Coloured babies from albino parents?

[Rhasputin]

I know it happens, and I'm trying to explain it on another forum.

Typically Albino x Albino means 100% albino babies, yes.
But I know sometimes one or two babies will come out agouti or black.


If anyone has had this happen, let me know. Or if you have a litter right now from PEW x PEW where one of the babies has come out coloured, could you get a photo?

Please thanks!

[Sushi Dragons]

Not to use the "cop out" answer here from college but the answer is Spontaneous Mutation. Any disruption at the genetic level can conceivably knock out one of the two copies of "c." This will make the fetus wildtype or black. It is rare and does not affect whole litters since it is specific to each individual that a mutation should occur, but it is not miraculous.

[JohnNJ]

I had this happen with two PEW mice from Petco. All of the babies were either pure black or wild type. I was told that the parents could not possibly be albino but they were pure white with pink eyes. Sorry, I do not have any pictures.

[Rhasputin]

Thank you both for your experience.
And it's not a cop out to say it's a mutation! It's actually quite likely. There is a genetic disorder called turner's syndrome in humans which is where the baby only receives 1 copy of the X chromosome. Maybe something similar could happen in mice but the baby only recieved one copy of the c gene instead of both cs from it's parents.

John, I would say maybe you had himilayans with really terrible points, but if that were the case, then the babies would have been siamese! THAT is a very interesting case you have!

[JohnNJ]

John, I would say maybe you had himilayans with really terrible points, but if that were the case, then the babies would have been siamese! THAT is a very interesting case you have!

And it happened three times. I just fed off that pair but I have some of their offspring. I am breeding a brother to his three sisters. I'll let you know what I get. Maybe they'll all be white.

[kc261]

Maybe this could happen if one of the parents was actually a black-eye white (which if I remember correctly is just a pied with its entire body covered with white spots), but it also had another mutation that gave it pink eyes. I don't remember what they are, but I know there are a few mutations asides from albino that will give a mouse pink eyes. Kind of a stretch for a mouse from Petco, but possible I think.

[Rhasputin]

That IS possible, however, this occurs often enough with PEWs that I don't think EVERY case was a PEW non-albino.

[Wiggles92]

I had two colored mice (one black and one "lethal yellow") that came from standard albino lab mouse parents from a pet store. The black one lasted less than 24 hours (had a seizure then died) and the "lethal yellow" one lasted a few days and died in the past few hours (cause of death unknown, but I suspect it was due to a sever seizure). Both mice were considered to be small feeder mice, so they were probably pretty close to hitting breeding age.

I now suspect that their coloration was due to the "knockout" of the the color genes that caused their parents' coloration. I know that "knockout" lab mice tend to be much more prone to sever health problems than other mice, so that would explain the lethal seizures which may be related to diabetes which is apparently common in at least the "lethal yellow" mice.