[icedmice]

I recently had a litter go up for sale. They are the 3rd generation of mice which aims to produce dutch in the long run.
Naturally I'm not getting too many that resemble dutch yet, it's variety that requires patience and persistance.
So I have an entire litter of mismarked babies, a debate had started earlier about me referring to them as "mismarked dutch" because they do not appear to be dutch.
I'll agree that there is still a lot of work to be done. But we ended up agreeing that they were "marked mice of dutch ancestory" :roll: .

To avoid classifying them as any paticular "marked" variety I used the term "bicolour" to decribe them.
The term bicolour is not a standardised mouse term. It's a generic term that means anything of two colours.
A fellow fancier pointed out that it was not a standarised term and I should be calling them "marked". She felt I was using the term as a gimmick to promote my mice.
Due to the previous disagreement I chose to avoid use of the term "marked" in any form. "Marked" mice in the Australian fancy also incorperates brindle BTW.

These are the mice in question:

What I would like is an honest, unbiased opinion.
Am I justified in using the term "bicolour"?
Does it come across as a term that is misleading or give my mice an advantage over calling them "marked"?
I'm happy to change it if you agree that it does give my mice an unfair advantage or you agree that the term "marked" would suit these animals better.

I felt humiliated that it was pointed out on a public forum.

Your assistance on the matter would be appreciated.

 

[moustress]

I'd just call them broken marked meeces, by whatever color they are.

 

[icedmice]

Yeah I thought about that too.
Do you think it would be accurate, even if they come from dutch lines?

No need to say they are crappy dutch...I know :lol: . I did get the rump markings and most got blazes this time so it is slowly improving!

 

[Autumn2005]

I think your mice are beautiful; I've been trying to get that much color on my spotted mice for a couple generations now. The problem with mice is that there are different varieties in each country, and different names for each kind. Stone mice are the same as beige, etc. And every country has its own name for these variety. I would call your mice broken, short for broken marked, and all I mean by that is that their solid color is broken by white. Bicolor is true in the technical sense, same as my mare is a skewbald, and so two-colored.

 

[windyhill]

I would just call them broken marked, but I do understand where you com ing from.

 

[icedmice]

Thanks,

Aussie standards pretty much come from international standards.
Except I was never happy about brindles being classified as marked.

I can ammend my add to say broken marked. That's not a problem.

I think I was more upset about the fact it was implied I was using it as an advertsing tool and that it wasn't handled in a more discreet manner.

Actually in previous litters I was getting a lot of overmarked mice including BEW. I also had ones with a few stray coloured hairs.

 

[Jemma]

I think I was more upset about the fact it was implied I was using it as an advertsing tool and that it wasn't handled in a more discreet manner.

I'd be really annoyed at that too.

Like others, I'd probably just go for broken. Or cop out with something non-technical and a little vague like just calling them "mismarked", if I thought people were going to get wound up about it :lol:

 

[Jack Garcia]

If they're being sold as pets, I wouldn't even label them in terms of color. From a petkeeper's standpoint, it doesn't matter whether they're marked, bicolor, or whatever, does it?

 

[icedmice]

LOL that's true Jack,
The majority will be adopted by pet homes.

I am allowing them to go as breeders because the length and density of their coat is probably among the best I've seen.
Still not as good as the original founder of the line but that cottony texture is hard to top in terms of a luxury pet.

 

[Cait]

I like the coat texture If they have been bred from dutch mice then technically they're mismarked dutch, though they also look like bandeds with a small blaze I would personally say broken to the general public as pet keepers, if anyone wants to know your breeding goals then obviously you can explain their lineage and as the markings improve it will be more obvious that babies are in fact mismarked dutch.

 

[icedmice]

We did initially call them mismarked dutch. I thought it was a reasonable term considering their heritage.

According to my pedigree records that is how I'm listing them, I've also used the term bicolour on occasion, it basically tells me we have no idea what kind of marking it was. Frankly, it's nobody's business how I choose to keep my records.

I'm pretty sure is last time I will offer them to breeders, if they are going to be so pedantic about the terminology used it isn't worth my effort.
Pet homes will be the ones that can take advantage of keeping these mice.

I'm so dissapointed at the whole event. It's not the first time breeders have let me down.
It's a shame it's the only active club in New South Wales at the moment .