# Latest addition



## Peteyandthegang (Jan 20, 2009)

Heres Ernie  Were so pleased with him
















Hard to tell on the photos but hes massive! (compared to all our other bucks anyway :lol: )


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## Angelmouse (Oct 3, 2008)

He looks really nice and chunky


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## sommy (Mar 1, 2009)

Ah, nice chunky lad


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## Bomu (Apr 16, 2009)

He looks really cool and shiny. How old is he?


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## XxFaexX (Oct 2, 2008)

Ive got a buck that looks just like him  where did you get him from? x


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## Peteyandthegang (Jan 20, 2009)

Thanks guys, he really is a big chunk, and a softy too. Hes around 4/5 months and was from Sarahc


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## yyoung (Mar 30, 2009)

You have to forgive my total ignorance ( I'm a complete novice) but what colour is he ? I get all the champagne/argente/cream colours confused. Is there any easy (foolproof) way to distinguish colours or is it just experience you need.

I have some mice and I just haven't got a clue what they are (between champagne and dove and light chocolate.... knowing me probably something completely different :lol: )

Handsome boy I have to say...... loving that super shiny hair.


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## Peteyandthegang (Jan 20, 2009)

yyoung said:


> You have to forgive my total ignorance ( I'm a complete novice) but what colour is he ? I get all the champagne/argente/cream colours confused. Is there any easy (foolproof) way to distinguish colours or is it just experience you need.
> 
> I have some mice and I just haven't got a clue what they are (between champagne and dove and light chocolate.... knowing me probably something completely different :lol: )
> 
> Handsome boy I have to say...... loving that super shiny hair.


Ernie is champagne
About the colours (please correct me more knowledgeable people if Im wrong!)
You can tell argente from champ because argentes have a blueish undercoat and the top colour is a little more light fawny than champ is
Champagne is really hard to describe, but basically Ernie is it :lol: I find that when taking pics, without flash they are more silvery-pinky, and with flash a warmer beigey colour shows up. Theyre the same colour all the way through
Cream is a lot lighter and more white than beige, and can have black eyes aswell I think

If you post up pics of your guys people will tel you what you have

I think the only foolproof ways of getting colours right are experience, consulting an expert or a colour chart. You could try printing out pictures of what each colour should look like but I never have, Ive just made sure I nose in whenever people here talk about the differences   I still get mixed up sometimes but I think Ive cracked the basics now

And thanks


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## yyoung (Mar 30, 2009)

I think I get the dove/champagne colours mixed up. I mean is dove is more grey ? I have these babies that are a grey/mink colour with tan ....but don't know what the colour is exactly. Not that it matters....just curious ?

As a baby ....very silvery









4 weeks and not so silvery but still a bit silvery in certain lights

















Is yours a satin ? or is it the trick of the light as sometimes mine come up super shiny when in fact they are not.


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## Angelmouse (Oct 3, 2008)

looks like a Dove Tan to me


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## Peteyandthegang (Jan 20, 2009)

Yeah dove is a very light and soft grey
Your guy looks a bit dark...and a tinge bluey on that top pic...maybe its still classed as dove, I dont know. I think Id call it "dark dove" :lol: going by the last 2 pics

Yes Ernie is a satin


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## Angelmouse (Oct 3, 2008)

I thought he was a bit dark but put that down to the picture  so maybe he is something else, cant think what though :?


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## Peteyandthegang (Jan 20, 2009)

Nah me neither :? Probably just the pic

Heres a link to show the diff colours yyoung
http://www.miceandrats.com/standmic.htm


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## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

He's definately dove - it can vary from pale silver to a dark steely grey with a million variations inbetween. I like the shade of the dove mouse on my avatar best 

Sarah xxx


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

If you breed champagne mice you can add silver to keep the colour from becoming to dark but you musnt put champagne into silvers if you keep them ,it produces an incorrect shade between cham and silver .This is what these look like ,silver or dove tans that have champagne added to the mix giving a sort of muddy top colour.I'm only talking in terms of correct colour,they are beautiful . These unusual colours are appealing and attractive.Nice mice.I get blue agouti in my brokens,I weed them out because it's not permissable to show them and I dont want them to get established.It's a shame because I think they are very attractive but for hobby breeding they would be desirable.


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## yyoung (Mar 30, 2009)

You are right they do sort of have a muddy top colour with silver running through it. The pictures are a very accurate representation of the colours.... thats just how they look. They came out of the litter with all black and black/tans. Fascinating how you can get all those different colours from one litter. I'm so pleased I got them because I don't know where they would have ended up if I hadn't brought their mums home. They are sweet though.... even if they are imperfect....just like the rest of us then :lol:


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

It looks like a chocolate tan on my monitor... the first photo shows black eyes, am I correct in thinking that the next 2 pics show red eyes because of the flash but they are actually black?


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## yyoung (Mar 30, 2009)

No .... the eyes are red. I think in the first pic they only look dark because the eyes hadn't opened at that point.... they were just starting to open (13 days old I believe it was).

The colour is like a milky coffee colour with a hint of silver in certain lights.


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## yyoung (Mar 30, 2009)

If it helps when they very young they were very very silvery and as they got older their colour has gotten more cafe au lait type colour but still with silvery bits. some days they look more silvery than others.


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

Ah ok, I must be more tired than I thought :lol:


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

cafe au lait,I like that.


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## yyoung (Mar 30, 2009)

Nobody would expect me to call my oh so special babies such mundane things like brown/beige now would they :lol:

Cafe au lait is much more fitting I think :lol:


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## Vivian (Apr 17, 2009)

it dove tan ..I'm sureabout it!

some dark, but it is dove tan..


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## Loganberry (Oct 24, 2008)

Champagne is supposed to look like the drink - a very pale, subtle brown with a pinky tinge. Champagne is a pink eyed chocolate mouse, which gives it the pink eyes and waters down the choc colour.
Argente is in the agouti family - it has silver ticking (individual hairs) running over the top coat, giving the peachy/pale orange colour a silvered appearence, and it has a pale blue undercoat, and pink eyes.
Dove is in the black family; it is a pink eyed black mouse. It is a soft grey, like the colour of a dark grey top coat worn for weddings, or the colour of a Wood Pidgeon's back.
Then there's blue, a black eyed slate grey/blue colour, and silver, which is a pink eyed blue, so should be super pale with a blue/silver tinge to the coat - the base of the coat tends to look blue-ish, but this isn't part of the standard.

If these colours aren't bred properly, as some are so closely related and in their own ways so delicate, they look muddled. The tan satin shown in this thread - although pix change colours sometimes due to lighting, so aren't the best for identifying or showing proper colour - could be anything really. Even in a pic, its colour should be easily definable if it's bred properly (to standard for exhibition, i mean).

and just seen Sarah's post on the previous page - i agree! They are very pretty mice, even if their colour isn't to standard. And nice and glossy!


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