Black Eyed

This gene affects only rats who are Siamese, Himalayan, or albino. Its existance is not scientifically described [I am using this symbol just out of convenience], but it appears to work with the following alleles:

• Be - Black eyed, dominant gene stopping the lower c-alleles from lightening the eyes.
• be - Recessive wild type allele, no effect.

This gene is probably epistatic to the red eye and pink eye dilution genes (ie, a Be/- p/p rat is pink eyed), though this has not yet been tested. The black eyed gene is "theoretical", so the notation used for it and the mode of inheritance currently theorised may change. The information given here is based on breeding results so far.

 

be/be ch/ch	Siamese
Be/- ch/ch	Black eyed Siamese
Be/- ch/c	Black eyed Himalayan
Be/- c/c	Ivory

Cream

The cream gene appears to work as a recessive, only affecting black eyed rats. I am not aware of a symbol being assigned for this gene as of yet, so for simplicity here I am using cr. This gene appears to darken the body colour of black eyed varieties, and also allows agouti vs. non-agouti differences to be seen.
Again, the cream gene is "theoretical", so the notation used for it and the mode of inheritance currently theorised may change. The information given here is based on breeding results so far.

 

cr/cr Be/- ch/ch	"Apricot" black eyed Siamese
a/a cr/cr Be/- ch/c	Cream black eyed Himalayan
A/a cr/cr Be/- ch/c	Golden black eyed Himalayan
a/a cr/cr Be/- c/c	Cream
A/- cr/cr Be/- c/c	Cream (agouti)