Albino Breeding

[Nobby 65]

bullgreyhound 1994 let us know what your two albinos produce .

[krawnden 1,036]

 

Bullgreyhound1994 - prior to reading what others have posted I would have sworn blind from my schoolboy biology that albino to albino will only ever produce albino (and in my experience that has always been the case).

 

As already stated, the gene for albino is recessive. What that means is that if it's mixed with any other gene, the other gene will override it and the offspring will not be albino, even though they might carry the albino gene. In order for a ferret to be albino it must have an albino gene from both parents - that way there is no other colour to override it.

 

Ferrets have 2 genes that affect their colour, one from the mother and one from the father. If you have one parent from a pure line of polecat, that has never had any other colour in its ancestry its 2 colour genes will both be polecat - PP. If the other parent is albino its 2 colour genes will both be albino - AA. When the offspring of this hypothetical litter are born they will all be either PA or AP, which amounts to the same thing - they'll all carry the albino gene but will all be polecat coloured (because the albino gene is recessive and overriden by the polecat gene).

 

If those PA/AP offspring are subsequently bred from -

 

# crossing to a pure line of polecats is PA x PP which will give PP and AP - both polecat coloured but only half the litter (statistically) will carry the albino gene

# crossing to another polecat coloured ferret that carries the albino gene is PA x PA, which will give PP, PA, AP and AA. Statistically half the litter will be polecat coloured but carry the albino gene, quarter of the litter will be pure polecat, ie not carrying the albino gene, and quarter of the litter will be albino

# crossing to an albino is PA x AA which will statistically give half the litter as albino and half as polecats which carry the albino gene

 

Because albino is AA, crossing 2 albinos can only ever give albino as there are no other colour genes in the mix.

 

Having said all of the above, I have only ever bred from polecats and/or albinos (and everything I've said has always held true for those colours). But once you start adding silvers, black eyed whites etc into the mix that's obviously going to complicate matters and I don't know which of those genes are dominant. But, in spite of what other people have posted Bullgreyhound1994, I would still be astonished if you end up with anything other than albinos.

Where did you get your facts from mate? link

 

Learnt genetics in biology at school.

[onthehunt 40]

I've heard that colour of the offspring depends on what the father's carrying. anyone else found this to be true?

[beast 1,884]

there is a lot of information on this thread which is rather misleading for the beginner. so lets try to simplify it a bit in case anybody is a little confused.

 

a recessive gene is one which can only be produced in an animal if both parents carry it, so although they don't necessarily show the gene they must have an ancestor somewhere which did. albino in any animal is a recessive gene, so parents must either be albinos, or both carry albino genes. recessive simply means that the gene doesn't necessarily show if an animal has it. therefore two polecats can easily carry albino genes and so produce albino kits

 

a dominant gene will show up even if only one parent passes it on. polecat colour is dominant, so an albino can be produced by two polecats but a polecat cannot be produced by two albinos. if anybody has actually produced a polecat (or any other colour) by breeding two albinos, then at least one of them wasn't a true albino, it may have been a dominant white or a dilute of some description.

 

the whole definition of an albino rests on the fact that it doesn't have any genes for colour (so it is white with red eyes), and if it doesnt have any genes for colour it cannot pass them on! QED!

Edited May 16, 2014 by beast

[onthehunt 40]

there is a lot of information on this thread which is rather misleading for the beginner. so lets try to simplify it a bit in case anybody is a little confused.

 

a recessive gene is one which can only be produced in an animal if both parents carry it, so although they don't necessarily show the gene they must have an ancestor somewhere which did. albino in any animal is a recessive gene, so parents must either be albinos, or both carry albino genes. recessive simply means that the gene doesn't necessarily show if an animal has it. therefore two polecats can easily carry albino genes and so produce albino kits

 

a dominant gene will show up even if only one parent passes it on. polecat colour is dominant, so an albino can be produced by two polecats but a polecat cannot be produced by two albinos. if anybody has actually produced a polecat (or any other colour) by breeding two albinos, then at least one of them wasn't a true albino, it may have been a dominant white or a dilute of some description.

 

the whole definition of an albino rests on the fact that it doesn't have any genes for colour (so it is white with red eyes), and if it doesnt have any genes for colour it cannot pass them on! QED!

 

there is a lot of information on this thread which is rather misleading for the beginner. so lets try to simplify it a bit in case anybody is a little confused.

 

a recessive gene is one which can only be produced in an animal if both parents carry it, so although they don't necessarily show the gene they must have an ancestor somewhere which did. albino in any animal is a recessive gene, so parents must either be albinos, or both carry albino genes. recessive simply means that the gene doesn't necessarily show if an animal has it. therefore two polecats can easily carry albino genes and so produce albino kits

 

a dominant gene will show up even if only one parent passes it on. polecat colour is dominant, so an albino can be produced by two polecats but a polecat cannot be produced by two albinos. if anybody has actually produced a polecat (or any other colour) by breeding two albinos, then at least one of them wasn't a true albino, it may have been a dominant white or a dilute of some description.

