[Jack Garcia]

These are two white-bellied agoutis (WNT Myrna and her daughter JM Sista) who are being used in my creating a line of true-breeding chinchillas. They each have a few faults but I'm also getting some silver agoutis imported from the Continent in a few months so hopefully in a year or two I can have some winning true-breeding chinchillas who trace their lineage to England, the continent, and California.

I liked their expressions in this picture (both were pregnant) so I thought I'd share.

 

[lindberg4220]

Lovely girls, both of them :love

 

[The Boggit keeper]

They are super, a really pretty pair. I especially like the darker mousie at the back, she has a lovely face.

 

[moustress]

The bellies look tannish or at least, not clear white; is that standard for this type of mousie? If so, I have had, and may still have this variety in my mousery. I think my half-wild meeces had this kind of belly and I thought they were very faint tans. On these, is there a dark base color at the root?

I had been thinking about agouti tans in general and I'm not sure if I presented this question on this forum: Does the tan modifier occur only on 'A', or does it appear on 'a' as well? If it does appear on 'a' does that cause incomplete dominance? I had thought that I'd read somewhere that in certain cases there was an incomplete dominance of tan over agouti, which gave a belly with orange at the hair ends and dark brownish at the root.

Noice moice, dude.

 

[WillowDragon]

White bellied Agouti's tummies are actually more of a creamy colour, its just a natural varient of agouti.

Willow xx

 

[Jack Garcia]

Yep.

 

[moustress]

Checking Finnmouse again I can see she's still rebuilding, as there were additions to the section about tan meeces that answered the question I just asked.

 

[icedmice]

Are you able to give me an idea of the faults you are referring to. I'm really keen on learning how you judge your mice.

 

[moustress]

Let me take a stab at answering this; I'trust in Jack to correct me or add to what I miss.

The one on the right has creases in the ears, which are not really quite large enough for the show stand. Both appear to have light colored feet. I am imagining a bit of obesity? Are there faults that are not visible in this picture? Only the mousekeeper knows for sure. I wonder about head shape' it could just be fat on that mousuei on the right.

I still think they are nice; I like agouti tans better, though.

 

[Jack Garcia]

As for type, both have too-narrow heads and a poor tail set-on. Their muzzles are also pinched. Their fatness is actually not a fault here because as I said above, they were both pregnant. It's hard to be pregnant and not get fat.

Color-wise, one is too dark and the other is too light, although both look pretty dark in this picture now that I think about it. One has the reddish-brown tinge that is necessary and one doesn't, but they're being used for chinchillas so that's a moot point. Ticking is more even in the lighter of the two, but the color does not extend correctly all the way down to the feet and toes like it's supposed to. This is a major problem. The color should go all the way down to the toes. Pink feet are a no-no. The tails are also sufficiently long but too thin for my liking.

This is what a mouse's body is supposed to look like: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=2600

Also keep in mind that every breeder (including me) has kennel blindness to some degree, no matter how objective we try to be.

 

[moustress]

*whiplash*

Dang, you're fast, Jack!

 

[Jack Garcia]

LOL! I just happened to log on and was typing/editing at the same time as you, I think.