[Erica08]

Just interested to hear how many varieties other breeders are working with.

 

[SarahY]

I have three; currently Dutch, dove tan and Abyssinian.

Sarah xxx

 

[Seawatch Stud]

I have three as well. Blacks, creams and argentes.

 

[kerryann]

i also have 3. blue,dove satin and abyssinian

 

[Oakelm]

Three seems to be the magic number, lol
I have three as well - self choc, choc tan,and choc rumpwhite. Also have black but more of a helpful addition than a variety I am breeding.

 

[jessilynn]

3! Black tri, Silver, PEW.

 

[SarahC]

I have 5 main ones fawn,broken,cham tan,brindle and silver grey and then ones I'm messing about with,pearl,dutch,red and hairless.

 

[Megzilla]

Astrex mostly in PEW/BEW (don't have to worry too much about colour!

 

[ian]

I've got rumpwhites as my main variety, then brokens as my 2nd variety then just starting out with herefords and dove and on the side playing about with abys (Ive got too many!).

 

[The secret garden]

Silvers, whites, champagnes, brokens, agoutis and cinnamons. Satins in Ivory Silver and Champagne too and three different colours of brokens.

 

[WillowDragon]

I have Cham Self, Cham Satin, PEW Self and Ivory Satin... sounds alot, but they are all one line LOL

 

[Jack Garcia]

PEW, chinchilla, red (which throw cinnamon), black (which throw Siamese), argente creme.

My doves are all related to my PEW line and are soon all becoming PEW. Same is true for my argentes.

 

[Roland]

I have
Tricolor , Splashed , Merle , Recessive Red

The tricolors and splashed include several c-dilutions and combinations of c-dilutions as a prerequisit to be splashed. Therefore for me "c-dilution" as a part of Tricolors counts as one variety only. The same is true for Merle. I have them in self or tan, but for me they are just Merle.

I think the point is that you have to focus on a few varieties only, because otherwise you have little chance to improve them. Improvement needs a lot of individuals to select from.

Best regards, Roland

 

[Erica08]

Right now I have just about everything croping up in my lines but my ultimate goal is working with

Tan(champagne, blue, maybe chocolate), Banded Tans, brindle

 

[Seawatch Stud]

Roland is right. Too many varieties usually results in an awful lot of very average mice. If you intend to improve and show a variety a large number of mice will need to be bred and reared. The average successful fancier in the U.k normally has approx a dozen boxes available per variety. Some do it with less, many have more but a dozen is a fair average I would say.

 

[Loganberry]

I've got cham, PEW, some silvers, cham tans, argentes, and satins in all but the tans.

 

[Jack Garcia]

I actually wish I had fewer varieties so I could work on them more. But with argente creme, nobody wants to work on them as a primary variety. I'm the only person in the country who keeps them going, for their own sake.

When I decided to import them I had thought more people would be interested, but I guess I was wrong, so I keep them going. They have their own unique challenges but could be made a lot better if somebody who currently breeds either chinchilla or argente wanted to invest the effort. I am already stretched too-thin to fully invest in this, though.

 

[Seawatch Stud]

I made Argente cremes from chins and argentes Jack, as there were none being shown in the U.K. It took a lot of time, effort and space to do it. It took four generations before I had a single one!. As time went on I managed to get to the point where I was showing them on a regular basis, but it took three years of relentless effort to win top awards with them. The major problem with them as a variety is there is no direct outcross. When I needed an outcross I had to go through the tedium of making one over two or three generations. An agrente creme "shown to the minute" is a beautiful animal indeed, but its so hard to get to and maintain this level. My daughter Beth says they look like custard and cream. I gave them up in the end as I needed the space for more productive varieties.

 

[Jack Garcia]

That's what I'm considering doing, even though I really don't want to.