# I am seriously thinking of taking the plunge!



## PiaLouise

I am very close to starting breeding mice for show, after I have owned them for years now and they are pretty much all I do so I am very passionate and dedicated.
I would like to ask the professionals here, before I register with NMC, what do really good tricolor mice have to look like for a show? I think mine are 'cute' as all mice, but I do understand their color/type needs improving, just wasn't sure what kind of goal I was working towards here?!
I guess I should say I understand that tri's have to have equal amounts of (white,brown,black) color and that 'splashing' are counted as faults. I was hoping to see some participants/winners of shows to understand visually what I am aiming for! Can anybody help me?

Also I have seen Rolands mice (very jealous), and their ears are HUGE! How do I go about improving bigger ears into my line? x

for reference, here's my tricolors I'm starting with!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninja-pri ... 469347668/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninja-pri ... otostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninja-pri ... otostream/


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## SarahC

Hardly any one is showing tri colours at all now the first wave of excitement is over .They will be really difficult to get to a winning show standard but I think a worth while commitment.Don't worry so much about the type and size if they are healthy,markings are more important.You need mice with 3 distinct patches of colour,it doesn't have to be the 3 colours you mentioned there are other options.Yours look to have large areas of colour rather than distinct patches.The splashing that produces the brindling is a problem and so are Siamese points,you need to try and breed those out.The big ears come from breeding cream/stone in.They are appealing but not a requirement for winning.There was quite a good one shown at the last show I went to,if it's shown next weekend I'll ask permission to post a picture of it.As a pet breeder I'm assuming that you probably don't cull.If you want to breed marked mice to a high standard then it's something that you really would need to consider.The good thing with marked mice is that you can see from a very early age which ones have potential and at least remove excess males and thus the headache of housing/homing difficulties.


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## PiaLouise

I do cull, quite harshly, only keeping females that are improved in comparison to the mothers. I never keep males unless they are special and stand a chance of giving me better results than my current male! I don't cull my breeders, only pinkies. If I want to replace a breeder, I re-home them as pets. Of course I hope that it doesn't upset people that I cull. I just don't want to be overwhelmed by hundreds of meeces!

So do you think I should only breed this female below, as she has spots of color rather than big clumps of color? Or will I be able to improve the rest as well? I am wondering how I get rid of the splashing on her rump? I am currently trying to improve her by breeding her to her black pied brother, as I heard that the black pied will clump the colors together rather than splash it.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninja-pri ... 469347668/


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## SarahC

I think overall you have a good plan of action.There have been no consistent winners with them so there are no rules set in stone on how to breed a winner.If it was me I'd breed from all of the females initially and pick the best from the litters.As time goes on you can be more critical on who you keep and breed from.The splashed gene is always going to be present just have to try and keep the ones that express it the least.I kept this buck to breed from because the colour was reasonably solid although the distribution is poor








and then from his offspring I'm going to keep this buck.









I might of course have chosen poorly,these are just my ideas of what direction to take.You might become the expert if you have a passion for them and be able to give us all the answers.My own passion is for the orange ones that moustress has posted many pics of.


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## PiaLouise

There have been no consistent winners you say... That's really interesting to me. Perhaps there is an opportunity to create this. Maybe I could achieve this with hard work and some good input from my biology knowledge and my artistic flair. I really want to do something worthwhile in my life and I am no good at anything but keeping animals and breeding them, so I am very tempted to try this. Plus, I love a challenge!

I think your new tri buck is adorable by the way, I noticed, yours have a very small amount of splashing present on their fur. I haven't seen an orange mouse before, but I dislike orange cats so I am guessing the same will apply to the mice. Of course just because I don't like the color, does not mean they are not beautiful!

I have a VERY pregnant mouse right now, she is the biggest mouse I have ever seen pregnant, so perhaps we have a bigger number of tri's amongst the pied babies! I will update when she drops and I will post photos on the 6th day when the pigment comes through. Fingers crossed something good happens!


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## SarahC

90 % of mine do have the dratted splashing.The odd few don't and those will be the keepers.I made my own tri from splashed x broken no ready made mice or creams so it can be done.Looking forward to your pictures of the future generations.


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## PiaLouise

The mumma still hasn't popped, I am thinking there's a LOT of babies inside her. I have never seen a mouse that huge before.

I am fascinated to find out that you actually created tri's from 2 other mice. I have never heard of that! I only had 1 female tri and bre her to a male agouti, and then bred her son back to her to get mine.

