Markings

The self coat is a rat that is all one colour from head to toe. This can be any colour besides white. Genetically, this would be HH

The berkshire coat is a rat that has a white belly, and the rest of the coat in a different colour. There are different variations of the berkshire, but genetically these are all Hh

The hood coat is a rat that is white in colour, but have another colour on their heads, shoulders and down their spine. There are also many variations of the hood, but genetically these are all hh. 

The Irish coat consists of a single coloured coat with a small white triangle on the chest area.

A headspot can appear on either a berkshire or hood rat. These can come in a variety of sizes and shapes, but tends to be a white spot in the middle of the rat's forehead.

Barebacks are hooded rats rats where the hood stops at the shoulders in a straight line. There are no other markings below the "hood". Technically notched or splitcap rats can be bareback as long as they have no markings below the "hood". 

A blaze is a white stripe extending from the nose up the face. Different types of blazes include snip blaze, lightning blaze and wedge blaze. In NZ wedge blazes are essentially "extinct" however breeders are working to increase the number of blazed rats.  A snip blaze is a very small snip of white just extended past the nose, lightning blazes are thin wiggly blazes extending up the face. 

A splitcap is present on a hooded rat where a white split extends from their shoulders up between the ears. The split can be wide or thin but must extend to at least the ears to be considered a splitcap not a notch. 

A notch is present on a hooded rat and like a splitcap, is a white split that extends from their shoulders to below the ears. A notch is very similar to a splitcap but is much shorter in length. 

Masked is a new marking that is only present on Black Eyed White rats. These rats have a mink grey "mask" around their eyes/face. In some rats this mask fades as they age while others retain the mask their entire lives. 

The Variberk coat is similar to Berkshire in the fact that it is one colour on the top, and white on the bottom, however the white becomes somewhat variegated up the sides of the rat. This can look like singular white areas, or smaller speckled bits. While Variberk used to be quite uncommon in New Zealand, breeders have been selectively breeding for this over the years, causing it to become more common.