# My ear improvements! *Picture heavy*



## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

So a long while ago, I posted a picture of this mouse I got from Petco. She had better ears and was bigger then a lot of the mice I've seen there.

Couple pics depicting AE's better than average pet store ears. Very blurry, I do admit...
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/540018_10150717590505741_500095740_9953731_646216089_n.jpg
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/578234_10150717590580741_500095740_9953733_473599123_n.jpg

When I bred AE the first time, this lovely doe, Evee, popped out! Don't mind the backgrounds, I moved them into the basement and this was the best window for light. You can see in the last picture that her left ear likes to crumple back, her mom's also does, you just can't see in the blurry pics. AE has always been a slightly bigger mouse, and Evee took after her mom. She is four months old, maybe a tad obese though.
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/580533_10150717587790741_500095740_9953723_1131169449_n.jpg
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hpho...17586750741_500095740_9953719_123526385_n.jpg
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/543083_10150717588600741_500095740_9953726_84263097_n.jpg

I wanted to see if I could recreate the ears, so I bred AE to a son of her's (nothing special, biggest male I had kept), and this little guy is the best from that out crossing. He's got nice, crumple free ears and a fairly thick tail set. I'm thinking when he is grown, he will replace his father and I will breed him back to AE, Evee, and any other better than my average that crop up. Last picture doesn't do him justice as his ear's arn't perked forward, but they are a lower set than his mothers. I didn't write the birth date down... He's between 3 and 4 weeks, I believe.
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/581582_10150717581510741_500095740_9953700_820766648_n.jpg
http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hpho...7586095741_500095740_9953716_2146005401_n.jpg
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hpho...7607755741_500095740_9953784_1637999818_n.jpg
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/545987_10150717605970741_500095740_9953781_15778662_n.jpg

Yeah, so I know that while this improvement doesn't seem like much when compared to what's all out there, I'm just happy with myself that selective breeding works. Yay!


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## Seafolly (Mar 13, 2012)

You're giving me hope! My buck is probably the best type-y mouse I've ever seen at a pet store (which does not say much) so I'm really hoping one of his daughters takes after him so that I might get these ears you're getting.


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

Thanks! I got really lucky, what I'd like to do is cross them into my banded line, but unfortunatly AE and Evee both carry pied. I'd need to keep back all the unpied girls and test breed with a pied male before crossing over. I feel like I'd be starting over with the ears, and who knows how that would change the modifiers for the bandeds. Idk, I'm thinking I'm just going to keep having fun with playing with the ears, maybe in the future I'll be able to integrate them together.


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## Shadowrunner (Sep 26, 2011)

That's a lot of progress in just a few breedings <3 
It's so cool to see it lined up like that.


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## MojoMouse (Apr 20, 2012)

That's so interesting - you've achieved remarkable results in a short time. Yep, selective breeding does indeed work - that's where the typey show mice come from originally.  I'm also trying to breed selectively for ear size (and eyes) here in Australia, because essentially we only have pet type mice to work with. We can't import due to customs restrictions on all rodents, so have to do it the hard way.

I'm in the same position as you, making progress but at the cost of prioritising conformation over colour (or pattern) based choices. It's worth it though, because as someone said somewhere on this forum, first you have to build the house before you paint it. Makes sense!


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