Gerbil Genes

Please feel free to contact me with questions regarding colors and genetics. An - is a wildcard. It's not known whether the dominant gene or the recessive gene is at that location. A ? means the gene has not been given an official letter designation yet. Genes are listed alphabetically and in order of dominance. You can see some of the colors by clicking on the color name. It's all pictures and will take time to load.

Snowy Desert Gerbils is putting together an online gene calculator. Pedagogica Explorer is an excellent, free genetics teaching program.

To see examples of these colors go to the AGS Color Strip or The Gerbils Color Palette.

	Click the coin to see how nature decides who gets which gene.

White Bellied | Self Colored | Color Point | Spotted | Other

White Bellied colors are based on the wild (agouti) coloring of the Gerbil. Although called White Bellied the color runs from ivory to off-white. The hair shaft has two to three colors on it.

White Bellied		Genetics
	Agouti	A- C- E- G- P-
	Dark Eyed Honey (DEH)	A- C- ee G- P-
	Light DEH	A- Cc^b ee G- P-or A- Cc^h ee G- P-
	Gray Agouti	A- C- E- gg P-
	Pearl	A- c^-c^- E- gg P-
	Argente	A- C- E- G- pp
	Topaz	A- Cc^b E- G- pp
	Argente Cream	A- Cc^h E- G- pp
	Polar Fox (PF)	A- C- ee gg P-
	Yellow Fox	A- C- ee G- pp
	Light Yellow Fox	A- Cc^b ee G- ppor A- Cc^h ee G- pp
	Ivory Cream or Red Eyed PF	A- C- E- gg ppor A- C- ee gg pp

White Bellied | Self Colored | Color Point | Spotted | Other

Self Colored are the same color on the belly as the back. The hair shaft is one solid color. There are usually white faults of white paws and a white chin that sometimes extends to a zipper as far as the genitals. The dilute gene dd is currently available in Europe only.

Self Colored		Genetics
	Black	aa C- E- G- P-
	Nutmeg	aa C- ee G- P-
	Slate	aa C- E- gg P-
	Lilac	aa CC E- G- pp
	Sapphire	aa Cc^b E- G- pp
	Dove	aa Cc^h E- G- pp
	Silver Nutmeg (SN)	aa C- ee gg P-
	Red Fox	aa C- ee G- pp
	Ruby Eyed White (REW)	aa C- E- gg pp
	Pink Eyed White (PEW)	aa c^bc^h ee gg ppor aa c^hc^h ee gg pp
	Black Eyed White (BEW)	aa c^hc^h ee gg P-
	Blue	aa CC dd E- G- P-

Here are pictures showing the difference between Black and Slate.

Slate on the top and Black on the bottom .	Slate and Slate Mottled on the top. Black and Black Mottled on the bottom .
Slate on the left and Black on the right .	Slate Spotted on the top and Black Spotted on the bottom .

White Bellied | Self Colored | Color Point | Spotted | Other

Color Points all have some combination of the two partial albino genes (albinism). The development of color is heat dependent so the five points have the darkest color: ears, nose, paws, tail and genitals. Colors on the points should be the same as for a non-color point.

Color Point		Genetics
	CP Agouti	A- c^bc^b E- G- P-
	Dark Tailed White (DTW)	A- c^hc^h E- G- P-
	Burmese	aa c^bc^b E- G- P-
	Siamese	aa c^bc^h E- G- P-
	CP Dark Eyed Honey	A- c^bc^b ee G- P-
	CP Nutmeg	aa c^bc^b ee G- P-
	CP Slate	aa c^bc^b E- gg P-
	CP Silver Nutmeg	aa c^bc^b ee gg P-

White Bellied | Self Colored | Color Point | Spotted | Other

Spotted: Diamond on forehead, spot on neck and tip of tail
Pied: Spotted markings with a white collar (up to 50% white) and solid body
Mottled: Spotted or Pied markings with spots on rump (up to 75% white)
Extreme Mottled (EM): Mottled with an extreme amount of white on entire body
Dark Patch Pied (DPP): A Pied or Pied Mottled Gerbil with a color that has 2 or more genes and has a patch that is missing one of the genes. It may also be a form of Mosaic or Chimera.

Colors should be the same as for non-Spotted colors with 2 exceptions in the Other Category. The genetics are the same for the Spotting genes with the addition of Spsp. Non-Spotted is spsp and is often left off. SpSp is a lethal combination that dies in utero and is absorbed without harm to the mother or other pups. Spotting can occur with any color. These are just a few examples.

Spotted		Genetics
	Agouti	A- C- E- G- P- Spsp
	Gray Agouti	A- C- E- gg P- Spsp
	Black	aa C- E- G- P- Spsp
	Argente	A- C- E- G- pp Spsp
	Burmese	aa c^bc^b E- G- P- Spsp
	Lilac	aa C- E- G- pp Spsp
	Red Fox	aa C- ee G- pp Spsp

White Bellied | Self Colored | Color Point | Spotted | Other

Schimmel is a color gene that fades with each molt. The pups will look like an ee pup until first molt. Honey Cream is a Light DEH that is also Spotted.

Other		Genetics
	Honey Cream (HC)	A- Cc^b ee G- P- Spspor A- Cc^h ee G- P- Spsp
	Schimmel	-- C- e^fe^f G- P-
	Red Eyed Schimmel (RES)	-- C- e^fe^f G- pp
	Champagne	-- C- e^fe^f G- P- Spsp