Cave Rat

[Cyove]

Alright... Well, the Mountain Lepitaur wasn't working out. I'm sorry to anyone, IF anyone, who was actually looking forward to it. Perhaps, someday, I'll try and work on it again.

However, while doing my natural thing (randomly breeding random things), I got a rather adorable "kitten". Just so happens, the baby was half Lepitaur and half VPZ Rat. The cutest little critter! I've decided to try and make THIS into a breed. Hopeflly, unlike the Mountain Lep, this attempt will not prove to be in vain. Here is a compilation of a few pictures demonstrating my idea/s... The red on looks like he could make a nice puller? And the others, furry little companions or hunters, maybe. The ones with big feet remind me that they might live in the snow or something... Or travel a lot. Who knows... I'm not good at "mythology" and that thing called imagination. I like the blue ones brown face muzzle and snout. ;D



Ideas for standards not listed on the pic.
I meant the triangular Lep ears as a variation, I want the rat ears too. There could be like two different kinds or something. Example: One with big feet and lep ears that is bigger or something... And the other with rat ears and paws that is slightly smaller...?
Could come with or without whiskers. I'm not sure about those whiskers. The first, and my inspiration, kit didn't have whiskers. But a few came out with the rat whiskers. Maybe they could be a variation as long as they're a certain color or something...
If they have horns, I'd like them to have the mane as well, just because I thinkit'd look better. But it could also lack the mane, for like half points if it has the horns...
We'll work on eye color later; I want them to appear at least sentient, and the lighter eyes, I think, give them more personality, but the darker eyes are nice too. It all depends.
Hopefully the eyelids should match the snout color. I like the effect.

Any opinions, suggestions, comments?

[Vickie]

To keep from going down dead eds, don't think of ALL features for our standard yet. Pick the ones that seem to be more common in your breedings and keep going. (Like is most of the offspring end up with rat feet instead of Lepi feet, choose the rat-footed ones to breed.) Some features might not "breed out," so it is always better to follow the game trends rather than work against them.

[Cyove]

Thanks. Well that certainly makes sense. I think that's what I was trying to do, was work against the game, when I was trying to breed the Mountain Lepitaurs. Thanks for the advice!

[Vickie]

Yeah... Here's what I do:

1. Breed a pair a dozen times or so.
2. Pick one or two features I like in at least two offspring.
3. Breed them (I use Petza for gender swaps if they are the same) a dozen times or so.
4. Look at the offspring that both have those features and look most similar in other features.
5. Breed those.

If the traits I originally wanted seem to not become more common or even get more rare, I either switch to a ifferent look (whichever seems most common) or nix the project. I've already started and quit several Lepi projects...

I think that is why selective breeding didn't catch on much in the days of the Selective Breeder's Guild and other clubs. People wanted to breed dogz to look like real ones or had every detail planned out rather than following the game trends...

(BTW, I SB'd a Greyhound AND an IG. ;-) They have Bulldog personalities, thanks to their ears. LOL!) geocities.com/gaealunavenus2/breeddogz.html That was very hard. I would strongly advise against tring to SB toward a specific standard without being flexible.

[leppieluvr]

lurvvv it. SO darn cute.(i like 1st,orange,and blue ones. ;D

[Cyove]

I see. That's more helpful. I'll try that. Adorable SB's! You're quite good.

Thanks Leppieluvr. ;D I'm not too fond of orange, but a couple people have said they like the orange too, so maybe that can be an accepted variation... Or at least for half points(which by the way, I'm not too sure about what the half points and full points are all about and how they work...)

Also, I'm having trouble typing up coloring standards. I want to have certain combinations be acceptable, but others not. You know?

[Hanna]

Great breed idea! I like the orange ones - they'd make a nice variation.
The rat ears are definitely cute, but I'm not sure on the whiskers. See what kittenz you get the most of, like Vickie said.
The manes look adorable!

[Cyove]

Yeah, I agree. The first two didn't have whiskers... But all of the only acceptable offspring with the right body kept coming out with whiskers...

[Vickie]

Oh, and keep in mind that in Lepitaurs, mane, foot fluff, horns, and fangs inherit as a group. So you can't breed a one with a mane and no fangs to one with no mane but with fangs and expect any offspring with both. It simply can't happen. ;-)

[Cyove]

Oh... Heh. I didn't know that. Thanks for telling me.

[leppieluvr]

are tou still working on this ?i hope you haven't quit.

[Cyove]

Well, actually, I had stopped working on it because I was getting frustrated at not getting what I was looking for. But now that you have said something about it, I think I will try and finish it! Thank you for re-sparking my interest in it again! ;D

Edit: I also got a Lemur-looking kit with all Leppie features, like my Valliant, except with a rat face. They're mostly black with brown cuff/mane and white feet, muzzle, and tail tip. Also, blue eyes. Quite cute. Interested in this being a sub-breed? Or alternative/additional breed as well?

[leppieluvr]

im totally loving the cave rat its so cute and the leamer sounds adorable ;D (pixtures?)

[Cyove]

I'll get some pics up sometime soon of the Lemur lookin' critterz.