 

the whole definition of an albino rests on the fact that it doesn't have any genes for colour (so it is white with red eyes), and if it doesnt have any genes for colour it cannot pass them on! QED!

Well put mate except that my mate has actually produced 3 solid polecat kits in a litter from 2 real albino parents-not DEWS albinos. So you're partly incorrect. My thought is that ferrets carry so many colour variations that just about anything can show up.

[beast 1,884]

 

there is a lot of information on this thread which is rather misleading for the beginner. so lets try to simplify it a bit in case anybody is a little confused.

 

a recessive gene is one which can only be produced in an animal if both parents carry it, so although they don't necessarily show the gene they must have an ancestor somewhere which did. albino in any animal is a recessive gene, so parents must either be albinos, or both carry albino genes. recessive simply means that the gene doesn't necessarily show if an animal has it. therefore two polecats can easily carry albino genes and so produce albino kits

 

a dominant gene will show up even if only one parent passes it on. polecat colour is dominant, so an albino can be produced by two polecats but a polecat cannot be produced by two albinos. if anybody has actually produced a polecat (or any other colour) by breeding two albinos, then at least one of them wasn't a true albino, it may have been a dominant white or a dilute of some description.

 

the whole definition of an albino rests on the fact that it doesn't have any genes for colour (so it is white with red eyes), and if it doesnt have any genes for colour it cannot pass them on! QED!

 

there is a lot of information on this thread which is rather misleading for the beginner. so lets try to simplify it a bit in case anybody is a little confused.

 

a recessive gene is one which can only be produced in an animal if both parents carry it, so although they don't necessarily show the gene they must have an ancestor somewhere which did. albino in any animal is a recessive gene, so parents must either be albinos, or both carry albino genes. recessive simply means that the gene doesn't necessarily show if an animal has it. therefore two polecats can easily carry albino genes and so produce albino kits

 

a dominant gene will show up even if only one parent passes it on. polecat colour is dominant, so an albino can be produced by two polecats but a polecat cannot be produced by two albinos. if anybody has actually produced a polecat (or any other colour) by breeding two albinos, then at least one of them wasn't a true albino, it may have been a dominant white or a dilute of some description.

 

the whole definition of an albino rests on the fact that it doesn't have any genes for colour (so it is white with red eyes), and if it doesnt have any genes for colour it cannot pass them on! QED!

Well put mate except that my mate has actually produced 3 solid polecat kits in a litter from 2 real albino parents-not DEWS albinos. So you're partly incorrect. My thought is that ferrets carry so many colour variations that just about anything can show up.

 

 

OK, i dont want an argument, but there has to be some doubt about the parentage of your mate's litter, and unless you saw the mating yourself, and you had your eyes on the jill throughout her receptive phase (so you can be certain a different male didnt breed her) then you should be doubtful too. not saying that your mate is telling lies, but mistakes and accidents do happen. i have never bred anything except albinos from two albino parents, i have never known anybody else who has done so, and i have only read a couple of disputed accounts of people having done so. furthermore, all the research i have done, and the various animal species i have been involved in, have never shown a this to happen.

 

for me, i am not prepared to undo years of research, practical experience and established scientific fact just because your mate says so, i would need a lot more proof than that i'm afraid.

[onthehunt 40]

I did see the 2 ferrets at it actually and the jill was only with the one hob. But anyway this ain't going to go anywhere but here's a question since you seem to be an expert on albinos..Why are there so many around? almost every litter I've seen has one or more?

[beast 1,884]

I did see the 2 ferrets at it actually and the jill was only with the one hob. But anyway this ain't going to go anywhere but here's a question since you seem to be an expert on albinos..Why are there so many around? almost every litter I've seen has one or more?

 

no your right its not going anywhere, we can agree to differ!

i dont know why there are so many around, but the fact that albino is a recessive gene means it can be carried and passed on to each generation without ever showing. so you can have a family of polecats which had one mating to an albino many generations ago, but the gene wont show untilone of the carriers is mated to another carrier, and even then there is no guarantee. i guess most polecats would have at least one albino somewhere in their ancestry, so you will be getting albinos cropping up in most litters? add the fact that just about every other colour apart from polecats can carry the albino gene, and you have a lot of "hidden" albino blood sloshing around in the gene pool just waiting to bump into more albino blood.......

[tote 853]

Had me scratching my head there lads, bred ferrets on and off for 30 years and everytime

I've mated two albinos all the kits have been albinos, was begining to doubt myself.