# Red mouse with black mask?



## maddeh (Jul 14, 2011)

I was in a pet shop the other day which stocks pet type mice, and there was a little girl with black eyes, a bright fawn colour to her fur, but also had a dark grey/blue mask across her eyes. As I am new to mouse genetics but am becoming increasingly interested in this, could anyone explain how this would occur?
Thanks


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Sounds like a brindled mousie.


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

She's in the UK, it couldn't be a brindle. . .
Could possibly be sable.

Go get that mouse and take photos!!


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

UK or no UK, sounds an awful lot like a brindle. I'm not sure how sable would produce a facial marking. It seems odd that you'd find Mo^br mice in a pet shop, since that drastically reduces the number of mice you're producing (the last thing a feeder or store breeder will want to do), but that's another possibility. If it's neither of those, I'd be pressed to suggest that she's in "molt", and what appears to be a darker color of fur around the eyes is simply a temporary side-effect of her losing one coat of fur and growing another in. Since they often seem to start at the nose and work their way back, I mostly notice this on their faces. Saying it's blue/grey though... *shrug*


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Sable mice can often have chunks of colour that don't seem to fit, in poor examples of the variety. It could be that the spot just happens to be on the face, is what I'm saying.


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## Loganberry (Oct 24, 2008)

We do have brindle. Very good exhibition animals, actually.


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Avy brindle?


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Probably A^y, I woud think...


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## Stina (Sep 24, 2010)

the UK has x-brindle, no A^vy brindle and an x-brindle would not have the appearance described, though an A^vy brindle most certainly could.

My guess is that it is a moulting Ay mouse.


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## maddeh (Jul 14, 2011)

Wow, thanks for all the replies! Interesting.... I suppose she may have been in moult, but it wasn't actually around the tip of the nose, just across the eyes and bridge on the nose.... I would've bought her as she was very friendly and I love interesting looking mice, but she was gone when I went to look again  
I also didn't know that brindle could occur with such a concentrated patch of colour, I'm very new to all this!


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## Stina (Sep 24, 2010)

The brindle you have in the UK would not have markings like that. The most common brindle gene in the US can, but it is a different gene.

around the eyes could most definitely be a moult


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## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

It's a moulting red (Ay/*). It's very common for a red to get a dark patch on the head between the ears or eyes while they're moulting.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I've seen odd phantom markings appear on agouti, yellow, and brindled meeces. The brindles have shown more different kinds of changing patches ranging from masks to saddles, blazes and headspots. Perhaps they were all brindled?


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