Not sure about some pup colours

[dodowvogel]

Good evening!

Two of my gerbils had a litter of seven pups about three weeks ago. One was born dead, one was deformed and died after a few days, and five are still alive, but I am not sure about two of their colours. Some information:

Mom is probably a dilute Slate. Gerbil #3 in this topic gerbilforum.proboards.com/thread/30894/diluted-litter . According to that, here gene-pool is:
aaCcbddE-ggP-

Dad is a Spotted Black Rex:
aaCcbD-EeGgPp Sp+ Rex


#1 This gerbil is clearly a Rex. Anyways, I am not sure what colour it is. Its fur is bluebrowngrey-ish, just like its mother. Also the tail has the same colour as the rest of her body, it is not darker like the burmese and siamese have. The eyes show a little red when the flash is used close by, other than that they appear black. It could be a Lilac, but then Mom has the recessive p-gene which occured far back in her family tree.


#2 This gerbil is also a Rex. I have no clue what gerbil this could be. Parents are non-agouti's, its eyes are black, and its fur is grey (with white markings ofc.). 



#1 & #2 & #3. #3 is obviously a spotted black. Coat comparison between #1 #2 and #3.


#1 & #4. Coat comparison between #1 and a spotted burmese.

Hope someone can help =)!

[betty]

Lovely colours - but I don't work with the dilute gene and so couldn't tell you for sure on either of the 2 greys, however, I do know that a Lilac has to have red eyes. So if yours has black eyes then it is something else.

Something that is that grey with black eyes and your dilute genes this could be anything. However, if #1 looks like Mum then it may well be identical - Slate gerbils have black eyes that reflect red with the flash - but you have CP in there so it could have been lightened further or be a CP Dilute Slate?.

#2 I would have thought was a spotted Grey Agouti as Grey Agouti is the same for Agouti gerbils as Slate is for Blacks - same genes bar the A - but you don't have an A? Has #2 got any markings on his tiny tail - like a darker strip or wedge? Do its eyes flash red like the other one? It is most likely the same colur just a different set of dilutes working on it. By the looks of your basic genes you can only have for sure: Black, CP Black (Burmese), Slate and CP Slate plus diluted versions of those 4, then Blue/Diluted and CP Blue/Diluted. It is also possible you have a single p or e affecting this further as well as the spotting gene lightening things up.

However, I have never seen dilute colours in the flesh and so perhaps you should wait for someone who has?

Also, I am not 100% on this but I think I read somewhere a while back that several genes can 'weaken' parts of the body (like Rex changes the way the hair grows, etc) and Spotted and CP are two other genes like that that can affect the eyes as well as other body parts during development, so perhaps combining all 3 genes in your litter was the cause of your pup loss? It could be anything of course, but do read up more about the actions of the genes internally as this is quite interesting anyway, and could enhance your breeding.

[Shooting Star]

#1 is either Blue or Dilute Slate. #2 looks like Sp. Blue.
All "black"-eyed Dilutes (ddP-) have a red glow, just like all CP's and all uw[d]'s.