# How does Splash interract with fox?



## tsunamis (May 25, 2012)

This question came up on our Swedish mouse board so I figured I'd ask here. Do you guys have any experience with Splash Fox and how exactly does the splash gene work with the tan/c-dilute(fox) gene?

Is the belly always completely white, or does the splash gene create blots of color on the belly that sometimes turn up when young & fade out or how does it behave? Because a breeder came up with a Splash that was predominately white on it's belly, yet it had some blots of darker color but now it seems it's simply faded. Is it a fox, or no fox at all? The blots of color on it's belly weren't tan-red or anything like that they were of the animals base-color(siamese or cp.) as far as I know.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

If the splashes are reverting to top color, it's not foxed at all. When I asked this question a while ago, someone posted a photo of a fox splash belly with the ran splashes. They're pretty faint, because c-dilutes work so well against orange colors, but it was pretty visible. I'll see if I can find you the link to that thread.


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## tsunamis (May 25, 2012)

Thanks! I hope you can find the thread  I tried searching but couldn't find anything on this topic.

If the blots of color faded I'm guessing the base color of the mouse is bad, or? Considering it faded at such a young age too.


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## love2read (Aug 30, 2011)

Splash will cause a Tan mouse to look Fox, so a Splash Fox could, genetically, be Tan. I have a Splash Fox doe that I bred to a Tri buck(neither Tan nor Fox) and all of their babies look Fox, but, genetically, they would be Tan.

I recently found this all out when I posted a picture of one of my babies that had a Tan splotch on her belly and it caused a big discussion on another forum.

Here's a pic of the baby:










And here's a link to the discussion, if you want to read it since it discusses what you're asking about: http://mouselovers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=111


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## LUX (Mar 10, 2011)

As far as I know, a splashed mouse would never be tan.
Splashed is linked to C-locus - and those are fox and not tan.


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

I have a few chocolate fox that are splashed and a few chinchillas.They all have faint splashing on the white belly,a very light beige colour.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

LUX: the splashing reverts from c-diluted color to close-to-undiluted color. Since fox is c-diluted tan, the splashing reverts the foxed white belly to a pale tan, but only where the splashes are.


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## love2read (Aug 30, 2011)

LUX said:


> As far as I know, a splashed mouse would never be tan.
> Splashed is linked to C-locus - and those are fox and not tan.


Visually, yes, they're Fox, but genetically they're Tan.

Finnmouse talks about it a bit when referring to Siamese "Tans": http://www.hiiret.fi/eng/breeding/genetics/quiz2.html

Siamese cannot be Tans(visually) for the same reason that Splashed can't be, but genetically the mice are still Tans, even though they would be shown as Fox.


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## LUX (Mar 10, 2011)

Laigaie said:


> LUX: the splashing reverts from c-diluted color to close-to-undiluted color. Since fox is c-diluted tan, the splashing reverts the foxed white belly to a pale tan, but only where the splashes are.


 Aaah okay...
I have a splashed fox - and her belly is totally white.


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## tsunamis (May 25, 2012)

Oh so now it became complicated and not so easy anymore lol  Seems her Splash is also Fox then? The one in the example I mentioned. Her splotches seem to have faded though but they're still there genetically I suppose?


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## Stina (Sep 24, 2010)

Ok it sounds like there is a LOT of confusion on fox in general.

a. Fox IS genetically tan. a^t is required for fox...fox is a c-diluted tan. There is NO "fox" gene.

b. Splash "undilutes" the c-dilutes wherever a splash occurs...be it on the back, belly, or anywhere, and they can and do occur anywhere on the body (including the bellies of what would otherwise be foxes).

c. If you are calling a splashed animal by the undiluted color (i.e. black splashed, blue splashed, etc), then logically you should also call it tan, since that is the undiluted belly color. If you are called a splashed animal by diluted color (i.e. splashed beige, splashed siamese, etc), then logically you should also call it fox, since that is the diluted belly color.


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