My agouti gerbil is getting "blonder"?

[ignacia]

Hi!
So I was searching for information about gerbils changing colors, but I was only able to find about getting darker (my gerbil is young)
So when I got her in January she was about three months old, and a typical agouti color.
Now (April) I've noticed she is getting slightly blonder, her dark brown is kind of turning into a light brown
I guess it must be a normal expression of the genes she could have, but I would really appreciate your more experienced opinions
Thanks!

[rhianna]

I'm not too sure of this but I believe that they can lighten when the weather is warmer, and darken when it's colder. For example, when I lived in North Carolina for the first 6 months that I had Alvin, he was almost Siamese. Then I moved to New York, and he's been extremely dark ever since.
Warm climate:

Cold climate:


The same is very common in Winter White hamsters, who often turn light gray or even white in the winter, but then dark gray in the warm months. It also happens in certain colors of cats and dogs. 

So what I'm saying is, your gerbil could be getting lighter for the warm months, and might become dark again in the cold months.

[Demonic Hope]

Ethan is getting lighter as he ages. I think after they loose their 'pup fur' they can lighten. Its hard to tell in pictures but is really noticeable in person.

See:

Pup:



2 weeks later:



Adult:



Like Rhianna said other animals do the same depending on weather and age. I've got some great pics of the changes in horses if anyone is interested

[NedIsNotOnFire]

I never new horses changed their colour because of age and weather, I'd love to see! x  

[ignacia]

Thank you all!
Btw thanks for attaching pictures, your gerbils are so CUTE

[Demonic Hope]

Apr 19, 2014 0:40:19 GMT -8 NedIsNotOnFire said:

I never new horses changed their colour because of age and weather, I'd love to see! x  

LOL you asked. So now I have an excuse!

Star: A 6 year old red roan Arabian/Quarter horse mixed mare. Star darkens in winter when her winter coat comes in and then lightens right up in summer.




Top left is summer as a two year old and top right is her as a 4 year old in winter.

Then the bottom left is her in winter as a 5 year old and her in summer as a 5 year old. There you can see how she lightens really good.


Then here is an example of aging changing color. Rebel my 3 year old Mustang colt is our model here. Rebel is the one wearing the blue halter. And is shorter. Rebel was born a very light chestnut but in his three year he's gotten very dark. I'm still not quite sure his coloring.

[NedIsNotOnFire]

Wow i know this is a gerbil forum but i just want to say that rebel is stunning!! And that was a mighty colour change Thank you x

[Demonic Hope]

Apr 19, 2014 8:57:53 GMT -8 NedIsNotOnFire said:

Wow i know this is a gerbil forum but i just want to say that rebel is stunning!! And that was a mighty colour change Thank you x

Thank you. He's a pest but I love him. Though honestly his color change isnt too shockign. Grey horses are born almost black and as they age they lighten up to nearly pure white.

[wolfgirl]

back on to gerbils changing color, dusty is getting what I think of as his Spring coat right now. it is very noticeably lighter than his coloration during winter.

[ignacia]

In my case the change is very small, but I live in Chile, South America, so it's getting colder, not warmer
So maybe it has more to do with her growing up rather than climate or weather... anyways, it's a really small change, but I wanted to make sure it doesn't mean some sort of lack of vitamins or minerals in her diet for example

[xonereth]

Apr 19, 2014 0:40:19 GMT -8 NedIsNotOnFire said:

I never new horses changed their colour because of age and weather, I'd love to see! x  

Many horses change colour as they age. Often developing patches of grey on their coat. I had a bay appaloosa and he went almost white by the time he was 30 years old.