🚀 go-pugleaf

> Thanks Oggie, I hope this has made some sense.
> 
> Cheers, Ana

It will all sink into my brain eventually. :-)

One thing though - I don't know that the loss of all
babies can be attributed to the PePe lethality.

If both rats were Pepe, then theory would say that
the following is the likely Pearl gene status of the 
offspring:

25% PePe (fatal)
50% Pepe (pearl showing if mink present)
25% pepe (non-pearl).

The odds say that you should have a reduced size litter.
Not a completely aborted litter. Mind you, nature can
do some strange things so it is possible that 100% of 
the offspring would have been PePe (fatal).

(yes, I am thinking this through as I type) :-)

Another possibility is that the genetically lethal 
condition occurred in the fetus closest to the birth
canal, preventing a successful labour.

If a genetically lethal mix of the pearl gene occurs, what 
occurs to the zygote/fetus? I believed that it would be
reabsorbed, but can a fetus reach near term with this fatal
gene before actually dying, preventing reabsorbtion due to
the maturity of the fetus?

From our recent mink lines, we know of 4 girls (1 of them twice)
that have had either failed births or failed to become pregnant.
We're waiting to hear results of the 5th girl and a boy is in
reserve until we can have some confidence in the line's ability
to breed healthily.

Cheers,
Oggy.

p.s. some links with pearling info that I've been reading and you
may enjoy:
http://www.bubblegunners.org/hawthorn/articles/mink_breeding.html
http://www.users.wineasy.se/dan.johansson/Eva/rat/gen/honung.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/7989/rats/genetics.html