Squirrel!

[Zass]

I just brought home a squirrel colored doe I'm not even 100% sure what all is in the bloodline for this one. Either I forgot to ask, or else I was so blinded by pretty bunnies that I wasn't paying enough attention.

The color IS even lovelier than I thought it would be. Knowing the breeder behind her, she should be constructed of only meat breeds at least. :lol:

Genetically she is a blue chinchilla. A_ B_ Cchd_ dd E_


I had a long hard look at another squirrel doe there and realized that heavily marked SILVER TIPPED steels can have white bellies. As they lack the yellow pigment that would discolor a heavily ticked gold-tipped steel's belly. There were very very few distinguishing marks to separate an adult heavily marked silver tipped blue steel from a squirrel. I think it would have been easier in the nestbox.

 

[alforddm]

Lol I was expecting photos of a squirrel but this is better! She is lovely. I'm jealous.

 

[ladysown]

blue chins are very pretty.

 

[Prisma]

Ooo pretty! I love her I was expecting a wacky real live squirrel photo lol but nice rabbit is even better! Congrats!

 

[JenerationX]

She's beautiful! I LOVE that color.

alforddm here's my little bird seed raider for ya.

 

[cmfarm]

What a pretty color. And she has a cute face too.

 

[katiebear]

To be considered squirrel does the belly have to be the same color as the back?
I have gotten some of this color..but with a mostly white belly and the black ear lacing. White eye rings and white around nose..
Can't post pictures because they are camping..but if I get more I may keep a doe..

 

[Zass]

To be considered squirrel does the belly have to be the same color as the back?
I have gotten some of this color..but with a mostly white belly and the black ear lacing. White eye rings and white around nose..
Can't post pictures because they are camping..but if I get more I may keep a doe..

Her belly is white, it just didn't show up in the pics. It's identical to chinchilla, except all the black is blue(dilute).

If the belly was matched the coat, I'd suspect steel.

 

[Zinnia]

What a beautiful doe!

I've been wondering how Steel presents itself in Chinchilla.... shudder.

 

[Susie570]

So... 'Squirrel' is Black Agouti, dilute
With white ear lacing, white underbelly and white eye rings?? (wanting to update my color thread)
And Steel would be the same, except a dark belly?

 

[Dood]

What a beautiful doe!

I've been wondering how Steel presents itself in Chinchilla.... shudder.

it depends of the modifiers. (Rabbit in picture is one of my silver tipped steels)

Just as chestnut steel/gold tipped steel can be very light and look like a regular chestnut or very dark and look self black the same effect is seen in steel chinchilla /silver tipped steel

__________ Fri Feb 27, 2015 2:30 pm __________

So... 'Squirrel' is Black Agouti, dilute
With white ear lacing, white underbelly and white eye rings?? (wanting to update my color thread)
And Steel would be the same, except a dark belly?

I would say they are :
Agouti (not self)
Not chocolate
Chinchilla
Dilute
Full extension

And is the chinchilla colour but has absolutely NO black anywhere in their whiskers or ring pattern

 

[Susie570]

'Steel' is obviously a type of black... but what makes it different from Black or Blue?
Is it the white hairs scattered in the coat?
In other words, how do you know a Steel is a Steel? (without knowing anything about their parents)

 

[Zass]

So... 'Squirrel' is Black Agouti, dilute
With white ear lacing, white underbelly and white eye rings?? (wanting to update my color thread)
And Steel would be the same, except a dark belly?

Squirrel is blue chinchilla (which is an agouti pattern)

A_ B_ Cchd_dd E_

A_ (dominant agouti)

B_(dominant black, but mostly just means not chocolate)

Cchd_ (chinchilla dark, recessive to full color, but dominant to others. This gene strips the yellow pigment off the hair shaft, leaving only silver black and white shades)

dd (two copies of recessive dilute- this is blue)

E_ (E stands for extension, in this case "normal extension")

'Steel' is obviously a type of black... but what makes it different from Black or Blue?
Is it the white hairs scattered in the coat?
In other words, how do you know a Steel is a Steel? (without knowing anything about their parents)

It has absolutely nothing to do with white hairs scattered in the coat. That would be called silvering, or else "excessive stray white". Both caused by different genes.

The only difference between squirrel and silver tipped blue steel is one copy of Es (extension steel) Which lengthens the base color, It's extremely variable and considered either a bit difficult to work with, or a total pain in the neck.
A_ B_ Cchd_dd Es_



Steels can look anywhere from exactly like a self to very close to the actual pattern they are affecting. Anytime there is an agouti with it's marks mucked up or missing I start suspecting steel. In the case of the squirrel doe I mentioned earlier who was actually a silver tipped blue steel...

She had a white belly(but the white area was a touch smaller than one might expect) white ear lacing was faint, she lacked rings, and the white on the tops of her feet was less than a proper squirrel's.

I may not have caught that she was a steel if she hadn't thrown steel kits to a very clean chestnut buck. :lol: ONE of them had to be the guilty party. :roll: It's good we had this little squirrel to compare her to.

Steel is not a type of black. it's a gene that effects only agouti type coats. It can be black, blue chocolate or lilac. It can be either gold tipped (agouti) or silver tipped (chinchilla-agouti missing pigment)

 

[Susie570]

Ok, so quick question then....
A Black Agouti or Black Self would still be 'black'?

 

[Zass]

Ok, so quick question then....
A Black Agouti or Black Self would still be 'black'?

Black agouti, chinchilla, silver tipped steel and gold tipped steel, black self,tort, orange(fawn in Flemish), red(sometimes, if it's not chocolate). Those are all black based colors, as they are neither dilute, nor chocolate.

I'll use steel as an example to show how changing just one gene affects things:

chestnut agouti becomes silver tipped steel

Opal(dilute agouti) becomes gold tipped blue steel

Chocolate agouti (amber in rex) becomes gold tipped chocolate steel

Lynx (lilac agouti) becomes gold tipped lilac steel

Chinchilla becomes silver tipped steel

squirrel (blue chinchilla) becomes silver tipped blue steel

chocolate chinchilla becomes silver tipped chocolate steel

lilac chinchilla becomes silver tipped lilac steel.


Lilac is both dilute(blue) and chocolate.

There are blue chocolate and lilac variants of pretty much every pattern.

 

[Susie570]

I'm moving this over to my color guide thread! Thanks for the help, I have more questions, I just don't want to completely hijack the Squirrel thread

 

[Celice]

loving your squirrelly girl!! Blue chins are one of my up most favorite next to lilac and choco chins! I get squirrel quite often here and just love it every time I see it!

 

[Zass]

loving your squirrelly girl!! Blue chins are one of my up most favorite next to lilac and choco chins! I get squirrel quite often here and just love it every time I see it!

I've been drooling over your squirrels for years now. :lol:

Now I have my very own.

 

[alforddm]

The two chins I have out of my almost 8 week old litter both appear to be female. I plan on keeping them both and breeding them to my lilac rex buck. I'm hoping in a few generations I'll have some squirrels and chocolate chins with rex fur of my own.

 

[Celice]

I've been drooling over your squirrels for years now. :lol:

Now I have my very own.

Me too...she just had kits!