# Getting started with tri breeding



## Anne (Mar 21, 2011)

So, this is some of my first tri kids, and of course there is still a lot to work on both on type and colour. However, I think it is looking ok for a first shot at tris 

Doe, about 5 weeks old
Not a good tri maybe., as the colours blur together, but I do love the contrast she has.


















these are about 3 weeks

males


















female









female









group


















and a doe from another litter, chocolate tri, she is sold now as I dot have an interest in that colour









and her funny looking brother who now lives with a friend of mine









Feel free to give critisism and advise regarding moving on from here.


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

i realy like the first doe, she is beautiful


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## jadeguppy (Jun 4, 2011)

The first doe is great. I don't see many with four colors.


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## SiamMeece (Sep 21, 2010)

Real beauties, especially the first one! That's the fun thing with tricolors, even without the 'correct' markings, they may still look awesome


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## Anne (Mar 21, 2011)

Thanks 

PPValhounds: she is my favorite too, there is just something about her een though her colours are blended together.

jadeguppy: I get a lot of them, but I guess it is a fault that they have more than 3 colours. Actually, the buck on the last picture have like 5 or 6 colours, but several of the others have 4, which maybe can be seen at the group pictures 

SiamMeece: that is so true. Even the ones that are not anywhere near standard are interesting and many of them are very unique


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## kellyt (Nov 23, 2011)

The first doe is stunning!


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Very nice! Those two males are especially nice with all the white. The markings are small, but those both would be good candidates for stud. And I love the first doe who is covered from head to toe in with colors in splodges and white markings. She has nice size and I love the chunky tail.

I usually get more that two colors on many of my tris; I like it!


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

You have many good looking ones in the litter! The mother isn't so good as far as colour proportions and placement goes. But several of your babies have nice spotting and pooling.

Watch out for the dreaded 'smudgy bum'. For some reason it seems a lot of tris get stuck with one big splotch on their butt, with muddy colours on it. Your tris have this. If you get one in the next litter with a broken up patch of colour on the butt, I would bred from it.


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## Anne (Mar 21, 2011)

kellyt: Thanks 

moustress: Thanks, I am going to keep one of the bucks I think, but their dad is still better, so I am not so sure yet.

Rhasputin: Tanks for the constructive comment. The first one isnt mom, she is a young one in about 5-6 weeks. And I agree, she isnt a good tri, she is just cute. The mum is just a regular splashed (or 2, the older one has a different mum) and the dad is a tri, none of them is in the pictures. I agree on the "butt" problem and am aware of that. The dad has it too and it seems hard to get rid of, but this is just starting out, so it is defenatly something to work on. Unfortunately I have it in my other piebald mice too, so it will probably take some time.


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## Roland (Aug 17, 2009)

Anne said:


> Feel free to give critisism and advise regarding moving on from here.


Great, you are on a good way. My advice is to focus on distribution of colours first. There is some intermingling, which always happens when you cross out to better type or other lines in general. Since the type seems to be quite good (if they do not grow into their ears later), you could try to select for clear definition of colours and a distribution of 1/3 to 1/3 to 1/3.

As soon as you have fixed this in your line(s), the next steps will be to select for better type (of course, this is true for ANY colour), and for more melanins. This means that you should select for dark c-dilutions. Beige colours are not the same from line to line. Tricolours with darker beige are more beautiful.

Best regards, Roland

*Chilloutarea Mousery* 
We introduced Tricolor & Merle to Europe and breed dark Recessive Red


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## Anne (Mar 21, 2011)

Thank you Roland, I have already read some about the 1/3-1/3-1/3 and that will be the goal. The dad is a pretty good dark beige (I guess, I havent tested it yet, but it seems to hold true. He is also tri, but not perfect) from Henry. Colour distribution and butt colour/getting the blury spots to seperate will defenately be what I will work on first.


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