# Some of my little critters :)



## lovemykids3 (Apr 20, 2016)

This is Aspens last litter, I got her when she was pregnant and she's one of the shops older females, she's very timid, poor girl 

And this is Aspen. Not sure of her color?


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## lovemykids3 (Apr 20, 2016)

This is Asia, again no clue on her coat.
She's produced one litter for me.


This is Minnie, her color is alot darker than Asias. Still unsure but I might keep her. She's the black and white one.


This is my new baby, Ralph, he a pears blackish charcoal like, but in certain lighting looks chocolate?



This is Cleo, my clearly pregnant, Satin female, I've been told she looks like a blue satin agouti?


And this is her mate Luc, a satin as well.


And this is Algernon, my cute stubby looking PEW. 

His coat almost looks like it may have a yellowish tinge but I could be blind or it could be the lighting lol.

This is my agouti Jasper.


Well I believe that's all for now, we'll see what come from pairing them off : 0


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## Lilly (Nov 21, 2015)

Asia looks broken chocolate and Ralph poor black, which can appear dark brown when not "well bred", chocolate you'd expect to be around the colour of milk chocolate or lighter if not bred to show standards rather than dark charcoal

A very cute little group


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## lovemykids3 (Apr 20, 2016)

Thank you  I'll have to take a better pic of Asia, her coat in person seems greyish? And I'm hoping to breed in some better blacks out of my Lil Ralphie. He's got such a sweet personality too.


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## lovemykids3 (Apr 20, 2016)

Hmm maybe she does have a tan/brown tinge to some of her, the spot on her back in the light looks more tan than grey. She looks so close to having been a Dutch!


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## Lilly (Nov 21, 2015)

To me it looks like poor broken chocolate where there's some white hairs in the color (which is a common fault), but I know cameras and different monitors can make colors look a little different than the appear in person


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## lovemykids3 (Apr 20, 2016)

So say if I bred her to my poor black Ralphie, would there be chances of producing better blacks and possibly chocolates? I know my female carries the satin gene, not so sure on Ralph, as I feel he's too small to breed. So would there be a likely chance if he does that I might get 50% or all satins?


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## Lilly (Nov 21, 2015)

Chocolate and satin are both recessive, if you bred to Ralphie he would have to carry chocolate for you to get a chance of them in a litter, or satin for a chance at satin.

Since the Asia only carries satin the most satin in a litter (by odds anyway) would be 50% and that would only be if the buck you bred her to was pure satin. Not sure how much you know about genetics, but basically

both parents are satin: 100% of the litter will be
one parent is satin the other carries satin: 50% satin 50% non satin
both parents carry satin: 25% won't have the satin gene at all, 50% will be carriers, 25% will be satin
one parent carries the other does not have: none of the litter will be satin

(the same is true for chocolate)

If you want to get better black color then ideally you would not breed to chocolate since that can give the black a brownish tinge but since you're somewhat limited on the stock you can get where you are then breeding to Minnie or Asia to get a litter of black selfs (unless they have recessives, such as him having the pied gene since both the does do or him having choclate) then keeping the darkest black doe and either breeding back to Ralph or to a black sibling (sibling would mean a 50% chance at having broken in the litter though since both would carry it) and then again choosing the best pigment.

Hope that makes sense, its kind of late and a little tired! lol


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## lovemykids3 (Apr 20, 2016)

Oh no it does make sense and helps very much. I've actually been keeping notes, as yes I am new to this and not so knowledgeable in the genetics area. I'm sure alot of my srock carry some of the same genes, as they come from the same pet store, tho they do get new stock in from time to time. I have already figured if I want larger mice, even tho it may mess with the color, I'm going to have to breed my largest PEW with my largest female, hoping to not ruin too much of any color, and I'm expecting alot of inbreeding and yearsss to get what I'm striving for. And then to take what colors I can from my larger stock and crossing those. Seems like so much work for such little creatures but definitely worth while. Maybe one of these days a show might come closer to my area or I can start a hobby for others like myself interested in the area I live. Woo so much info to take in  thank you!!

Edit: also I do know that if I breed two satins, the whole should be satin. My Cleo and Luc are of reasonable size and after two months of being together they are finally having their first litter of pups! They are both satins


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## lovemykids3 (Apr 20, 2016)

Also, with Asia possibly being a very poor chocolate by chance, what might I need to breed her with, and breed the pups with to possibly get a choclate somewhere down the line? Both would have to carry it in order for there to be any chance since it's recessive? I need to look into some mice genetics hand books haha


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## Lilly (Nov 21, 2015)

If you breed her to anything else then the first generation will all carry chocolate, you can then breed son back to Asia for a 50% chance at chocolate and 50% carrying it, or breed them to each other but that will only be a 25% chance at chocolate


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## lovemykids3 (Apr 20, 2016)

Lilly said:


> If you breed her to anything else then the first generation will all carry chocolate, you can then breed son back to Asia for a 50% chance at chocolate and 50% carrying it, or breed them to each other but that will only be a 25% chance at chocolate


Awesome, she's currently fostering a 2 week old baby, she's such a good girl, so I probably won't try for a month or so. Asia is in her prime so she should be good for another litter or 2 and after that I probably won't breed her again and let her have the run of the retirement cage lol


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