Burmese vs. agouti pup coloring

[moghedien]

Quick question!

How similar do less than a week old burmese pups look compared to agouti pups?

I'm just curious. I don't think any of my pups are burmese (really, really doubt it) but two of the darker colored ones are spotted out of four dark pups, and I swear all four colors look slightly different.

Okay, I've babbled enough. ;D

[queenofthenile]

Burmese pups definately look lighter than agouti ones. That's funny that they all look different colours . I swear, my imagination sometimes did strange things when I used to breed. *wait a sec, why do they all look different *

Here's a link to my site if you would like to see burmese pups:
www.gerbilbreeding.com/develop.htm

For the most part, the light pink ones are siamese and the darker ones are burmese (I was also getting some cp slate and lcp slate).

[moghedien]

Thanks Queen - I'm fairly positive none of mine are burmese. They all seem a bit too dark (so probably just agouti and black, and spotted of both).

Here's another color question for everyone - is there a marked difference between lilac and sapphire before they really have fur? Because I can tell for sure that I have what appear to be two lilacs (light grey coloring) and a spotted argente, but my other light-colored pup is still very pink, and there's a tiny bit of fur - they're only 6 days old - but not enough to determine the color (so it's definitely lighter than lilac or argente).

I have this awful fear that the grandfather was actually an LCP agouti instead of CP agouti, and that the dad therefore happens to carry c[h] instead of c[chm]. So I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that's not the case!!

[sandy]

I can tell from day 1 by looking at the eyes. In colourpoint type gerbil pups the eyes have a distinctive red pupil showing through the translucent eyelid, surrouned by dark iris, while in agouti and black ones it is all dark, iris and pupil both. Red eyed pups will have a red eye, of course.

Burmese vs. colourpoint agouti, Burmese pups do get darker skin pigmentation, and you will see the pigmentation extend to the belly. Colourpoint Agoutis (and presumably Siamese) have much less pigmentation overall. They start to get grey fuzz almost like a lilac pup, but they have the darker eyes.

Agouti's get dark pigmentation but you can see a clear line from back to belly--the pigment does not extend onto the belly as it does in black or self pups.