[ian]

Here they are, 3 days old and no face markings, maybe it is recessive after all and these babies will be carrying the hereford gene?

 

[Kage Davies]

Or perhaps these are single gene carriers, and you lucked out? I put mine in with my black tan buck, so I'll let you know what pops out in three weeks time. Fingers crossed.

 

[ian]

Oh yeah, that would be a bit crap! That is probably what has happened now you say it... :roll:

 

[Kage Davies]

Yeah DX. Unfortunately you'll have to breed her again for any, if that's the case. I hope mine's not the same. I popped her in at the same time as the rumpwhite to litter together, thinking I'd be able to tell all the babies apart XD.

 

[ian]

Yeah you should be able to tell, the rump whites develop their markings around 3 days and if they are black or agouti its quite obvious, the chocolates might need an extra day before the markings come in properly.

I might keep one of these unmarked bucks and put them back to the adult herefords, the bucks wont have the hereford gene but they might not have the hereford genes but they may have modifyers which will improve the hereford markings. If it doesnt work the second time then I will give up on them!

 

[Kage Davies]

But if I get selfs from the rumpwhite and the Hereford... Guess it won't matter much, no reason to keep selfs .

 

[ian]

Yeah just get rid of all of them (do you cull pinkies), then the important marked babies get more milky goodness.

 

[Kage Davies]

Lol, milky goodness :lol:. I wasn't culling, but am now, although mostly I just take out the boys, unless I need one. I was shocked by the difference it made to my latest litter :shock:. I know everyone always says how much better the size it, but its completely different when you actually see it in your own litters. These bubs have little fat rolls, its so cute ^^. I also tried fostering for the first time. I was surprised how well it worked o.o.

But back on track, lol. I mostly end up selling my surplus to petstores, and they much prefer marked, so I'll be taking these selfs out. Its not like they'll be carrying much exciting to breed them back for something, and I bet they'll all be black/black tans/agoutis.

 

[julieszoo]

Aww, that's a shame, they don't look like they are going to get any face markings tbh, on rats at that sort of stage you could easily see the pigment where the white markings are, very helpful with early selection. So is the hereford gene dominant?

 

[NaomiR]

yes we all thought it was but obviously it's not lol

 

[ian]

Well I'll have to play about with these guys to figure out whats going on for sure but the problem is either:

The hereford gene is recessive which means these young are carrying hereford
or
it is dominant but the hereford mother of the litter also only had one hereford parent and therefore only one hereford gene. I crossed her with a blue self so 50% of the babies born would not have inherited a hereford gene from either parent. So I should in theory have had a mixed litter of herefords and selfs but there are only 3 in the litter which means that the mother must have eaten the rest and (probably out of spite) removed every single hereford baby there was in her litter. Mice can be little buggers sometimes!

 

[julieszoo]

I will be watching the thread with interest

 

[Mari]

Any updates from the people that got ahold of a few of these girls and were giving it a go at breeding?? I'm really interested in what has come from it. Ian have you had any more? Anyone else have any littters yet?

 

[ian]

Unfortunately one of my does died while she was heavily pregnant, the other is not looking her best after her litter and hasn't regained her condition yet and its been ages since her babies were weaned. So as I have to reduce my numbers anyway I've decided to stop breeding the herefords until I can really commmit to it, its a shame because they are beautiful. Ive kept the remaining hereford in my retired tank.

 

[Mari]

Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that, Ian. What a shame, as that seemed like such an interesting project. I was really curious as to whether or not these ended up actually being a dominant or a simple recessive gene or what... Hopefully you will run into some healthy, hardy, good specimens when the time is right and can give it another go.

 

[Kage Davies]

I put my doe in with a buck for a week and a half, and she never got pregnant. I think that's my buck though, as the rumpwhite with her didn't either.