Colors

Gerbil colors and genetics-  colors


I've had more then one person comment on my gerbils' coloring,  saying that they thought gerbils only came in shades of orange/gold.  Well,  they come in many,  many more colors then that!
On this page,  I'm going to go over the gerbil colors one by one with pictures. The pictures are from the Gelogenic Gerbil clan,  or my gerbils,  and for the colors I do not have pictures of,  I gave the link to other websites that do in order to prevent copyright issues!

Before we begin though,  its important to note three things:  what colorpoint, ticking,  and spotting is.
Colorpoint gerbils are gerbils that have darker noses,  paws, tails,  ears,  etc.
Ticking is the color of the tip of a gerbil's hairs.
Spotting is the white markings,  usually found on a gerbil's face.  Though most commonly just referred to as spotting,  there is a difference between spotted,  pied,  and mottled gerbils.
This is a spotted gerbil:

She has a white spot on her forehead,  but no "collar."  (A white band around the neck)  Spotted gerbils can have some white on top of their neck.

This is a pied gerbil:

There is white on her face,  as well as a white collar.

This is a mottled gerbil: mottled gerbil.
The gerbil is pied,  with white mixed in to the coat on the back.

Here is an example of a colorpoint gerbil:

She is light grey,  but has a dark grey tail,  and her nose,  ears,  and paws are darker as well.

This is what a gerbil with ticking looks like:  Agouti gerbil.

Now lets get into the colors!

A wild gerbil has golden agouti,  or just agouti,  coloring.  They have white bellies,  golden/orange fur,  a grey undercoat,  black eyes,  and black ticking.  For an example of an agouti,  click the "agouti gerbil" link above.
If you make an agouti gerbil lighter,  by adding the pp gene,  you will lose the black ticking and black eyes,  leaving you with a golden argente:

Make the color even lighter,  adding a himalayan gene,  and you've got argente cream,  that will still have the red eyes,  white belly,  and no ticking,  but will now be even lighter:  argente cream.

Next,  there are the self colors:  black,  lilac,  sapphire,  and dove.
Black gerbils are actually agouti gerbils with an aa gene instead of A-.  Black gerbils often have some white on their chins or paws,  but anything more than that would be spotting.

A black gerbil with red eyes,  the pp gene,  becomes a lilac.  Lilacs are medium grey,  with red eyes:

Using a chinchilla medium gene,  you can lighten lilac to Sapphire.  This color is a light silver,  with red eyes.

A dove gerbil is even lighter:  dove gerbil.

Now we'll cover the colourpoints;  burmese,  siamese,  DTW,  PEW,  LCP agouti,  CP agouti.  Note that most of the time,  young colourpoint gerbils will not have the colourpoints yet.
A black gerbil that is colourpointed will become a burmese gerbil,  a brownish grey color with black colourpoints and black eyes:

A lighter version,  the Siamese,  is a lighter grey with dark grey colourpoints.  Siamese,  as well as burmese,  are very popular.

A DTW,  dark tailed white,  is pretty much a PEW with a black or grey tail.  It will still have the red eyes.  DTW gerbil.
A PEW gerbils is a white gerbil with red eyes.  Note that gerbils cannot be albino.  This gerbil may look like one,  but it is not an albino,  it is a pink-eyed white. (red and pink are the same when it comes to eye color)  PEW's do not actually have colourpoints,  but are still put in the same category.

After that,  there are also colourpointed agouti,  CP agouti and LCP agouti.  Both are not the usual orange color,  but are generally more grey.  CP agouti.         LCP agouti.







Now onto the extension colors.  These colors come by adding the ee gene to black and agouti gerbils.
With that gene,  a golden agouti will become a DEH,  or dark-eyed honey.  This gerbil will be a golden color with black eyes,  white belly and sides,  and probably lighter fur around the eyes.  DEH gerbil.
If you throw the pp gene in,  you get a REH,  red-eyed honey.

(on the left)

 

Now,  if you add the ee gene to a black gerbil,  you get nutmeg,  an orange color with black ticking and black eyes.  Nutmeg pups start out just orange,  no ticking,  and will molt into their adult color.

Nutmeg gerbil.

Finally,  if we add the the pp gene to nutmeg,  we end up with red fox or saffron,  which is the same orange color,  but without the ticking and with red eyes.

Lets get into fading colors now,  these being schimmel,  champagne,  honey cream,  LDEH,  and light nutmeg.  These colors come with the e(f) gene. 

A schimmel gerbil starts out orange,  but gradually fades to cream or white.  Some orange will stay on the nose and tail,  and the eyes will be black.  Schimmel gerbil. 

A champagne gerbil is really just a spotted schimmel:  Champagne gerbil.

Honey cream is a possible outcome from spotting in gerbils with the ee,  ee(f),  c(chm),  etc. genes.  Honey cream gerbil.

When certain chinchilla or himalayan genes are added to the ee or ee(f) colors,  it lightens,  giving us colors such as LDEH (light dark-eyed honey) and light nutmeg. LDEH gerbil.      Light nutmeg.

Don't worry,  we're almost through.  Next,  we have underwhites:  grey agouti,  slate,  ivory cream,  polar fox,  silver nutmeg,  apricot,  cream.

The uw(d) gene takes orange/gold out,  which is how we get the grey agouti.  This color is a pale cream undercoat,  black eyes,  and black ticking: grey agouti gerbil.  

Using the uw(d)uw(d) gene in a black gerbil will lighten it to slate.  This also lightens the eyes a bit,  if you shine a light on them there will be a glimmer of red.  Slate gerbil.

Give a grey agouti genes for red eyes,  and pretty much all the black is removed.  The result is a creamy orange gerbil,  ivory cream,  with red eyes: ivory cream gerbil.

Next there are extensions to the grey agouti and the slate colors.  Grey agouti can become polar fox,  and slate can become silver nutmeg.  Polar fox will start out as light orange,  but will develop ticking. Polar fox gerbil. 

Silver nutmeg is similar to grey agouti,  but is more gradual in the change between white and the grey.  Like nutmeg,  it changes when the gerbil first molts.  Silver nutmeg gerbil. 

A polar fox with the pp gene will have red eyes and no ticking,  making apricot:  apricot gerbil.  

Even lighter than ivory cream is cream:  cream gerbil.  

You can also us uw to lighten slate,  which brings about azure slate.

There is also such a thing as a DEW,  which is pretty much a PEW with dark eyes.

Finally,  we have the dilute colors:  blue,  dilute agouti,  dilute nutmeg,  and smoke.

The dilute gene,  d,  is relatively new.  Adding dd to black gerbils brings about blue,  which varies as far as how dark it is and whether or not there is ticking:  Blue gerbil.  Blue gerbil. 

Using the dilute gene,  we can make golden agouti a little less orange and lighten the ticking: dilute agouti.  

It also takes away a lot of the ticking in nutmeg:  dilute nutmeg. 

And finally,  it changes slate to smoke:  smoke gerbil.  

 And there you have the gerbil colors! 

Information from:  personal knowledge,  Prairie Clan. (http://prairieclan.com/gerbils.html)

Pictures from:  my own,  links to other websites/online pictures.