# Hello from Washington, what's old is new again.



## Kosmo (Apr 18, 2013)

Hello all,

I'm a mouse breeder/genetics hobbyist from way back in the day, but had to give it up for the last eight years or so for a variety of reasons. The other day my young daughter saw a mouse in a pet store and asked if she could get one-- and it hit me that it might be time to try my hand at it again (and perhaps have some nice bonding time with my daughter while I'm at it.). After all, I was around her age when I started raising mice for the first time.

Looking back, I now realize that I've always had anxiety issues, and something about raising mice, watching them run around, has a very soothing effect on me. I miss it.

About a decade ago, at the peak of productivity, I had several breeding programs running in parallel, and produced some interesting inbred strains. I actually produced black-eyed whites the hard way, selecting for plus modifiers of one of the white spotting genes, slowly increasing the amount of white over the course of about ten generations. (A little spot of color on the rump was the hardest to finally eliminate.)

I'm now very curious to see how how things have changed in the years since I've been out of the fancy. I'm curious about what new varieties might have popped up. Are they still striving for the holy grail-- a true tri-color? Or is that common now? Are merles common? Has the English type now totally replaced the small-eared American type that dominated in my day? (I was always dying to get my hands on a true English-type mouse but never managed to track one down.)

I live in Washington, not far from Seattle, and I'm hoping to find other breeders to talk shop with as I dip my toes back in the water, so to speak. I'm also hoping to find a few local breeders who wouldn't mind selling an interesting mouse or two to a prodigal mouse breeder like myself.

Thanks for listening, and thanks for letting me join your forum. I'm happy to be here.

Best,

Kosmo


----------



## TwitchingWhiskers (Feb 2, 2013)

Welcome! I'm in Washington too, I'm closer to the Portland area. I definitely wouldn't mind helping you get started with some stock, or advice, or both.  Yes! I've been waiting for more people from the west coast!


----------



## Kosmo (Apr 18, 2013)

Thanks for the welcome, Twitching Whiskers! That's much appreciated. Have you been breeding long? What varieties do you have? I'd love to hear about your mice.


----------



## candycorn (Oct 31, 2011)

" Are they still striving for the holy grail-- a true tri-color? Or is that common now? Are merles common? Has the English type now totally replaced the small-eared American type that dominated in my day? (I was always dying to get my hands on a true English-type mouse but never managed to track one down.)"

I am in Baltimore, but if you are willing to ship, most of the breeders in the US are on the eastern half of the country. True tri-colors are pretty common. Merles too! English type can be found easily from other breeders. In fact I imported some from the UK with a group of others this past spring. My website is www.masondixonrodents.com


----------



## Kosmo (Apr 18, 2013)

Hi Candycorn, nice to meet you.

So most of the breeders in the US are in the eastern half of the country? Ah well, that's a bummer. At least there's a few folks local to me though (Hello again, TwitchingWhiskers).

True tri-colors are now common?!! And merles?! And English type?!! I see my long-term strategy for obtaining these once rare, unobtainable creatures has paid off. Just wait ten years and then jump back in the fancy.

I wonder if I'll be able to buy any of those types here in Washington.

Once upon a time, I was up to the second on the latest varieties, but now I'm woefully behind the times. Have there been any truly new colors or subtypes pop up in the last decade? Any new mutations?


----------



## candycorn (Oct 31, 2011)

Well...not sure what was around ten years ago... But the rarest stuff in the US now is manx and abys, both only on the east coast, true hairless, and hmm were splash common? The rumpwhites and herefords sadly died out. Xbrindles are another building variety. Plus we have nice texels


----------



## brendawilliams441 (Mar 17, 2013)

Hi, and Welcome, I'. Im Eastern Washington but i don't breed I just keep them as pets, I'm on this forum because I couldn't find a breeder with in a hundred miles of me. I do however make an annual pilgrimage back home to the Seattle are. I would love to get my hands on some nice specimens large long hair silkies are pretty. So please let me know if you have anything cooler than my plain old pet store mouse. :mrgreen:


----------



## Kosmo (Apr 18, 2013)

"the rarest stuff in the US now is manx and abys, both only on the east coast, true hairless, and hmm were splash common? The rumpwhites and herefords sadly died out. Xbrindles are another building variety. Plus we have nice texels"

Candycorn, so Rumpwhites died out? Noooooooo. I've heard of manx, but abys is a new term for me. Splash as well. Thanks for giving me lots of stuff to google! I just visited your site, by the way. It's amazing. You have some gorgeous mice. I loved your art, too.

Hi Brenda, thanks for the welcome!


----------



## candycorn (Oct 31, 2011)

They also call abys Rosettes. You saw some on my page...they have the crazy hair on the hips. There are rumpwhites in the UK...just none here sadly.


----------



## TwitchingWhiskers (Feb 2, 2013)

Kosmo, I am currently working on establishing my pet type lines and hope to have recessive yellow self, blue variegated and siamese seal point lines going soon. I have a ton of does available right now and one buck, and I also have some litters planned for the next few months. I have two himalayan mice paired up right now and the litter should consist of himalayan, siamese and PEW. Feel free to PM me on here and like I said I'd be willing to help you get started. You can visit my website here, http://twitchingwhiskersmousery.com/.

Tricolors are piebald splashed, they're not terribly rare but not something you would see in a pet shop. There are many breeders on here with beautiful tricolors.


----------



## DaisyTailsMousery (Nov 8, 2012)

Hello and welcome  I am in Wisconsin and currently only have crappy quality pet type (but working towards improvements!)


----------



## Kosmo (Apr 18, 2013)

DaisyTailsMousery said:


> Hello and welcome  I am in Wisconsin and currently only have crappy quality pet type (but working towards improvements!)


Hello Daisy, thanks for the welcome!


----------



## pro-petz (Nov 14, 2012)

Hello and welcome to the forum


----------



## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

> The rumpwhites and herefords sadly died out.


Next time anybody puts an import together I'll send some more rumpwhites over...


----------



## Kosmo (Apr 18, 2013)

Thanks for the welcome, all! Much appreciated.


----------



## andypandy29us (Aug 10, 2012)

hello and welcome


----------

