Rachel Wall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
><"(_)~~ <"(_)~~ <"(_)~~ <"(_)~~ <"(_)~~ <"(_)~~ <"(_)~~ <"(_)~~
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>List-
>
> Some of you know that I'm not too great with genetics... :). Anyhoo, I was
>wondering, are there more possibilities to a golden agouti/golden agouti
>pair than just black and golden agouti pups? In the last litter Bradine had
>three black and two golden agouti pups. Now she's pregnant again (yeah!!!)
>and I'm wondering if there's a possibility of more colors. Has anyone kept a
>golden agouti/golden agouti pair?(i think they're so cute!)what colors did
>you get? Any help would be appreciated!:) Thank-you!
Golden Agouti gerbils can carry all the other genes other than those for
spotting/pied, because they are dominant.
>From what you write it is clear that your gerbils both carry the
recessive a, to give you black gerbils.
The more pups you breed the more sure you can be that you will not get
anything else. Even then you cannot be really sure no other colours will
arise as it is governed by the laws of probability. Even if you tossed a
coin and got head every time, there would still be a chance of getting a
tails on the next toss.
The way the odds pan out is as follows. If you only get blacks and
Golden Agoutis after seven pups you have a one in eight chance that you
will get nothing else. After sixteen pup the chances are down to one in
a hundred. After 23 pups you are down to one in a thousand. At that
point a professional geneticist should be convinced!
--
Julian
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* Jackie and Julian *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* National Gerbil Society *
* http://www.gerbils.co.uk/ *
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