Posted
on November 12, 2015
Are
“fancy” mice fancy because they have excellent table manners, or
because they host amazing parties?
Nope
– the word fancy in “fancy rat and mouse” doesn't mean
elaborate, decorative, expensive, or well-dressed. Instead, it goes
to the meaning of fancy as a verb: “to like something or
someone.”
In
other words, if you fancy rats and mice, you like them. And I'm
pretty sure that the rats and mice you fancy are the domesticated
ones that people have as pets!
 |
| Well, some fancy mice really are...fancy! |
Fancy
rats are domesticated brown rats, the most common sort of pet rats,
and fancy mice are domesticated house mice. These creatures can be
purchased at a pet store or from a breeder.
Note
that domesticated rats and mice are very different from wild ones!
For example, domesticated rats are not considered a plague threat,
and in fact pose no more of health risk than dogs or cats. They
behave quite differently, too; they are comfortable around humans,
affectionate to their owners, and tolerant of changes in food and the
environment.
 |
| This American Blue rat isn't very, very blue. |
Different
colors of domesticated brown rats are still the same species – even
if they are not brown! Because color mutations have been carefully
bred together to create different “pretty” rats, fancy rats come
in colors as varied as white, cinnamon, and even blue! And fancy
mice, too, vary in color and pattern, including black, chocolate,
cinnamon, fawn, champagne, blue, white, golden agouti, silver agouti,
silver, and dove!
Find
out more...
...about
keeping fancy rats and mice as pets from
this vet-run website.
Also
on this date:
Anniversary of the first salvage operation in space
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ahead:
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out my Pinterest boards for:
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