# Some Genetics Questions:



## Jimmythetiger (Mar 24, 2009)

So I've bred mice for awhile now, but there are certain things about mouse genetics that I don't understand. Are certain varieties of mice possible to breed for without actually having mice that are already that variety? I mean, if you do not already have a tan mouse, is there a way to breed for a tan mouse? Do you just breed the mice hoping for some genetic mutation to happen? Also, this may be a weird question, but are the fox and tan traits related in any way? Thank you for reading.


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## ian (Oct 3, 2008)

I guess some varieties came about through random mutations although its not the best way to go about breeding, many varieties have taken hundreds of years to develop so if you tried to do it that way you would be at it for a loooooong time.

Tan is dominant so you could breed a tan to a self and all of the babies wpould be tans although they would be a bit plae, if you continued to breed those babies to tans for a few generations you would begin to make the tan darker.

I don't know too much about foxes but there are people on the forum who have tried to 'make' foxes and you need black tans to begin with so they are connected.


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## Jimmythetiger (Mar 24, 2009)

Well I don't have any tans, nor do I have a place to get tans. I do, however, have a fox.


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## ian (Oct 3, 2008)

Do you breed just for pets? And where do you live?

Tans are generally not too hard to find as they are a popular variety, particularly black tans.

You might be able to get something resembling a tan from the fox, give it a go and see what happens, you cant lose really. I imagine the tan would be very weak in colouration.


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## Jimmythetiger (Mar 24, 2009)

I breed for both pets and feeders. I live in the USA so I doubt you can help me find some tans. Lol.


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## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

Foxes are tans with the chinchilla gene as well, which dilutes the tan to white. Since tan is dominant and chinchilla is recessive, if you bred your fox to a mouse that doesn't carry the chinchilla genes you would get tans in the litter. They probably wouldn't be very bright tans though, as Ian says, but you could get there in the end with selective breeding.

Sarah xxx


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