# Molting queries...



## JustMouse (Jul 23, 2010)

Okay, so I have a

Here he is when we first got him...he's grown a lot since this photo was taken. As you can see, he is a pretty light gold color and had clearly defined brindle striping:









A couple months later....

Here he is a couple of weeks ago, with clearly defined "bangs" and a fairly orange face.









and again:









Now, two weeks or so after these photos were taken, his face is almost completely brown (like his back), except for a band-aid shaped orange spot right above his nose. he looks like a completely different mouse, yet again! We will put up an updated photo asap, our camera is lost at the moment. :?

Any reason for this type of molting? it has been happening very rapidly, and his back is completely unstriped now. he almost looks like some kind of chocolate tan now! any thoughts?


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

This unfortunately just one of the things that happens with petstore-derived brindles. Most go from one shade of yellow to another, or from more-striped to less-striped, but for whatever reason, some do go from one extreme to another, like yours is (although his stripes were never "clearly defined").

All mice molt, but some varieties and some individuals within those varieties molt more heavily or more frequently than others, and on some (like PEWs), you can't see it because it always grows back the same color. I had a dove mouse who went from light to dark and had "bangs" (I called it her "hat") just like that.  I suspect (although I can't prove) that this is because the fur on the head/face grows at a different rate (and is thus replaced at a different rate) than fur on the rest of the body.

P.S. Is he missing fur on the top of his head in that last pic? My eyes (and the computer screen) could be deceiving me.


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## JustMouse (Jul 23, 2010)

No, he's got all of his fur, behind his ears is just a very light color so it looks like they're bald I guess. haha... but yeah, we knew it was his molting causing him to change color, it's just bizzare that it occurs so quickly. Thanks for the info!


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

It looks like my spiny mice. :lol:

They have the WORST molts. :roll: 
The spines stay golden tan on their backs, while the rest of their fur turns dull gray. Ohhhh they get so ugly. :lol:


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## JustMouse (Jul 23, 2010)

haha yeah, i mean at one point his stripes were pretty clear, although that first picture might not show it. it's just bizarre to me that not only did the striping/darker color actually change color, but so did the orange (it was much much lighter at first). and he's not ugly


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