Unique pattern - molt? hormones? patched?

[beachbumgerbils]

This is a female that I rescued almost exactly a month ago.  The brown patches have not changed at all during the month that I have had her.  They are very uniformly symmetrical.  Any ideas?  Black gerbils are extra special fun to try and get pictures of!

[Lysandra]

Wow I don't really know enough about gerbils to know what may be the cause of this, but I must say, her colouring sure is gorgeous!

[betty]

Well, I think we need a Shooting Star for this - as I know they have worked on lots of different colour-patch gerbils and have the inside on what it ISN'T at least to help narrow it down.

The DPP (dark patched pied) gerbils don't seem to show any symmetry from what I have seen, but the standard spotting does of course - but usually only on the central line itself (excluding feet of course which work on a diferent inheritance pattern I believe).

But the colours on the hips and shoulders there could be linked to something internal - like hormone pathways - I don't know enough.

Mosiacs/chimeras always confuse me - but again - I don't think either of those would create such symmetry - but maybe in some form they do.

I wish I knew more - and I can't wait to find out!


I did have a gerbil myself once who had a single giant patch on her shoulder (could have been DPP on a PEW) but then it went with the next moult (very disappointing) - however, she got another patch on her back with the NEXT moult - totally symmetrical - all very exciting. But unfortunately she died in an accident shortly afterwards so we never found out what it was exactly.

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[Markpd]

Both beautiful gerbils

beachbumgerbils
Is she one of the females whose had pups?
She's got particularly striking markings

[Pim]

I saw a few gerbils similar to yours betty at the local pet shop the other day! same white with faint orange spots.

[betty]

Cool - It as always great to find something new-looking - several 'new' colours have been found in pet shop stock - so I always check in the pet section of ANY pet shop I pass by - just in case...

[beachbumgerbils]

Markpd - Yes, but I'm not sure which babies were hers. She came in a cage with another adult female and 2 litters of babies. So I don't know which babies belong to which momma and I have no idea who daddy was. But none of the babies have that unique pattern.

betty - Very interesting pattern on that gerbil. Weird that it changed places after a molt. And I am a little obsessive about checking in at any pet store I pass. Which is a lot because I do vaccine clinics at pet stores every weekend. Which is how I ended up with a lovely little dark eyed honey last weekend. She was very cute and all by herself and so she came home with me.

[Markpd]

Wow! That was a confusing situation then, so are the 2 mums and 2 litters still living together? Didn't each mum focus on certain pups? Or did they both care for all of them?
Fascinating! If somewhat chaotic for you!

[LilyandDaisy]

I'm not sure if this is at all relevant to your case but I found this article on egerbil that includes this section:

Another very rare form of dark-patching has been documented with ‘ee’ or Extension of Yellow. In these instances, the normal masking effect of this gene breaks down in areas of the fur allowing the recessive gene underneath to express itself. A young nutmeg (aaee) pup with patches of black fur is an interesting sight to see, but most often after they have moulted into their adult coats these patches become hard to distinguish from normal fur.

The description makes me imagine a black gerbil with patches of nutmeg.

[beachbumgerbils]

Markpd - Yes, it's been super fun! When I rescued them, all of the babies did have their eyes open, so at least 3 weeks old. But there were obviously 2 different size groups. The moms and babies all interacted pretty equally. You aren't supposed to have 2 moms together at the same time, but I suspected that these 2 were co-parenting. The pups are big enough now that all of the males have been separated. I still have several of the young females with the mothers as I decide who is best to pair up. Very chaotic, but a fun challenge!

LilyandDaisy - Very interesting possibility! It will be very interesting to see what her coat looks like after her next molt!

[betty]

I can't wait to watch her colours over time!

Also though - if you are considering breeding her to see if you can recreate the colours or discover what caused it - make sure she is left with two other females (unless she is in a pair with another female you hope to breed also).

And certainly get in contact with an experienced breeder as they can give you a plan to follow for confirming how the pattern is inherited - as it might not go from parent to offspring directly if not acting completely dominantly.

Ooh, I like an experiment!

[Markpd]

Very interesting, keep us posted

[Shooting Star]

Odd, I didn't get the usual email about being tagged!
I have been asked about this gerbil via facebook by two different people, though.
This is pretty clearly a Black gerbil with something going on, I think we can all agree on that. It could be steel-factor related patchy fading, or patchy fading that's entirely hormonal (like you see in Lilac females sometimes). Only IF it stays for multiple molt cycles would I consider a novel mutation.
To address some of the other potential explanations that have been brought up:
- Patched only shows on gerbils with white spotting, as it's a mutation on the Dom Spot locus.
- A chimera would have two recognizable colors. The lighter patches here aren't any known color, they're just faded Black.
- Extension-related patching would be mostly ee with small reversions to E*. So Nutmeg with Black patches, not Black with Nutmeg patches. Regardless, these patches aren't Nutmeg.

[beachbumgerbils]

Thanks for chiming in Shooting Star! I've heard that you are the go-to on odd color patterns! I will keep everyone up to date as time passes...and if the patches stick around, I would definitely be up for breeding her and trying to tease out the mutation.

As cool as it would be for it to be a mutation, I suspect that it is actually due to a quirk of metabolism/hormonal based on how perfectly symmetrical the markings are.

[Pim]

Nov 7, 2020 11:20:11 GMT -8 beachbumgerbils said:

Thanks for chiming in Shooting Star! I've heard that you are the go-to on odd color patterns! I will keep everyone up to date as time passes...and if the patches stick around, I would definitely be up for breeding her and trying to tease out the mutation.

As cool as it would be for it to be a mutation, I suspect that it is actually due to a quirk of metabolism/hormonal based on how perfectly symmetrical the markings are.

There is a mutation in mice that creates symmetrical dots. I forget what it is called but it looks somewhat similar to this so I wouldn't rule it out.