# Houdini Agouti



## Cordane (May 22, 2012)

So as a few of you know, I was going to get my agouti boy today through a trade with a friend, (Wendy).
Wendy adopted two mice from a town about 4 hours away from a person who was breeding them. This person had put two females in with an agouti male for 19 days and since they didn't give birth, they put these two females with a light mock chocolate male. The females then went for a road trip and within days of arriving at Wendy's, gave birth. The two females, mother and daughter, had 8 babies in total. The mother had 2, (both agouti) while the daughter had 6 (one agouti and 5 piebald light mock chocolates).

I was at Wendys a few weeks ago to sex her mice and in my opinion they were rather small for almost weaned babies. In comparison to mine, they are between half and 2/3 of the size of my babies.. Then the agouti's seemed to act like wild mice. Jumpy, fast moving etc while the piebalds are all very calm. I'll be working on my agouti baby a lot over the week.

A few days before getting "Houdini", Wendy warned me that Houdini was notorious for chewing through his cage and escaping and every time, he went to back mum. (Houdini was housed alone in a critter keeper like cage). Thus being names Houdini.

Despite all that, he is quite cute. Nothing special but he is darker than I first thought.


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## MojoMouse (Apr 20, 2012)

Looking at the features and size of your agouti boy, it looks like he has wild type (rather than pet) agouti in his recent background. That would also explain the jumpiness of the agoutis in the litter. They are small, but should still be healthy due to the hybrid vigor.


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## Cordane (May 22, 2012)

I thought about that as well but I know his dad wasn't wild because his mums daughter who was also pregnant to the same male had piebald light mock chocolates as well as one agouti self so the dad had to have been A/a. If anything, I would say his grandad was probably wild. I won't breed from him like I planned, but I'll get him a glass tank when I can afford one and handle him when necessary. I know he isn't a fan of being handled (tail rattling) but he doesn't bite so that's a bonus. He can live out his life here.


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## Cordane (May 22, 2012)

So Wendy was on the computer emailing the person she adopted Houdinis Mum off as soon as I confirmed my suspsicions about a wild mouse in his distant past.
We know a few generations back on each side but we know it must be from his Dad. Houdinis great grandmother was a short haired agouti purchased from a pet shop down the line so her back ground is unknown. So the wild mouse is a great great grandparent or further back. I think that made sense..


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## Fraction (Aug 29, 2011)

It's interesting to see how much/how quickly mice revert to wilder behaviours once wild type blood is introduced into the line. I wonder if it would make the line hardier/better mothers, etc, though?


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## Cordane (May 22, 2012)

It's odd because his brothers who are non agoutis are calm as anything but still small in size ad have the wild mouse features. I would assume they would hardier but I would think that better mothers have nothing to do with type/species or whatever. Wendy's girls have small litters when put to an agouti boy.


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## Fraction (Aug 29, 2011)

For better mothers, I was thinking about that with wild mice, if the mouse is a poor mother it's likely not going to get a chance to pass it's genes on, since wild mice don't live for long and I doubt many/any wild mice would nanny for others. It's only because humans interfere that their mice are able to pass on their genes whilst being poor mothers (passing the babies on to other mothers, getting nannies in to help, culling litter size, even handrearing).

There are some varieties (are they the varieties that are most distant from wild type? like, the varieties that would just never survive in the wild because of their colouring etc) that are very poor mothers in general. I wonder if crossing wild type into their lines would help that?

It's very interesting that his non-agouti brothers are calmer. Maybe the inheritance of genes dictating their colour also helped them not get the genes that make them more skittish/nervy? Kind of like how certain lines within a variety may be calmer, smaller, better mothers, have males that can tolerate other males, etc.

Sorry, just thinking aloud. 

Are you planning on breeding him?


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## Cordane (May 22, 2012)

I have found that any of my nice that decend from Siamese lines are generally calmer or easier to tame up. The smaller females from those lines are even more so. Also any babies from my boy Basil seen to grow rather big in size and have good temperaments. (by 3 weeks try all weigh 15g or above, pet mice). 
When I first saw him and his siblings, I hadn't had babies for a whole so I agreed to a swap when mine were old enough though at the time I didn't realize how small hers were. It wasn't til we did the swap that I saw how small hers were compared to my boys. So originally I was intending to breed from him though now I'm not so sure. He looks around a 1/4 of the size of my 5 month old females. I was hoping to produce some lovely red based agoutis one day but his size and temperament is something I would really have to think about.

He seems so scared. He hardly ever comes out from under the egg tray piece I put in there. When I lift it up, he is sitting there, trembling a little though he stops when I pat him. I have decided to check on him a few times a day and pat him a little each time and then let him hide again, slow and steady right?


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