sorry i didnt post earlier when you guys were really talking about it but i havent been able to get on the computor much with being sick and having midterms...... (scroll past the previous message ;o) > Viola and Ophelia are both black gebils, with black toenails etc. They both also have > white patches on their throats that taper to a line toward their bellies. Viola also > has a white spot on one of her toes. Is this normal for a black gerbil? Should they > be called spotted/patched instead. No, blacks, slates, lilacs can have up to 4 white paws and a bib which reaches down to their scent gland and it's nothing to do with the spotting gene. Infact for showing blacks are desired to have as little white as possible, though I like it if you can tell them apart by the different amount of white they have. <<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>> > When I bought Viola she had ticking below her eyes (like faint white cresents about > 5mm under her eyes) now she's getting more ticking around her head. Is it just > random, or might she be developing more patches? I seriously doubt she's developping patches. Muffin had something similar. She started to grow white hairs on her cheeks at the age of around 12 weeks and in the end her whole body had single white hairs spread all over it. Eva >> <<<>>><<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<<>><<>><<>> ok, here's my input/question...... i have 2 black girls whose genetics are unknow since both parents were from a petstore, black pied and nutmeg the two girls have a grey undercoat (sorta like how an argente would have ) with black tips and their bellies really show the grey w/ almost no black---in some lights they even look brown if you don't brush their fur inthe wrong direction----anyway, they too like Eva's gerbil and whoever it was who posted before (sorry i dont remember who!) are getting little white patches of fur on their cheeks----i think their nails are more brownish colored than black but its hard to tell since they move them so fast lol ;o) could it be that gerbils with spotted parents have more white hairs? would that explain the grey (i tried to get some pictures of it and will have them posted on my site as soon as i get them back ) btw: neither had any stray white hairs until now--at least none that i noticed--is a grey undercoat normal? or do i have slate or some other color? thanks for any insight!! (((birth anouncement: Meg (nutmeg) X Mo (black pied) 6 pups!!! born 1-19-00))) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Proud member of the AGS M & M Gerbils Breeder of Mongolian Gerbils Siamese, Burmese, CP/LCP Silver Nutmeg, CP/LCP nutmeg, CP/LCP slate, occasionally black?, and agouti Http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=72476 or direct to gerbil page Http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=72476&a=529232 Don't forget to sign my guestbook! :O)
