Is it normal?

Question
QUESTION: Hi.  I hope you can help me with something i am worried about with my albino mouse pups.  I have been breeding mice for 6 months now and have many beautifly coloured mice now.  However,i never had any albino mice. I love that colour.  So I bought a albino male and started breeding with him to my coloured females.

But the albino babies seem rather strange.  Their fur seems to grow strangly.  it looks as if it grows in narrow bands around their bodies, and when they curl up its sticks up and looks bristly, you can see bands of skin. The hair seems quite sparse.  They are also not as fat as the normal coloured babies, and aer not as heavy when you pick them up.  

Is this normal for albino mice pups coat to look like this.  When they wean they get a normal looking coat.

Another strange thing about them is they seem thin around the upper body area, and their belly area is quite plump, giving them a pear shape.  they seem to lack a lot of muscles over their shoulders.  All the coloured pups reared together with the albino ones look lovely and have a normal stocky body.

I have had 3 litters, and the oldest ones are 6 weeks old.  Maybe they will get a better body shape as they mature?

Maybe the male is just passing of bad genes and i should try with another one.  

Thank you f you can help me.  

jason.

ANSWER: Hi Jason,

It sounds like a developmental problem, which could be due to either or both of the parents.  Sometimes the doe can still be carrying bad genes which don't show until paired with the father's in the offspring, but since this seems to have happened with multiple does, I would indeed consider getting a different male.

Is the fur long?  Sometimes when a coat is longer, but not fuller, it parts and separates in unattractive ways.  In either case, it sounds like you should try with a different buck at the very least, and avoid breeding the offspring.  Even if they eventually take on a typical shape, they could still pass on the developmental difficulties from their early weeks.

Albinism is caused by a single recessive gene, meaning you need both to display the albino coat and eyes.  It might be best to breed albino to albino to start out and leave the color crosses for when you need to improve body type, health, structure, or temperament later on (outcrossing).  It wouldn't do your colored lines much good to breed in an albino gene (that wouldn't show in carriers), unless you plan on using all of them for further albino or C-dilution breeding.  Just as a side note, here's a page on the C locus to help you see what all you can do with it:  http://www.hiiret.fi/eng/breeding/genetics/c-locus.html

Hope I helped, and let me know if you have any more questions!
-Tam

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you very much for you quick reply.

I have stopped using this male now.  Just one interesting thing.  Now most of the litters are young adults.  The fur is very very short compaired to the normal mice coats.  It looks and feels like velvet texture!  Its full and you can no longer see any skin throught the coat. In fact they look beautiful, but they still hve the pear shaped body. Never developed muscle tone over the shoulders, which makes the belly look fat.  They grew to a normal size and seem very healthy.  

Thank you again.  Jason

Answer
Despite the interesting coats, I would definitely keep the offspring and not breed from them or give them away (as their health is still a somewhat unknown).  With such a strange body structure, it would be interesting to know if there are any longterm consequences.

I'd love a picture if you get the chance!  :)

No problem,
-Tamarah