# a colourful bunch



## Serena (Dec 29, 2011)

I have two litters at the moment.

one is a pairing between a black tan doe and a chocolate self buck- the offspring are chocolates, blacks and both colours with tan belly.
the other one is the offspring between the same buck (choc self) and an agouti bone splash doe. The result is one colourful bunch. Agouti, cinnamon, argente, champagne, dove, chocolate and black.
both litters were born on october 3rd.

now I'm discussing with myself which ones to keep. I want/need 1-2 bucks. I think I will go with one black tan boy and either a choc tan or a choc self.
I really like the tan varieties and would love to have them as my "main poject", but the variety I got from the splashed doe is wonderful, too.
I might keep a few more of the girls for pets just because I like the colour ^^
Well, still lots of time to decide, they're not even weaned yet :lol:


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## Fantasia Mousery (Jul 16, 2011)

They look really great!  Congratulations.


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## bonsai (Oct 14, 2012)

Congrats.
Your litters are beautful.
Difficult to decide which ones to keep.They are all beautiful little sweethearts.


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## Serena (Dec 29, 2011)

thanks, guys 
I'm so happy to have wee ones again. I didn't breed for 6 months or so- it's good to do it again


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## BlueTris (Jun 3, 2013)

Beautiful. mice. I love your splash. so pretty.


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## Miceandmore64 (Jul 16, 2013)

Please tell me those are just cages for taking photos? If those are full time cages then I am disguisted


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## Serena (Dec 29, 2011)

the small clear ones? of course they aren't for fulltime keeping!
They are like 4 litres or so, that would be extremely cruel. I almost feel offended that you asked this question.
I put them in there during cleaning. They are better for photos than the normal critter carriers.
You can see my setup in the "post your setup"-thread.


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## MaidenMouse (Oct 5, 2013)

They are adorable! I love how you caught momma mouse trying to climb out!


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## new2mice (Aug 31, 2013)

What a healthy looking bunch 
:mrgreen:


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## fancyteddy1 (Mar 14, 2013)

gorgeous! You have some nice, deep chocolates there!

Question though - I was under the impression (through reading about genetics) that when breeding tans, the a^t gene would *always* determine the belly colour of the offspring. Which would mean you should have had all tan bellies, but that doesn't seem to be the case at all?


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## Serena (Dec 29, 2011)

You are half right. 
Tan is a dominant gene, so if the mouse has one copy, it will show it. 
But, that also means, one copy is enough to mage a mouse tan. the other gene can be a or a(e) in black mice.
The mother here is a heterozygous tan, meaning she only has one copy of the gene (making her a(t)/a). that's why the offspring isn't all tan.


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## fancyteddy1 (Mar 14, 2013)

Oh, of course! That makes sense. Thank you!


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## Serena (Dec 29, 2011)

Just a few pics from the girls of these litters. They are developping beautifully.
One is a bit smaller than the rest, but we'll see if she grows out of it.
On the pictures they are eating a bit of babyfood. (I froze most of it, that's just the leftovers  ) 
I got this stuff for my old mouser, Tripod. He managed to lose both of his upper front teeth somehow and they aren't growing back...
So he gets soaked oats and other mushy foods.


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