Are there long-haired gerbils?

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

So I've been reading up more on genetics lately, and in so I figured an easy way to read more on it (since the general Internet seems to be filled with good and bad advice alike, all of which varies to alarming degrees) was to explore the colors and genetics section in the forum.
Which has been lots of fun, and has led me to stumble across some interesting threads, for sure.
Anyway, it got me wondering if there are any long-haired gerbils. I read in Shooting Star's page about the Rex and Drex (very interesting) but I was wondering if there are any long silky gerbils, or really any of kind of varied gerbils in that way.

[betty]

As far as I am aware, we don't have an instant long hair gene in gerbils. There are for sure no long-haired gerbils currently widely available - but there could of course already be someone with a longer-than-average-haired gerbil who is currently working very hard to replicate and improve it.

There would be two ways to create/get a long-haired gerbil both - one way is 100% sheer luck (and would be genetic - perhaps taking the genetic symbol of l) and the other way would have to be carefully planned into being (but wouldn't be genetic in the true sense, at least not at first). There were some rescue gerbils pictured online in the UK who looked a bit bushier than normal - so that would be your best place to start Plan B.

I am not sure if I have heard of satin/silky appearing in gerbils or whether I was thinking of another rodent, ah - it was rats (and I have forgotten the name already) however, I know if it was a real thing in gerbils that was known in the US - then it would be on Shooting Stars page already for sure.


Hopefully it is out there already in one line of gerbils, they just need to meet up again for us to see it!!!!!

Hair formation genes that have appeared in gerbils (I believe) are currently only the Rex and the purposefully defunct hairless gene. Gerbil breeders/keepers are less 'fad affected' overall, and generally aim to breed and keep only well-functioning gerbils. Between them they have successfully prevented potentially deleterious genes getting into the general population several times, thank goodness.

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

Very interesting.
I myself aim to breed for personalities, not appearances, but it interested me to think there might be a longer-haired gerbil out there. I've wondered about breeding a Rex gerbil, but I thought it might be kind of risky of getting a Drex.
Maybe one day, someone will come up with one

[betty]

It genuinely could be out there right now if it was a recessive gene! Recessive genes can appear spontaneously (just like dominant ones can) but as you can't see them - they sit there hidden for months or even years before they bump into one another again and we get to see what they created.

New genes are always exciting stuff.

As for double rexes (DRex) - because Rex is a dominant gene - you are always in control of it as it can't be hidden. And as you can't ever get double rexes if you always only breed a REx to a non-rex, it's easy to avoid. You just have to be very strict with who you breed, as you would anyway when breeding for a specific purpose.

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

Hmm... maybe there's one out there right now, after all! How interesting it would be to develop a longhaired gene.
Do you know if the Rex gene is really in the US? I'd never even heard of one, let alone seen one before reading Shootstar's page on it.

[LilyandDaisy]

A long-haired gerbil would certainly look stunning, but I wonder how practical it would be? It seems like they would always have bedding tangled up in their fur.

Long-haired Syrian hamsters always seem to look (charmingly) scruffy and some people find they have to give them haircuts to prevent tangles.

But long-haired is a mutation present in many different species (hamsters, cats, dogs etc) so I would agree, there certainly doesn't seem to be any reason it couldn't exist but not sure I'd be keen on it myself

[betty]

I thought they were already in the US - and SS has written about them - so I would think they are - but I don't actually know for sure. Hmm? Perhaps contact SS on their website email like they suggested - or message the American Gerbil Society directly to ask (or check the show standards for shows and see if Rex is one of the classes?).

There is a thread on here somewhere with an image of my beautiful rex schimmel from a few years ago - not sure if that would come up if you just searched 'rex' - not even sure I remember what the topic was even but I got kicked out of the photo storage site like a few others, so can't reattach it here just now.


And maybe instead of long-long hair - maybe if it was just a bit more luxurious - or just on the tail?

[LilyandDaisy]

I'm pretty sure Rex is in the US. I've seen photos of Rex gerbils from at least one US breeder (Moonstone, if I remember rightly). It's probably still hard to get hold of though.

[betty]

Yes - I found a few threads on here while I was looking for my rex image (haven't found it yet) that implied that there had been at least one wave of imports for European rexes, which had been inbreed to experiment with double rexes - but which had also had the relatively new dilute gene added in too?

As said above though, not sure if they are still only kept in low numbers or by only a few breeders. This might take a bit of digging and a few emails bounced about if you want to find out if you can get yourself any.

They are stunning when you get it right, so certainly worth meeting one.

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

It's funny, actually, I had trouble imagining a luxurious silky gerbil in its tank, without turning into a tangled ball of bedding.
I imagine you'd have to do regular brushing and cuts, so you're right, it may not be something I'd really want to handle either, but perhaps instead like Betty suggested if it was just silkier, more luxurious fur rather than what I imagined (the image of a french angora rabbit came to mind, for me) than it probably would be somewhat easy to handle. Or, on the tail, like you suggested. I have definitely seen many gerbils with unusual long-haired tails. In fact, I had a gerbil whose tail fur was very silky, and the end of the tail tapering out was extremely long-furred. So possibly someone would breed off of something like that?

I'll have to do some hunting and see if Rexes are in the US. I definitely hope they are, haha. The pictures I had seen on Shooting Star's page looked quite beautiful.

[betty]

That is how you could start it yourself - spot that random gerbil that is different enough for you to notice and breed it into a compact, dedicated line to see if it happens again.

Many once-off appearances can't be inherited (called somatic mutations - where just one thing in that one animal at that one time during development was expressed differently) - no matter how great they look! But we all like to try - just incase...

[rowan]

I was just reading through this thread and wanted to mention that the breeder I got Darcy from, River City Gerbils in Texas, has some Rex pups right now!

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

Oh, thank you!
I was afraid I'd have to track down leads like a detective. While driving to Texas is definitely quite a commitment for me, it's certainly a lot more do-able then driving across the US, which it could have very easily been a lot worse, so thank you for letting me know! I'll see if I can get in contact with them

[betty]

Any luck contacting the Texas breeders?

Any little rexes with your name on?

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

Yes, I have contacted them!

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to make the trip up there, so no Rex pups yet... but hopefully soon!