# Hi



## Rowangate

Where do I start! I don't actually have any mice atm, but hope to have some in the near future as pets to start with, then perhaps to show and breed when I decide what variety I would like to work with. I discovered this site whilst looking for info on keeping mice and have e-mailed the NMC for an application form for membership and will join as soon as the form arrives. I hope you don't mind if I lurk, read and occasionally ask stupid questions, as I am new to the mouse fancy, and want to do the best for my mice when they arrive. Although I have little/no knowledge of mice, I do have rats and have been breeding them for over 10 years, but I am quite sure that the genetics, care, showing, illnesses etc is very different from a rat.
Anyway enough of my waffle for now, thanks for reading.


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## Jammy

Hiya Lian nice to see you here its a lovely forum and very friendly indeed also lots of beautiful mice for sale in that section

Welcome
Juliet x


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## Maplewood Stud

welcome to the forum


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## dingbat

Hello and welcome.


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## SarahC

hi and welcome.


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## julieszoo

Hi Lian, lovely to see you on here too


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## Rowangate

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.


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## Halcyon

Hey Lian

I'm gradually dragging everyone from the rat fancy over  

L x


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## Rowangate

Hi Lisa
Markings on mice WOW. All I need to do now is create the gene for rump white for a rat  I don't somehow think that rumpwhite is something a new mouse person should be looking to breed  
For those of you who don't know me, all my rats are marked, I breed hooded, variegated and striped roan.


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## julieszoo

Lian - I don't think you should let markings put you off, after all you have years and years experience breeding marked rats, whereas marked for me just means a shed full of pets as I have no discipline


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## Rowangate

I think baby steps are needed first, before I look at marked mice. Lisa has said I may have a couple from her as pets,that will give me an idea on how I find keeping them. Hopefully I will have a cream and a stone I know they aren't conceived yet but I can't wait.


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## SarahC

I started with marked because I like them and my enthusiasm hasn't diminished several years later despite the ups and downs.Having something you like is just as important as experience and marked are never boring.


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## Rowangate

sarahc said:


> I started with marked because I like them and my enthusiasm hasn't diminished several years later despite the ups and downs.Having something you like is just as important as experience and marked are never boring.


I do like my marked rats, and love the look or rump whites, but I have a bit of a competitive streak in me, so until I have half an idea on what would produce good stock both in type and markings, and also know who breeds rump whites with good type and has the knowledge that I want, and won't sell me a duff trio or give me bad advice, I think baby steps are the order of the day. I am prepared to wait. Patience is something I have alot off.


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## Cait

Rumpwhites are great (biased, moi?)! Seriously, you're right in that they're a big undertaking as with any marked in regard to numbers and ratio of showable animals, however they are rewarding. I have also just realised that I'm the longest standing rumpwhite breeder in the country which seems odd to me


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## SarahC

good for you in taking exhibiting the small stuff seriously.The mouse club is very encouraging to people who take the competition seriously.


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## Rowangate

MouseBreeder said:


> Rumpwhites are great (biased, moi?)! Seriously, you're right in that they're a big undertaking as with any marked in regard to numbers and ratio of showable animals, however they are rewarding. I have also just realised that I'm the longest standing rumpwhite breeder in the country which seems odd to me


So perhaps you are a breeder I need to talk to  !
It is the same with rats you may not get anything showable out of every litter, and you need to breed more litters to get showable rats, but I get a great deal of satisfaction when my rats do well on the show bench.


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## Rowangate

sarahc said:


> good for you in taking exhibiting the small stuff seriously.The mouse club is very encouraging to people who take the competition seriously.


I take things I do seriously to the extent of improving a variety, and get a good buzz when I do well on the bench, but I also enjoy the day out at a show as a social event and a learning curve for myself.


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## Cait

Rowangate said:


> So perhaps you are a breeder I need to talk to  !
> It is the same with rats you may not get anything showable out of every litter, and you need to breed more litters to get showable rats, but I get a great deal of satisfaction when my rats do well on the show bench.


You're welcome to ask on here, PM or email me. There aren't many breeders of rumpwhites - I can think of 2 other show breeders, one is Ian on here who has been showing for about a year (Ian, correct me if I'm wrong) and another breeder who has done well with other marked varieties and has had rumpwhites from me and will be getting some more soon who is about to start breeding them. I recently won Best Marked at a Cup Show with a rumpwhite and yes it is very satisfying, more so because I 'changed' my rumpwhites from tans to selfs, which no one had before. I have won Best Marked at normal and Cup Shows with rumpwhites before, but they were tans so this was the icing on the cake. So as you can see I share your need to achieve something through breeding!

To answer your question, yes, it is also true with mice that you usually don't get a showable marked baby out of a litter. I might show half a dozen rumpwhites a year but breed a few hundred.


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## Rowangate

MouseBreeder said:


> Rowangate said:
> 
> 
> 
> So perhaps you are a breeder I need to talk to  !
> It is the same with rats you may not get anything showable out of every litter, and you need to breed more litters to get showable rats, but I get a great deal of satisfaction when my rats do well on the show bench.
> 
> 
> 
> You're welcome to ask on here, PM or email me. There aren't many breeders of rumpwhites - I can think of 2 other show breeders, one is Ian on here who has been showing for about a year (Ian, correct me if I'm wrong) and another breeder who has done well with other marked varieties and has had rumpwhites from me and will be getting some more soon who is about to start breeding them. I recently won Best Marked at a Cup Show with a rumpwhite and yes it is very satisfying, more so because I 'changed' my rumpwhites from tans to selfs, which no one had before. I have won Best Marked at normal and Cup Shows with rumpwhites before, but they were tans so this was the icing on the cake. So as you can see I share your need to achieve something through breeding!
> 
> To answer your question, yes, it is also true with mice that you usually don't get a showable marked baby out of a litter. I might show half a dozen rumpwhites a year but breed a few hundred.
Click to expand...

Ok newbee question - when you talk about a tan, that is the brown colour underneath when you have something like a dove & tan, blue & tan, black & tan etc? and this is considered a fault on something like a self mouse when they may have a tan vent. So you in effect got rid of the brown underneath and turned it into a self - way to go


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## Cait

Tan is the bright orange belly. Tan can also refer to unwanted hairs on the flanks and vent that can be anything from faded whitish to bright ginger. My mice were black tan and chocolate tan rumpwhites and I have bred them to be selfs now (no tan belly, solid colour all over except the white rump of course). I much prefer selfs to tans, but rumpwhites were only being bred in tan when I got mine so I had no choice. I've now got a range of rumpwhite colours in self and am phasing out the tans gradually.


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## DomLangowski

Hi, Welcome to our forum


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