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What does a roan look like?

Piglet

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Apr 10, 2004
Messages
5,038
Hello! Could somebody please tell me what a roan looks like?
 
Piglet said:
Hello! Could somebody please tell me what a roan looks like?

The Roan guinea pig has a black body with an even mixing of white hairs throughout. Only the head and feet have solid black hairs. Both the ears and the eyes are black. Some Roans are also bred in colors, such as red and white, and red and black and white.
 
(broken link removed) grey roan
 
Thank you! Also, in guinea pigs, do grey hairs actually show ageing? When I got furlong he only had about 3 grey hairs, but now he has about 10. The rescue said he was only 1-2 years old...so should he already be getting grey?
 
I got both of my boys when they were about 3 months old. Butter was all blonde except for white across his shoulders. Now that he's older, he has a large white patch on his butt too. Peanut was a total golden agouti (brownish coloured if you don't know what that is) and now he has orange stripes around him (about two big fat ones) - they started appearing as he got older. I think guinea pigs coats can change their look as they grow. Have yours grown any since you got them. Mine hadn't grown a terribly huge amount, but apparently enough to change their coats.
 
No, I got them as adults, so they havn't put on any weight. Ascot's coat is still the same... It's just grey hairs on furlong that have increased
 
I think a roan can also be completely white, or is that a (spotless) dalmanation.
 
Access said:
I think a roan can also be completely white, or is that a (spotless) dalmanation.

Are you referring to a micromathalmic / opthalmic white? These are the pure white babies, which are a result from roan x roan, or dally x dally matings. They are 100% roan (or dally), even though they are totally white.

Here is another site with photos of roans.
(broken link removed)

The actual "roaning" refers, to the scattering of white hairs. So (eg.) a black/red cavy with mixed colours is not a roan unless white is present.

Matt
 
^ ick. that link leads to a breeder's website. She's actually breeding roans. Like we need more lethals in the world.
 
DocDolittle said:
^ ick. that link leads to a breeder's website. She's actually breeding roans. Like we need more lethals in the world.

The original question was to what a roan looked like. I beleive that that specific page link had alot of photos which clearly demonstrated what roans look like (and mentions colours also).

It was not placed to be a discussion point on breeders with roans (plenty of other threads for those).

matt
 
The original question was to what a roan looked like. I beleive that that specific page link had alot of photos which clearly demonstrated what roans look like (and mentions colours also).

It was not placed to be a discussion point on breeders with roans (plenty of other threads for those).

matt

Sorry, didn't mean for that to sound like a personal attack on you. I understand you didn't mean for it to lead to a breeder's page. Sorry to have upset you!
 
Aww, Doc - yes the link was informative but yes she is breeding roans. I didn't mind you saying it =)
 
DocDolittle said:
Sorry, didn't mean for that to sound like a personal attack on you. I understand you didn't mean for it to lead to a breeder's page. Sorry to have upset you!

Thats fine, no I didnt take it as a personal attack, but there are just soo many threads here about breeders, that I didn't want to make this into one of those and detach away from the original question (as many threads on this and other forums seem to go too offtopic).

Matt
 
Are you referring to a micromathalmic / opthalmic white? These are the pure white babies, which are a result from roan x roan, or dally x dally matings. They are 100% roan (or dally), even though they are totally white.

To correct some terminology--microphthalmic is another (probably more technically correct) term for what is commonly called a lethal white. Roaning (and the dalmatian pattern) is caused by one allele of the roan gene, indicated by "Rn". The normal allele is "rn". A roan or dalmatian is Rnrn, i.e. one copy of each allele. If roans and/or dals are bred together, each baby has a 25% chance of being RnRn, a lethal.

Since the roan allele does not depend on any other color genes, it's entirely possible for a PEW to carry it. Such an animal would be a "covert" roan. My sow Suzi is a broken black and white pig who carries the roan allele, even though you can't see it as she has no roaning. It's just that she popped out a lethal, Einstein.

The roan allele prevents color-producing cells from fully populating a pig's skin. Areas that don't have color cells produce colorless (white) hair. This is what causes the characteristic roan or dalmatian coloring--an underlying self black with Rnrn will have scattered white among hair that would otherwise be black. A pig with a large amount of white hair, like a PEW, Himalayan, or a pig with the heaviest amout of white spotting, will have hairs with no color cells, because of the roan, mixed with hairs that don't have color for other reasons. Hence the "covert" roan.

Also, roans and dalmatians can be any color or pattern (golden agouti, TSW, Himalayan, lilac, etc.). It's just that shows only accept certain combinations.
 
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