# how to tell if a mouse is "show type"



## kerryann (Oct 4, 2010)

this has always interested me. i read about people showing their mice or selling show type mice but have wondered how do u know if a mouse is show quality?


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## Wight Isle Stud (May 19, 2010)

have a look at all the photograps in BEST IN SHOW MICE, that shoulld give you a good idea.


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## kerryann (Oct 4, 2010)

i will thanks


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## WNTMousery (Jun 2, 2010)

Here you go! http://www.eastcoastmice.org/theidealmouse.htm


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

This is an example of the difference:










This picture makes the brindle (a young adult) look particularly small but she wasn't. The show PEW male (WNT Larry) was just _really_ big.

The largest show mice are a foot long (nose to tail tip) or more, whereas the largest petstore mice never are. In addition, the proportion of the head, ears, eyes, and tail are different.

Some varieties show mice have proportions (roughly "type") closer to feeder/pet mice. Marked mice (like Dutch and broken) are usually not as drastically different as the PEW above (from Jenny at WNTMousery).


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## kerryann (Oct 4, 2010)

thats a great help,thankyou. what a diiference with the pew to the brindle.


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## Seawatch Stud (Feb 8, 2009)

A brilliant if extreme example Jack!. Anyone who says how do you judge mice?, they are all the same arent they? should take a look at this photo.


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## shadowmouse (Sep 17, 2010)

LOL. That's a good example of the differences. I'd love to see a picture like that taken next to a pop can or a dollar bill. Something to help put things in proportion.


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Seawatch Stud said:


> A brilliant if extreme example Jack!. Anyone who says how do you judge mice?, they are all the same arent they? should take a look at this photo.


Thanks. 

Most of the credit goes to Jenny (WNTMousery) though, as the PEW was hers!


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

shadowmouse said:


> LOL. That's a good example of the differences. I'd love to see a picture like that taken next to a pop can or a dollar bill. Something to help put things in proportion.


I have some of a show PEW on a standard regulation Maxey, and one of a show black on a standard regulation Maxey, but even show blacks are different (in terms of type, if not size) than petstore mice.

There are only four or five folks in the US who have 100% pure English show mice. Jenny is one. The others aren't members of this forum, I don't think. Many of us have mice of mixed ancestry (including me).

ETA: Actually, I do have some pure English show mice. I forgot. But I'm phasing them out as I breed bigger, better-typed PEWs using them as outcrosses.


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## WNTMousery (Jun 2, 2010)

WNT Larry wasn't THAT huge. His dad and brothers were bigger. He was slightly retarded and never had children but he made a nice pet.


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

It says a lot about your mice when your culls can win BIS! :lol:


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## salemouse (Oct 9, 2010)

oh that makes me really want show mice now! lol onto another probably futile search.

WNTmousery-even if he is retarded hes beautiful.  nice job.


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## shadowmouse (Sep 17, 2010)

Does WNT Larry being "one fry short of a happy meal" mean that it's a genetic thing? Is that something that would turn you off from using that line in future breedings?


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