# Snow Tigers - what do you call these overseas?



## Rambo-Bright (Jun 5, 2013)

Hi all! *waves*

I'm in Australia, and wanted to ask a question to you varieties savvy folks from overseas if you have names for, or have standardised, c-dilute brindles?

In Australia, a c-diluted brindle is given the blanket term 'snow tiger', but if a mouse's genotype is known it is generally called by what it is (ie: A(vy)/a c(ch)/c(ch) would be a sepia (also known as 'Havana' in Australia) brindle, but an A(vy)/A c(ch)/c(ch) would be a silver agouti brindle).

Snow tigers can be shown in most clubs, but the darker, non-agouti based c-dilutes tend to do much better as the stripes are much easier to see and more well defined. A bone brindle would score poorly, because it's essentially a mouse with pale cream coloured stripes on white, so it's markings are harder to see. Some clubs I think even disqualify snow tigers of paler colours (Himalayan brindle, Siamese brindle, colour point beige brindle, bone brindle, etc).

So next time you see an Aussie talking about snow tigers, now you know what they are (unless you did already) 

So, do c-dilute brindles have names where you are? Are any standardised and able to be shown in clubs in your region/state/country? Would love to know and to see pictures 

Here is a photo of a few different snow tigers that belong to a breeder friend of mine.


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

we don't have the brindle gene that makes snow tigers in the UK.They are in the USA.


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## Rambo-Bright (Jun 5, 2013)

You don't have A^vy in the UK? I always thought it was pretty wide spread.

What brindle gene do you have in the UK?


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## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

We have sex-linked brindles, Mobr. They can be c-dilute though, but need to be a standardised colour for showing and few c-dilute colours are standardised here. In any case, they would be called stone brindles, sepia brindles, mock-chocolate brindles, etc.


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## Rambo-Bright (Jun 5, 2013)

I have seen info about Mobr on sites such as Finn Mouse, but I had no idea that A^vy wasn't in the UK, thanks for the info! I find stuff like this interesting 

In regards to showing though, which c-dilutes are standardised with your local club?
In one club alone here in Aus, Havana (sepia), mock chocolate (a/a c(ch)/c(e) and a/a c(ch)/c), Burmese, reverse Siamese, beige, colour point beige, bone, Siamese, Himalayan, PEW (albino or Himalayan fawn), silver agouti, chinchilla (in Aus, chinchilla can be either A/* c(ch)/c(e) or A/* c(ch)/c), cream (A/* c(ch)/*), BEW (A/* c(e)/* and REW (Siamese fawn) are all standardised and showable colours.

I prefer to use terms such as sepia brindle, silver agouti brindle, Burmese brindle, etc, over 'snow tiger', not sure who coined the term 'snow tiger', but it seems to attract many people to the variety from the name alone.


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## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

Yeah, "snow tiger" is a bit too cutesy for me :lol:

Here, we have:
- pink eyed white (a/a c/c), 
- black eyed cream (a/a c/ce), 
- Himalayan (seal point: a/a c/ch, blue point: a/a c/ch d/d), 
- Siamese (seal point: a/a ch/ch, blue point: a/a ch/ch d/d), 
- black eyed Siamese (a/a ce/ch, blue point: a/a ce/ch d/d),
- silver agouti (A/* cch/cch), 
- chinchilla (Aw/Aw cch/cch or A/at cch/cch), 
- argente creme (Aw/Aw cch/cch p/p or A/at cch/cch p/p) 
- silver fox (at/at cch/cch P/*)
- marten sable (Ay/at cch/cch)
You can see all of the NMC standardised varieties here: http://www.thenationalmouseclub.co.uk/breeds.php

In the NMC the various c-dilute browns (ce/ce, ce/cch, c/cch etc) are not standardised and probably won't ever be. A chinchilla made with ce/cch or c/cch would have a brown cast to the top colour and chinchillas here must be cold iron grey with no hint of brown, so they can only be cch/cch and, in breeding, brown casts must be strictly selected against. The white point in reverse Siamese would be simply seen as a horrendous fault!

There is no reason one couldn't show an Ay based cream or white, but the c-dilute colours I've listed above have such a clear advantage with their superior type that an Ay based mouse wouldn't stand a chance against them.


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## Rambo-Bright (Jun 5, 2013)

I forgot about argente cream, oops! We have it standardised also. I tend to forget it as you don't see it shown very often.

I've produced a few cream (c-dilute A^y) mice, but yeah, they tend to get a bit chunky, lol! I think I read somewhere that bone (c(e)/c) is currently what is being shown as cream in the NMC, is that correct?

I prefer to see A/a(t) c(ch)/c(ch) standardised as chinchilla, but it's been agouti based c(ch)/c and c(ch)/c(e) for so long people are just used to it. I love silver agouti mice, and so prefer their more silver grey tones to those who get a brown cast. But I have had some A/* c(ch)/c and A/* c(ch)/c(e) mice who have had some great personalities so I've had some, but still prefer the silver agoutis <3

I find it funny the white point in reversies would be considered a fault! It's great to hear how other clubs differ, gives me something to ponder.

We don't have the large, typey mice seen overseas. People here get a mouse that weighs 30g and it's 'enormous' and 'gigantic'. Show them photos of overseas mice next to smaller, non-show-typey mice and they cannot believe the size of them! So we do get very barrel-like mice that look as though they would be a fawn based colour, but they're agouti, black, etc. Perhaps one day Australia will finally have some mice similar to those overseas in regards to type and size, but it all comes down to time, good selection, and patience.


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