Hey everyone,

I've been wondering for a while about ferret color and coat variation
genetics. A friend of mine from SmallCritters.com did some research
into these things, but came up with very little. We've been wondering
because in the game, we try to breed realistic ferrets, but the game
has no genetics system in place so you have to figure out/make up your
kits phenotypes and genotypes. I've done some looking into Campbells
Russian Dwarf hamsters and that came up easily, plus the genetics were
very simple.

Anyways, my friend came up with a system that includes the following
traits:
Allele A/a: A- not solid, aa solid.
Allele B/b: B- black, bb brown.
Allele C/c/ch/cch: C- standard coloring, cc albino, chch point, cchcch
roan.
Allele D/d: D- normal coloring, d dilute(like a champagne for example)
Allele E/e: E- no reddening, ee reddening(cinnamon)
Allele S/s: S- white markings, ss no white markings.
Allele U/u: U- dark sable, uu light sable.

I asked them recently about coat variations (eg. standard or angora)
and they said that longer fur is generally recessive. I've been playing
the game by keeping my standard lines seperate from my angora lines,
but a mix is possible in reality and I'm curious about finally finding
out more on the subject.

Cheers,
Agnesa

[Posted in FML 5907]