecting away from it. Rex coats can be an amazing thing but more often than not we've noticed it can distort the color and structural profile of the rat and the coat variety has proven to thin and become patchy as the rats age. We've also noted that Satin can darken the Russian Cinnamons and make them appear Russian Blue Agoutis. We may occasionally mingle Satin in with the Standards in our Sub-line, but the main line will remain strictly Standard coats.

Ears

Ideally we'd like to keep our Russian Cinnamons in picture-perfect, round, thick, properly placed Dumbo ears. Our main line will remain all Dumbo. We are working to select away from the creases that have popped up in the line and work to broaden/round out the ears instead of keeping with the tubular shape they now possess.

Our Sub-line will have both Standard and Dumbo throughout.

The Sub-Line

We will keep our main Russian Cinnamon line as-is, selecting away from certain qualities and promoting others. We have decided to also keep a sub-line of Russian Cinnamons. This line will be outcrossed and then linebred. The purpose of this outcross is to omit RED and to bring in fresh genes with an injection of health, longevity, and excellent conformation. We currently have two individuals that are under evaluation and hope to select one to be our outcross focal point in 2010. The offspring of this line will not be bred into our main Russian Cinnamon line for several generations. We need to make certain that the outcross is a good match of genes between the two lines. This will not be known until we have had two or more generations born here and living into their old age.

Through the generations...