Varieties

Ticked

Argente Creme (arc)

A/a^t B/* c^ch/c^ch D/* p/p, or
A^W/* B/* c^ch/c^ch D/* p/p

"Eyes pink. An argente creme mouse shall be a delicate blend of deep cream and silver. The undercolour to be an extremely pale blue. Feet the same colour as body. Belly white."

Breeding information below the pictures.

	Nice example of this difficult colour. SH Argente creme buck Rapunzel's Whispers b., o. & pic: Anniina Tuura
	Sh argente creme buck Rapunzel's Bolshoi Booze b.., ow. & pic: Anniina Tuura (Click the pic for a larger image.)
	Sh argente creme buck Rapunzel's Unearthed b.., ow. & pic: Anniina Tuura (Click the pic for a larger image.)

Quick Look

Argente crème is genetically a pink eyed chinchilla. The colour should be a delicate blend of rich cream and silver with light blue undercolour and white belly.

Argente crème has always been a rare variety. They are however seen at shows every now and then. It should be possible to find breeding stock, even though it may require time and patience. Just one argente crème will get the breeder started. Mating argente crème to chinchilla will probably produce only chinchilla in the first generation, but backcrossing these to argente crème will yield 50% of the desired variety.

Genetic Background and Other Info

As C- and P-loci are located in the same chromosome, they are linked together. This means that trying to create argente crème by breeding chinchilla to argente does not work the same way as many other similar attempts do. The C and p of argente are inherited as one “package”, as well as the c^ch and P of chinchilla. The new combination c^ch + p would require a crossing over on chromosome level to happen, the probability of which is slim. If there are no argente crèmes available, one would need some other variety with c^ch + p to create argente crème; e.g. pink eyed cream (A^y/* c^ch/c^ch p/p) or pale argente (A/* c^ch/c^ch p/p). Breeding these to chinchilla will eventually produce argente crème in further generations.

A breeder of argente crè me will face plenty of challenges. Common faults include too light, cold or dull shade of top colour. The undercolour of argente crème is at its best rather light and is easily lost altogether. The belly colour should be pure white with clear demarcation lines. If the top colour is light, there may not be much contrast between the top and belly colour. Missing white belly colour is considered a fault in argente crème. If the mouse is genetically a pink eyed grey agouti instead of chinchilla, it has no white belly – this variety is the non-standard pale argente.

Argente crème can be bred together with chinchilla in the same line. Good quality chinchilla usually produces good quality argente crème as well, which helps solve many of the problems with argente crème.

Text: Anniina Tuura