I don't know whether that odd pattern is from a genetic or an environmental cause. If it is from environment, then it would not be reproduceable with any predictability. If it is genetic, then the most likely cause is a recessive mutant gene. Albino is a recessive mutant gene, if that is any help, and breeding patterns would be expected to be similar to breeding patterns with albino.

I would raise those oddly patterned babies and mate brother x sister. If every baby in a litter of 12 or more babies had the same or similar pattern, then I would suspect that the abnormality has a genetic cause. If some of the babies did not have the abnormality, then it still might have a genetic cause, but the genetics would be more complicated than a simple Mendelian recessive mutant gene.

Paul Hollander

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