This article is from the Mar./Apr. 1996 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

Michelle Collie, Van Nuys, CA
QI just got this Frizzie mouse from a friend who got him from a pet store. I liked him so much that I tried to get another. I called all the pet stores in my area and they don’t have any Frizzies. He is a Fawn male with very American type, and is Long Haired and Satin as well as Frizzie. I would like to eventually produce Blue Frizzies with English type which I can show. How would I go about doing this, and what should I breed with him?

ALong Hair, Frizzie, Satin, and Blue are all recessive traits. This means that both parents of an animal must be carrying those traits in order to produce an animal with them.

Ideally, the easiest thing to do would be to acquire a Long Haired Satin Frizzie Blue female with good type and breed her to your male. Unfortunately, I do not know of anyone in Southern California who has such a mouse (or any Frizzie mouse with good type). Thus you will have to start from scratch.

Michelle Collie’s Long Hair Frizzy Satin mouse.

The first thing you will need is a Blue female mouse with the best type you can find. If you could locate one that was either Satin or Long Haired, it would make things easier, but most likely you will have to start with one that has the standard coat.

Since your male came from a pet shop, his genetic background is not known, therefore I am going to assume he is not carrying any recessives other than those we see. This makes the explanation of how to produce what you want simpler, but don’t be too surprised if down the line, colors pop up that you were not expecting.

Your male bred to the female Blue should produce a litter which is half Fawn and half either Agouti or Black, and all will have the standard coat. This is your F1 generation. These youngsters will have conformation that is better than their father, but not as good as their mother. If a female from this litter were bred back to her father, she would produce Long Hairs, Frizzies, Satins, and some combinations (one baby in 64 would be Long Hair Frizzie Satin) but none would be blue, and their type would not be improved.

The best thing to do would be to keep two of the babies (a male and a female) from the F1 generation. Don’t keep Fawns, just Blacks (or Agoutis), and try to pick the ones with the best type. You will want to breed these two together, probably several times.

This will give you your F2 generation. One in four should be Blue. You should also get some Long Hairs, Frizzies, and Satins as well as some combinations. Unfortunately, the chances of getting a Long Haired Frizzie Satin Blue are only 1 in 256; however, you might be lucky enough to get that 1 in the first litter. You will produce some Blues which are either Long Haired, Frizzie, or Satin, and these are the ones to keep and work with.

Breed these animals to their parents, and to their brothers/sisters. It may take a few breedings using different combinations to produce that illusive Long Haired Frizzie Satin Blue, but don’t give up. If you manage to produce two, one of each sex, that’s great. If you only manage to produce one, breed it back to its opposite sex parent to produce more.

All along the line when you have choices, choose the animals with the best conformation. This way, by the time you get those Long Haired Frizzie Satin Blues, they should have fairly good type. Don’t forget, we now have an American Mouse class, so you can show your American type mice there.

This all may sound rather complicated, and I will admit it is a challenge, however the results should be really nice. I’ll be looking forward to seeing them at upcoming shows.

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