[ian]

Ok this one has got me a bit stumped, parents are both chocolate tan rump whites.

I'm wondeirng what the paler baby is-initially I though it was a dilute (ce) but it doesnt look the same as my other ce mice which sort of look like dirty doves with black eyes. The other difference is that this baby is a fox, which i've never had before, and the ce gene in my previous mice has diluted the tan to the same colour as the top so making it impossible to tell if the mouse is tan or not whereas this ones fox/tan is quite distinct. I don't know much about ox genetics but does it affect the top colour?

It is pictured next to one of the litter mates, there were 6 in the litter the other 5 were all chocolate tans as expected (with varying degrees of rump white markings).

 

[Cait]

To be a fox the baby has to have inherited two copies of the chinchilla gene (cch). It can affect the top colour but that seems like a big difference in the photo and I would think that there is something else going on too.

 

[ian]

It can't have the chinchilla gene and certainly not from both parents. I wonder what it is, very odd!

 

[SarahY]

He could be a stone fox? (http://www.hiiret.fi/eng/breeding/varieties/beige_fox.html)

You don't need chinchilla for a stone fox, just ce and tan as anything on the c locus will turn tan white. He's probably browner than your other ce mice because he's chocolate as well.

Sarah xxx

 

[Peteyandthegang]

Im unsure but thats one cute little white marking!

 

[ian]

It looks very much like the stone fox picture actually.

The doe does have a small v shaped white mark just above the tail, its very sweet. She is available by the way I wont be keeping her.