25/07/2026
Photo collection of my precious tricolor (multicolor) mice ❤️
All of my tris came from My little darlings - Mousery lines, which few years back were imported by us from Finland.
Some of you might be wondering, why do I call them multicolor mice? Well, because they are different from standard tricolors.
First of all, they both have different recessive spotting gene - when you pair together both "standard tricolor" and "multicolor", you will get mice without white spots, as both genes are recessive. 👀
This also means they behave a bit different - multicolor tend to produce smaller spots, usually with colored head (a mask) and their belly usually stays white.
It reminds me of how variegated (dominant white spotting) looks like on mice.
Standard tricolor produces larger spots, very often more square-shaped, mouse tend to have more color than white. They usually have a colored head too, but spots tend to be more uneven (rather than creating a mask, they have one bigger spot on one side of their face). Getting spots on their belly is hard, too.
It is, of course, generalization, as most of it comes down to specific selection and varies across lines.
The "small spots" gene accumulated mostly in Finland (probably where it originated from in recent years?) and "big spots" gene (piebald) is popular all over the world.
I always loved "dalmatian-like" animals, so that's why I decided to go with multicolor. I'm currently creating similar markings on my rabbits too 😅
Comparison on the last photo. Which one is your favourite?
I do think both version of tricolor are amazing when bred correctly. ❤️
