So I mated the potentially silvering Argente male to two Moscow-colored females. There is no Platinum, Mottling, or silvering in the Moscow line. They have now had a couple of litters each. Each litter has been approximately half normals and half platinum-like normals. There have actually been a few more of the plat-like ones, but it's probably not statistically significant.
On average, these plat-like ones are darker than the plats around here. I kept a trio of these from one litter and now have them together to see what happens. Clearly this gene is dominant. If it turns out to be lethal, I'll have to work on proving it's not the plat gene. If it is not lethal, then I will investigate further whether it is the splitting of silvering from black or whether it is a new gene.
I have pictures of the trio I kept below. I will update the page when they have babies.
Interestingly enough, the potentially silvering argente did have two babies who look identical to him with his first female. I took him from her to mate him to the Moscows. The previous female had a fourth litter without him. That litter had two females identical to him. Once I get a couple more litters from him with the Moscows, I will pair him back to his identical daughters and see what comes of it.
If you have any thoughts or ideas on this research, please e-mail me at lindaprice@usa.net. |
