theresa howard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote >I think its pretty odd the my last litter of five and this litter of five all have >black >eyes when the mother has dark red. I think its very odd. The mothers: lilac >w/spot The father is agouti w/spots Can some one explain this to me why? >-Theresa >
There are two ways a gerbil can have red eyes, it either has the Himalayan Genes, or the pink-eyed dilution genes. Both are recessive characteristics so that if you bred a red eyed gerbil to a black eyed gerbil, unless the black eye was carrying the right recessive genes, all the pups would have black eyes. If all the pups are not agouti, I would predict that some are black (playing the odds!) If you want to know more about gerbil colour genetics read http://www.gerbils.co.uk/gerbils/applied.htm -- Julian [EMAIL PROTECTED] National Gerbil Society http://www.gerbils.co.uk/
