Genetics and Appearance of the
Russian Silver Rat

Compiled by Tiffany A. Robbins

Information taken from:
The United Rat Standards
FancyRatsWiki

Genetics of the Russian Silver Rat

To be a Russian Silver, a rat must be a non-agouti (a) with the Russian Blue (d) gene from both parents, the American Blue (g) gene from both parents, and be a self marking (H).

This would result in a rat with the following genetic description: a/a d/d g/g H/H

The Agouti Gene – The agouti gene is a dominant gene for rats. It results in a “ticked” or banded color along the hairs of the coat. A Siamese should not have the agouti gene. In a Siamese rat, the agouti gene would wash out and dilute the dark points and shading of the rat.

The Russian Blue Gene – The Russian blue gene is a recessive color. For the rat to show that it is Russian blue, it must inherit the Russian blue gene from both parents. The gene is also a color dilute. That means that on a black rat, this gene dilutes the color pigment so that the black appears to be a dark gray-blue.

The American Blue Gene – The American blue gene is similar to the Russian blue gene in that it is a recessive color dilute. So it must be inherited from both parents and dilutes the color pigment so that a black rat would appear to be a deep, slate blue.

The Self Gene – Self refers to a type of marking that is actually a lack of any marking. The rat should have the same consistent color all over its body. Any white markings on the rat are considered a fault.


The United Rat Standards that apply to the Russian Silver Rat

Head - Should be evenly proportioned, with clean lines and a well-defined stop at the brow. The muzzle should be of good breadth, rounded and blunt, not narrow or pointed. The male head should project broadness and strength, while a female's projects strength and definition that is clearly feminine.
Faults: Long face with pointed muzzle, head too narrow or too wide, no clear brow stop, male head appearing too feminine, female head having a masculine appearance.

Standard Ears - Well-formed oval shape of medium size, they should be upright and spaced well apart.
Faults: Creases or folds, ears set too low or too far apart.

Standard Tail - Long and cylindrical, thick at the base and tapering to a fine point. Should be at least the length of the body (nose to base of tail) and be firm, and of size/thickness appropriate to the size of the rat, so as to give a balance appearance.
Faults: Not cylindrical, short, thin.
Disqualification: Kinked or docked.

Eyes - Large, round, and bold; set wide apart so as to give the appearance of width to the head. Placement is ideally half way between the tip of the nose and the back of the ears.
Faults: Eyes too small.

Teeth - Two upper and two lower incisors, none misshapen or missing. Mouth should be able to close normally, with top incisors in front of the lower.

Self Marking - Rat shall be all one color displaying no markings.
Faults: White fur on body, white toes/feet

Standard Coat - Fur to be dense, even, and lustrous – should lay flat and smooth. Long guard hairs or slightly coarser fur are permissible in Males. Whiskers are long and straight. Color and markings should conform to recognized standard.

Russian Silver - To be a pale, ice-like blue-gray with very apparent faint speckling or heathering.
Eye Color: Black
Faults: Dullness, Ruby eyes, Yellow cast.


Challenges to Our Russian Silver Breeding Line
We thought that we had nice solid Russian Silver genes going in our lines. Because of some health problems running through the line, we stopped breeding those rats. There are just too many questions surrounding them. So we are looking to reestablish the Russian Silver genes through a different route.

Fortunately, one of the breeding lines at the Bao Varakhii Rattery has been carrying around a lot of recessives and they recently had (what appears to be) two Russian Silver boys. They have been gracious enough to allow us to have these boys in order to try to resurrect our Russian Silver line. There will be a lot of recessives coming out of these subsequent litters; so there will be an opportunity for adoption of colors that you won't normally see from us.


Our Goals for Our Russian Silver Breeding Line
Our goal here is to get a clean, reliable Russian Silver (d/d g/g) or American Blue (g/g) rat that we can incorporate into our Russian Blue Point Siamese line and re-create our Russian Silver Point Siamese line.

The History of Our Russian Silver Breeding Line
The beginnings of our Russian Silver line came from the Bao Varakhii litter DAZL Mockingbird x BVR Dawn Treader that threw some recessives. From this litter we received BVR Adam Young and BVR Crowley to restart our line. These two boys will be bred to offspring from SLKY Stein x SLKY Amphora.

Steps for restarting the Russian Silver Breeding Line
Step 1 - Breed SLKY Stein x SLKY Amphora and keep the two best Russian Silver girls.

Step 2 - Breed BVR Adam Young to one Girl1 from SLKY Stein x SLKY Amphora and breed BVR Crowley to Girl2 from SLKY Stein x SLKY Amphora. Keep best Russian Blue male and female from each litter.

Step 3 - Breed male from BVR Adam Young litter to female from BVR Crowley litter and breed female from BVR Adam Young litter to male from BVR Crowley litter. Keep best/cleanest Russian Silvers from both litters.

Step 4 - Breed best Russian Silvers to each other or back to BVR Adam Young or BVR Crowley.


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