> > Subject: Re: inbreeding/ was right bend tail > Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2000 17:40:08 -0600 > From: Rebecca Allbritton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > At 09:17 AM 1/24/00 -0500, Ann-Marie L. Roberts wrote: > > >My original breeding pair > >(http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Reserve/1928/BreedingPairs.html) > >produced a total of 10 litters from Nov. 1998 to Oct. 1999. Out of these ten > >litters, they produced two pups from different litters that were born with > >kinks in their tails. > > So that would indicate that the parents carry the trait for kinked tails > and it was passed on to some, if not all, of their offspring. Not necessarily. It could have been accident in both cases that broke the tails. 10 litters x average of 5 pups per litter = 50 pups. That's only 4 percent. Of course I'm sure the sizes of litters varied, but you get the idea. > >I still have one of these pups, he is pied black. You > >can see a not-so-good picture of him at > >(http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Reserve/1928/Salty.html) I am using him > >for breeding (with an unrelated pied Golden Agouti) and he has not > >reproduced his kinked tail. Also, he is a small gerbil. > > But you are using a gerbil which you know carries an undesirable mutation > for breeding. His offspring will carry this trait, even if they don't show > it, and it will crop up again later, no doubt. I don't understand why you > would use a gerbil that you know has a genetic defect in your breeding > program? > > Rebecca... > Again, you are assuming it is a genetic defect. I'm not so sure. -- Tana and The Little Rascals http://thesanctuary.tripod.com http://gerbils.freehosting.net http://www.geocities.com/tinypaws68/
