Posted By: Dayton Gliders
Albino Interest - 08/20/13 08:21 PM
Okay, so I have a LITTLE bit of an obsession with albino sugar gliders. If you could pair any glider to an albino, what would you pair them to? I don't think we know enough about albinos to do accurate pairings to them, but I know I have thought, when was the last time you saw a mosaic or piebald 100% albino het? Probably not much. I know I have always wanted to have a breeding program based around albinos, due to their nature and the little we know about them compared to other colors such as leucistics and platinums, but, what would you pair an albino to if you had one. Personally, I would probably breed an albino to a black faced black beauty, a piebald mosaic or even another color.
Due to the albino's nature, albinism is a complete lack of pigmentation. Therefore, they cannot express any color. The fur, in a sense, is not white, but blank. It shows no color. Also, although their eyes may appear red, it is actually the red blood cells in the retinal blood vessels within the eye. So, therefore, albinos show do color whatsoever.
Now, when people I have seen are trying to claim they have albino mosaics or look to breed for a specific color that is also albino, you cannot have any coloring mixed with albino and call it albino. The complete definition of albino would be the COMPLETE lack of pigmentation. Whereas the color of fur or eye color are not present in any way. As stated above, the "white" fur and the "red eyes" are actually blank canvases and have no color present.
So, in short, albinism in gliders really fascinates me and I hope, with the Sugar Glider Genetics project we can really learn much more about this coloring. Although the lifespan of albinos is much shorter than an average colored sugar glider due to their nature and missing of an important enzyme, we really cannot do much to help their albinism, but we could help the general community by breeding the color out and we can help the general albino breeding programs out there.
Due to the albino's nature, albinism is a complete lack of pigmentation. Therefore, they cannot express any color. The fur, in a sense, is not white, but blank. It shows no color. Also, although their eyes may appear red, it is actually the red blood cells in the retinal blood vessels within the eye. So, therefore, albinos show do color whatsoever.
Now, when people I have seen are trying to claim they have albino mosaics or look to breed for a specific color that is also albino, you cannot have any coloring mixed with albino and call it albino. The complete definition of albino would be the COMPLETE lack of pigmentation. Whereas the color of fur or eye color are not present in any way. As stated above, the "white" fur and the "red eyes" are actually blank canvases and have no color present.
So, in short, albinism in gliders really fascinates me and I hope, with the Sugar Glider Genetics project we can really learn much more about this coloring. Although the lifespan of albinos is much shorter than an average colored sugar glider due to their nature and missing of an important enzyme, we really cannot do much to help their albinism, but we could help the general community by breeding the color out and we can help the general albino breeding programs out there.