To Grandpa Roland ;)

Hi Lottiz,

I am biased, of course. But I think you have found a well harmonizing father to get my doe pregnant. This seems to be a very good start. The babies are stunning! I hope you do not mind when "grandpa" copies some pics for his homepage again :roll:
Since quite a long time I try to select for a lot of dark splashes - and it works. Splashed mice, which have more, bigger and darker splashes give better Tricolors, and they transfer it to their offspring. Selection for many dark and big splashes is the secret in breeding Tricolors, at least from my point of view. You got very dark babies from your couple and hence you will get wonderful Tricolors soon. Piebald and number of k-factors are another point to consider of course...
There is one drawback: The ruby eyes inmy lines come from ch (siamese gene), but it is a very bad siamese phenotype (from US origin) with little and very pale points. So you will get some nice Tricolors, if mixed with ce (beige) or cch (chinchilla), but my advice is to delete the northamerican ch as soon as possible. Go for black eyes and if you like splashed siamese, re-introduce ch from a european line. I have started to do this, and it works well.

Good luck, Roland

The text could be improved. Here are my 2 cents, from what I found in US clubs and own experience:

Tricolour mice should have 2 shades of the background colour in equal amounts with white (1/3 each colour). Colour patches should be clear-cut and well defined, showing no brindling or intermingling of white hairs. There should be equal numbers of the differnet coloured patches/spots. White markings can be any recognized pattern. The mouse should have a good colour balance and the motif should be pleasing to the eye. Points (from ch) are permissable, but not desirable. Tricolours may be bred in any recognized colour, eyes to match base, odd-eyes permissible, but not desirable.

Typicals faults are not sharply defined patches, brindling or intermingling of white hairs in spots or patches. Colours not equal amount, for example too much white or not enough white. A typical fault is a low amount of dark shade and a low contrast.
Breeders should especially have an eye on selecting Tricolour with big dark patches and splashed mice with many big splashes. A high amount of splashes or dark patches in Tricolour can be influenced by consequent selection.

Regards, Roland