Bao Varakhii Rattery

A Russian Cinnamon rat is an Agouti version of Russian Dove. That means it is a rat with at least one dominant Agouti gene (A/-) and two double recessives each of Russian Blue and Mink (d/d m/m). While Dove is a warm dusty grey color, very attractive in its own right, Russian Cinnamon is a brighter, warmer color.

NXPR Kaeman, our foundation Dove sire

Russian Cinnamon is a gold-over-pewter color, with rich straw-colored hairs, tipped in black and undercoated in a silvery grey. It should never look heavy or dull. BVR was the first identified rattery in the United States to breed one of these beauties, completely by accident, when we bred NXPR Kaeman to a Russian Blue Agouti in an effort to get more Russian Blue and Dove rats.

BVR Teacosy, our first Russian Cinnamon

When we saw Teacosy, we fell in love with the color completely. Though we had previous been starting a Russian Blue line with Kaeman, his brother Benjiro, and MAN Ha'Kan'Ta, our Russian Blue Agouti doe, we decided instead to focus on Dove and Russian Cinnamon. The colors are so attractive and lovely that we just can't resist them!

BVR Sweet Sunshine, Russian Cinnamon

~What Are Our Goals?~

Our ideal Russian Cinnamon will be light and bright, like Teacosy, our first. We would also like to see Berkshire markings on our Russian Cinnamons, splashy against the gold.

To that aim, we are trying to breed the best conformed animals that we can find that with are or carry Mink or Russian Blue, or both. Luckily, two of the breeders we work most closely with, Echo Rattery and Farstar Rattery, work with Russian Blue and Mink, respectively. While we did have a crisis in the rattery a few years back with a bacterial infection that wiped out most of our potential Russian Cinnamon bloodline, we did manage to save it with a breeding to a 2-year-old son of Kaeman and Ha'Kan'Ta who was placed with one of our closest friends.

We're building up a solid bloodline currently out of bloodlines we know from breeders we trust, slowly adding in to get our ideal breeding, which will someday be Marked Dove x Marked Russian Cinnamon rats to produce a litter of the same. At this time, we have several Russian Cinnamons and Russian Blue Agoutis carrying Mink, as well as Doves, which will serve to produce our litters in the coming year. Dazzle Me Rattery has been kind enough to provide us with marked rats, which we are building in a side-line to clean out recessives before we add them to the main line. In time, we hope to be able to breed Dove Berkshire x Russian Cinnamon Berkshire, every time, to produce a nice variety of silver and gold in every litter.