RW
Member
When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure. Puppy 6/6/07
Posts: 530
|
Nutmegs
Sept 6, 2004 10:06:10 GMT -8
Post by RW on Sept 6, 2004 10:06:10 GMT -8
(Continued from "Member Photos", this thread: gerbilforum.proboards21.com/index.cgi?board=photos&action=display&thread=1093394012) From what I've seen around here, plus my own two, it seems as though there can be a good bit of variation in nutmegs' color. Birdie is over two years old now and she's not as dark as she used to be when she was younger. This is when she was about 7 months old and very dark tidytuftgerbils.smugmug.com/photos/1750809-M.jpg[/img] This is Birdie now, much lighter tidytuftgerbils.smugmug.com/photos/8193793-S.jpg[/img] I don't know if you can tell from the photos, but Peepy's undercoat is more orange, whereas Birdie's is more golden. Birdie's ticking is very even, Peepy's is splotchy, especially on her face. Peepy is very camera shy, so I don't have many good photos of her, but this one comes close to showing her true coloring. I think you can see that she looks very different from Birdie. Peepy tidytuftgerbils.smugmug.com/photos/8193794-M.jpg[/img]
|
|
|
Nutmegs
Sept 6, 2004 16:59:47 GMT -8
Post by queenofthenile on Sept 6, 2004 16:59:47 GMT -8
Oooh, Peepy almost looks brindled. They are both very lovely gerbs!
|
|
|
Nutmegs
Sept 6, 2004 17:20:23 GMT -8
Post by j on Sept 6, 2004 17:20:23 GMT -8
I think mine has the orange undercoat too.. These pics aren't that great.. it's 9pm and the light sucks and my cam's batteries just died. But.. Weird print on his back..
|
|
|
Nutmegs
Sept 6, 2004 17:22:58 GMT -8
Post by j on Sept 6, 2004 17:22:58 GMT -8
He's about 4-5 months old. I guess his face did change a lot recently.. I didn't realize it untill I saw this pic next to an older one in my photobucket. lol.
|
|
RW
Member
When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure. Puppy 6/6/07
Posts: 530
|
Nutmegs
Sept 6, 2004 18:52:40 GMT -8
Post by RW on Sept 6, 2004 18:52:40 GMT -8
Thanks, Queen. I really like nutmegs, even though I didn't even know that Birdie was one when I got her, since I had never seen a half-molted nutmeg before. When I asked the kid who worked at the pet store what color she was, he said, "Ugly." ;D RW
|
|
RW
Member
When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure. Puppy 6/6/07
Posts: 530
|
Nutmegs
Sept 6, 2004 19:03:32 GMT -8
Post by RW on Sept 6, 2004 19:03:32 GMT -8
J, he's very nice-looking, a really handsome fellow!
You say he's around 4-5 months old? He looks a lot like Birdie did when she was about 8-9 weeks old, except more mature.
It appears to me like he's going through a molt now. That last photo is a perfect example of a molt line.
RW
|
|
|
Nutmegs
Sept 6, 2004 21:43:42 GMT -8
Post by j on Sept 6, 2004 21:43:42 GMT -8
Yeah I'm pretty sure he's about 4-5 months. I got him at Petsmart at the end of June and he was still kind of small and his and his scrotom wasn't showing much yet.
That line on his back hasn't changed much, he always had it. Got more color towards the top that's about it. His face did get a lot darker though.
|
|
|
Nutmegs
Sept 6, 2004 23:45:35 GMT -8
Post by andrea on Sept 6, 2004 23:45:35 GMT -8
If his scrotum wasn't showing much he must of been about 6 weeks old. All our pup have fully deveolped scrotums by about 8 weeks. Looks kinda funny on colourpoint pups as they stay quite slender for tlonger than any of our other colour and so you have a slender gerbil with huge testicles
|
|
|
Nutmegs
Sept 10, 2004 4:04:44 GMT -8
Post by Ritzie/Admin on Sept 10, 2004 4:04:44 GMT -8
My nutmegs stayed dark! www.petermaas.nl/gerbils/nutmeg.htmNutmeg hair: Difference with Dark Eyed Honey hair: Argente Golden: The colours of the gerbil’s coat are caused, as with other animals, by the reflection of the light on small pigment granules in the hairs. These pigment granules can differ in shape and size. Also the amount of granules isn’t always the same. And they can lay in groups together or regular spread in the hair. These pigment granules are called melanines. All colours we know off originate from two basic melanines: phaeomelanin (yellow colour) and eumelanin (black colour). Due to a mutation in the gerbil’s colour genes, the pigment granules can change in shape or reduce in number and cause this way a different incidence of light what causes a different colour.
|
|
|
Nutmegs
Sept 11, 2004 13:39:16 GMT -8
Post by sandy2 on Sept 11, 2004 13:39:16 GMT -8
Thanks, Peter, I appreciate your info on the hair shaft because as the young gerbil grows you can see the various shades develop. This aids in making a colour identification.
|
|
|
Nutmegs
Sept 14, 2004 10:29:00 GMT -8
Post by lizzy on Sept 14, 2004 10:29:00 GMT -8
whoa, i thought nutmegs always got darker, not lighter. i have a nutmeg and she's stayed more or less the same colour ever since i got her in july, she was around 7 weeks then. we have one at work that's birdie's colouring [/random fact]
|
|
RW
Member
When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure. Puppy 6/6/07
Posts: 530
|
Nutmegs
Sept 14, 2004 15:24:23 GMT -8
Post by RW on Sept 14, 2004 15:24:23 GMT -8
I found this reference to older nutmegs' coloring on the Gerbil FAQ:
"When the gerbil is about a year old, the black points and ticking may start to fade again."
Light Birdie or dark Birdie?
RW
|
|
|
Nutmegs
Sept 19, 2004 10:57:47 GMT -8
Post by lizzy on Sept 19, 2004 10:57:47 GMT -8
okay i take back what i said, i just looked a picture of kiara when i first got her and she was quite a bit lighter then. someone could mistake her for an agouti under bad light/if they weren't looking properly.
|
|
|
Nutmegs
Nov 7, 2004 15:04:52 GMT -8
Post by j on Nov 7, 2004 15:04:52 GMT -8
haha my nutmeg got ugly.. About 7 months old now. actually I think it's just a bad pic. And he looks darker in real life..
|
|
|
Nutmegs
Nov 8, 2004 13:02:58 GMT -8
Post by sweetie on Nov 8, 2004 13:02:58 GMT -8
J,
That's a beautiful nutmeg!! What are you talking about??
|
|