# Long hair genetics *new photos added 11th March*



## Kallan (Aug 16, 2009)

Ok, here's a question - is the long haired gene dominant over short hair?


----------



## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I bet there are several different kinds of long haired gene. I'd like to know myself! I always thought it usually, if not always, was recessive, with multiple modifiers.


----------



## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Angora (go/go) is recessive, but from my experience, is visable in carriers.


----------



## Roland (Aug 17, 2009)

Kallan said:


> Ok, here's a question - is the long haired gene dominant over short hair?


There are two genes known, both are recessive:

Angora (go) and longhair (lgh).
Some speculations are around, that the mice with *really* very long hair are the combination of both:
go/go lgh/lgh.

As a recessive long hairs can be carried forward over generations and pop up suddenly. If you want to get rid of them the best way is to have good records (and to cross fingers ;-)

Best regards, Roland
Chilloutarea Mousery - Tricolor , Splashed , Merle , Recessive Red
The place where science meets fun!


----------



## Kallan (Aug 16, 2009)

Doh! the reasn I ask is, I bred a longhair satin blue doe to a normal coat blue buck - and all 8 kiddies seem to be developing long hair! :evil:


----------



## Kallan (Aug 16, 2009)

Here are two of the boys - all 8 mice in the litter have the same type of coat:



















Are they long haired or angora?


----------



## Roland (Aug 17, 2009)

It is very very difficult to tell go and lgh appart, even if you have two of them sitting together, but it is more difficult to tell from a picture.
The main differences between lgh and go: 
Unlike go, lgh mice have a normal length undercoat. They lack the difference in the under coat that Angoras have. This makes them look less "wooly" as well.

Sorry, anything else would be nonserious: I hope it helps a little bit nevertheless.
But does it matter at all? I understood you want to get rid of longer hairs? For this task it does not matter at all, what kind of long haired mouse you have.

Btw, yours are nice mice!

Best regards, Roland
Chilloutarea Mousery - Tricolor , Splashed , Merle , Recessive Red
The place where science meets fun!


----------



## Kallan (Aug 16, 2009)

I liked the satin of the mum, but not the long hair. There doesn't seem to be an undercoat on these - when the long hair parts you see right down to the skin (one of the reasons I don't like it!) Does that make them go?


----------



## Roland (Aug 17, 2009)

Just a personal opinion: My feeling is they are lgh, I do not see longer undercoats. But please, it is a subjective opinion only! 
Lgh look like normal coated selfs as adults very often. Do you see any longer hairs at the adults, if you examine them carefully?


----------



## Kallan (Aug 16, 2009)

I will get a photo of mum - her coat is identical to the ones above. All coat hairs are long, with even longer guard hairs.


----------



## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I've had long haired mousies that just looked kind of shaggy and messy as adults. I think the combo of go and Lgh sounds very interesting; I think I have some of those.


----------



## m137b (Sep 22, 2010)

It's just my opinion but they look more like lgh to me. I have only worked with go based longhaired mice never lgh and none look similar to your two, with such distinctively longer guard hairs, especially as youngsters, the coats on my young angoras are generally one length, at most the guardhairs stick out very slightly[like you'd see on a bad shorthaired mouse].

It would be interesting to see a go/go lgh/lgh mouse. If I had access to lgh I'd be tempted to try it.


----------



## Marjolijn (Jan 1, 2009)

Longhair is a recessive gene. I think that these babies are short haired. What age are they on the photo? Longhaired babies have a much longer coat. It start developing at 3 weeks and will be at it's best around 6-8 weeks. After that the mouse will 'grow' into it's coat, so it will appear shorter.

Like Roland already told: lgh don't have a long undercoat, this makes the look less dramatic. But it's hard to see the differance between lhg and go.


----------



## Loganberry (Oct 24, 2008)

We only have longhair in the UK, not Angora, I believe.


----------