I am acquiring a PEW very soon, any idea if I will be able to produce a pink eyed tricolor?


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## Cait

Yes you can get pink eyed tricolours but the contrast isn't as good as the darker colours and would also make culling more difficult (they would be quite a bit older before you could see the markings). Tricolour is simply a combination of splashed, c-dilutes and pied. The splashed is dominant and so can be homozygous or heterozygous. C-dilutes and pied are recessive and must be homozygous. I wouldn't advise using PEW (i.e. albino) because any splashes are barely visible, if at all.


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## PiaLouise

My mumma mouse had only 8 babies, which is unusual considering how big she was, but hey ho.

I culled 2 males and a black pied female today and in 2 days I will check the pigment on the remaining 5 females and decide if any of them are keepers.

They are looking very white, but the brown pigment does take a few days longer to come through. It is possible that they're mostly white though, because the dad is all white with a black rump and a black beauty spot on his back. We will see what happens. I have her sister pregnant too, and her other 2 sisters are living with the male now, so I will update you with the progress here.

Cait: tip noted and I won't be using my PEW to breed with these tri's, much obliged for taking time out of your day to help me!


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## skeallzy

I'm excited to see baby pictures when you get the opportunity


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## PiaLouise

Pictures below!


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## PiaLouise

We have tiny amounts of pigment come through. Here is what I got. Not very happy with them apart from one but even that one is quite splashed. I think I just created 'tri-rumps' ha ha ha  What do you think? Any keepers? My friend wants 2 of them, she doesn't mind which ones.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninja-pri ... 840828459/

and below is the one I'm toying keeping for me.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninja-pri ... 840828459/


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## skeallzy

So cute! I like your keeper


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## PiaLouise

To be fair, they are not improved at all show wise, but they are mostly white, which will make them appealling to people as pets I guess... Roll on female number 2! She's looking pretty big, hopefully we have improvements, she is my best tri so far, so I am hoping she gives me the best looking babies!


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## SarahY

You won't really know which are keepers for showing or breeding for a few weeks yet. You can pick the mice you'll be showing by five or six weeks but the optimum age to pick breeders is twelve weeks old. Sometimes the best kittens don't turn into the best adults, particularly with marked mice. Kittens with the best markings could easily turn out to be the weakest adults in terms of general size and fitness, in which case one wouldn't want to use them for breeding.


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## PiaLouise

wow cannot believe how much they are changing everyday! More photos below!


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## PiaLouise

Here they are today. They are looking interesting to say the least. These really light patches appeared on a few.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninja-pri ... 870041175/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninja-pri ... otostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninja-pri ... otostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninja-pri ... otostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninja-pri ... otostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninja-pri ... otostream/

I don't know which one to choose now.. ha ha ha


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## skeallzy

Ahem. All of them. *nod*


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## PiaLouise

I am mostly interested in the one with the back eye and the beige patches now...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninja-pri ... 5840828459
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninja-pri ... 840828459/

i think this one's gunna have a bit of a black tail...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninja-pri ... 840828459/


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## PiaLouise

Here they are today.
So I checked their sex again and these 2 are male... damnit. 
although I am tempted to keep the small male with the black spot on its tail to perhaps replace my current male.... decisions decisions....


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## PiaLouise

Here are the tiny terrors today! I am absolutely confused as to which female to keep out of the one with the chocolate spots on her back and the one with the really light patches and the black eye.....


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## PiaLouise

Second tricolor called Mercury has had her babies, 6 in this litter, it's small. 11/08/2014. Will update in 3 days as to colors etc although 2 have pigment so must be mostly black so 2 possible black pied i hope it's not the females..
Also, could I also say how deeply saddened I am that we have lost Robin Williams. RIP  
here's mum....


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## PiaLouise

oooh, this one, Jupiter, just gave birth too, third down, one to go. went in the house fat, came out skinny ha ha ha :'D good to see this stuff as I am nocturnal!  she had 7 babies, out of those 5 were male, so they were culled and she has 2 girls now, only problem, one looks behind in development, so I'm not happy about the outlook of its future... But you never know! we shall see!


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## PiaLouise

So this is Mercury's 4 females, I don't think 2 are tri ha ha... the one on the right is my keeper. <3


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## andypandy29us

I want to join in with the tri baby pics x


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