>From:    Kirk Haines <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: PEW/REW/albino
>On a side-note, if you have two p's and one c(h), that also affects the coat
>and eye color.  A*ppCc(h) takes Argente with ruby eyes to Argente Cream with
>pink eyes -- soft gold to a pretty apricot color.
 
This is very similar to the palomino in horses and merle in dogs.  And by my
best guess the champagne ferrret.  A chocolate ferret with one of these
dilutes is beige or tan.  A sable ferret however is still sable.  A red
sable with one would be cinnamon.  With two you have a white ferret with red
eyes.  We have not done enough breeding since I cam up with this hypothesis
to verify it.  Previous litters supports the theory.
 
For information you can set your browsers to...
        http://www.gi.alaska.edu:80/ScienceForum/ASF8/826.html
        http://www.mcf.com/bowlingsite/Merle.html
 
A sample quote...
>Breeders who want to produce palomino horses or merle dogs have a problem.
>Roughly a quarter of the foals of two palomino parents will be white or
>very pale cream with pink or light blue eyes and pink skin.  The situation
>in dogs is even worse, with a quarter of the puppies produced by two merle
>parents being not only mostly white, but usually deaf and sometimes lacking
>eyes as well.
 
Basically it means that perhaps the albino ferret is misnamed.  Not sure we
can fix that easily.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://www.zenferret.com/
mailto:[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1919]