# Red Merle



## tinyhartmouseries (Dec 30, 2010)

Does anyone have any pictures of an Ay merle? I am thinking....


----------



## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Here is a picture of a red merle:










This mouse was bred by Robin A. in 2007 or 2008, and was brought to an ECMA show. It obviously had poor type and was more gold than red, but was very pretty in color. It was probably e/e, but it is possible that it was Ay/* (a lady named Beth had them in Maryland) and/or Avy/*.

If I remember correctly Robin also had some agouti and tan merles (related to the red merles) which were also interesting to look at. I prefer darker colors in merle myself, because there is more contrast. Even a dark, rich, red starts to look washed-out when you combine it with merle due to the requisite interspersing of white hairs.


----------



## love2read (Aug 30, 2011)

I have an RY Merle.










AY Merles are on my to-do list.


----------



## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

That's a much nicer-typed mouse, but on my screen I don't see any roaning. Where is it?


----------



## love2read (Aug 30, 2011)

It's all over, you just have to squint and tilt your screen just right to see it, lol. She looks more Roan then Merle and the pic was taken when she was younger. Nowadays it's much more obvious, but still kinda hard to capture in a picture. RY and Merle don't mix well with my camera.  That's why I'd like to breed Red into the mix, so the contrast will be more obvious.

Here's a side shot of her, but it doesn't show the roaning much either:









She's from Beth.


----------



## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Ah, I think I can see a little bit of it.

Is she from Beth in Ohio or Beth in Maryland (based on her head, I'm guessing Ohio)?

The fact that her roaning is hard to see is actually due partly to the reason that merle shows up better in dark, BE varieties. On black mice (for example), you can easily see even small amounts of roaning.


----------



## tinyhartmouseries (Dec 30, 2010)

Those are really pretty, kind of what I was thinking of...however to me, they cannot compare to the black merles. Hmm. Should I or shouldn't I?


----------



## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

yes do it and share the pics,I think it's much prettier than the black/blue :love


----------



## love2read (Aug 30, 2011)

It's nice to have a change from the norm. 

My Merle line has multiple recessive colors, which is nice, imo, because then I get a rainbow of colors. <3 So far I've gotten Black, Blue, Chocolate, and Beige Merles. I've gotten RY from the line as well, but not in Merle. Blue Merle is quite beautiful as well, imo.


----------



## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Good luck!


----------

