# Kinked tails in my litter!!



## lindberg4220 (Oct 30, 2008)

I need any information there's is about kinktails.

I have at least 2 kinky tailed babies in one of my litters and all i know is that it can give some horrible deformations of the tail and spine and that it's hereditarily.

I have these pics of the 2 kinked tails:



















Personally i will stop breed this line, i don't want such a terrible defect in my mice :|


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## WillowDragon (Jan 7, 2009)

I'm assuming they were born with the kinks? If they were, then yes, I agree that you should definately discontinue the line and breed from no mice closely related to these ones.

Personally I have never had a baby born with a tail kink, if I did, I would cull the litter as newborns and retire the parents straight away.
I do however have a few girls that have tail kinks from wheel damage, and I do breed from those, as obviously because it was an accident, its not genetic 

W xx


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## lindberg4220 (Oct 30, 2008)

WillowDragon said:


> I'm assuming they were born with the kinks? If they were, then yes, I agree that you should definately discontinue the line and breed from no mice closely related to these ones.
> 
> Personally I have never had a baby born with a tail kink, if I did, I would cull the litter as newborns and retire the parents straight away.
> I do however have a few girls that have tail kinks from wheel damage, and I do breed from those, as obviously because it was an accident, its not genetic
> ...


I haven't noticed the kinks until now, but these babies haven't left the nest-box yet and I really doubt they can get hurt inside the nesting box 

Also the kinks are very small so far that could be the reason i haven't noticed + i don't have the babies out everyday before they get older.


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## WillowDragon (Jan 7, 2009)

You's be surprised what clumsy mums can do to babies! But I don't think i would risk breeding from them again.


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## lindberg4220 (Oct 30, 2008)

Willow, I wont breed any of them again. I believe that even the slightest doubt should benefit the mice. After all, it is the mice's life or health that's at stake with that defect.


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## lindberg4220 (Oct 30, 2008)

:icon_sad Just checked the tails again and it actually seems like almost all of them have kinks...


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## Yelena (Apr 25, 2010)

(is still learning about mice)

Why dont want to take the chance of their being more litters with kinks in?

Is this possibly to do with their spine or is because its mainly for aesthetic reasons?


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## Lizzle (Apr 7, 2010)

I'm curious about what Yelena said too. What kind of spinal deformities can kinked tails potentially cause?


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

The tail is actually part of the spine. If the kink is a little bit farther up, it will result in badly deformed mice with a low quality of life or no quality of life. Needless to say, the spinal cord is housed in the spine and even the slightest deformity can lead to big trouble. In addition, mice with kinked tails cannot be shown.


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## Autumn2005 (Apr 21, 2010)

So basically a kink in the tail could indicate a kink higher in the spine? Or, even if the kinked tails are fine, it could be passed on to offspring who might have a high spinal kink?


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Yep.


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## windyhill (Jan 19, 2010)

Ive never had or seen a mouse born with a kink in the tail, but had a few does get kinks in the tails from wheels, so Im very curious about this topic


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## Lizzle (Apr 7, 2010)

Does a kink towards the end of the tail necessarily indicate a problem, though? In a mouse that would not be bred from, that is.


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Maybe. It depends on how it got there. If they were born with it, it's probably a spinal deformity. It may have just so happened that it occurred on one of the least dangerous parts of the spine.

Unless it shows up over and over, part of the problem with tail kinks is that you're not really sure how it got there.


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