Until recently, there was very little information on coat colour variations in degus. Now these varieties are becoming more common, on this page you will find information and pictures about the different types being bred.

Before we get started, it should be pointed out that breeding degus for their coat colour is not always a good idea, and should always come second to breeding degus for their health. Many colour variations are caused by a recessive gene, meaning the degus have a history of being directly inbred to produce the colour strain. This means that the health of these coloured degus often suffers, and many have a greatly reduced lifespan as compared to agouti varieties. You might want to read a short article titled 'The Eye of the Beholder: Natural beauty Vs. the ignorant breeder' to find out more. Several breeders in Europe are working hard to try and correct these problems in coloured degus, which we support 100%!

>A bit of history<

Coat colour in degus is usually agouti, meaning the hairs are striped brown and grey at the tip with grey underfur. This colour has evolved in degus to act as natural camouflage in their wild habitat. Two of the first colour variations bred were 'black' (very dark brown) and 'blue' (light grey). This is likely to have arisen due to a mutation in the colour gene turning off either the brown or grey portion of their coat colour. These colours originated in Germany and the Netherlands, and are spreading across Europe (in particular Sweden and Finland) due to their novelty.

Before you read on, you might like to know a little bit about colour genetics. Coat colour is expressed in one of two forms; homozygous or heterozygous. The term 'homozygous' means that degu has two copies of the same allele (one half of the neucleotide coding that makes up the whole gene) to make up the colour gene. On the other hand, a 'heterozygous' degu has one allele corresponding to one colour and one corresponding to a different colour. The allele that gets expressed in the phenotype (outward appearance) is the one that is dominant over the other (the other is termed 'recessive'). A good example of this is human hair colour- if a person with homozygous brown hair produces a child with a person with homozygous blonde hair, the child will be born with brown hair no matter if they're homozygous or heterozygous for the brown colour, since brown hair is dominant over blonde hair. Easy!

>"Blue" degus<

The above pictures show adult blue degus, the name of the colour reflecting their unusual blue-grey coats. You can see in the right hand picture the contrast with the agouti coat degu (pictured bottom right with cataracts). This coat type is known to be genetically recessive, meaning you need to breed two blue degus together to get a complete litter of blue pups. Breeding a blue degu with a homozygous agouti degu will result in only agouti pups, some of which will carry the gene for the blue colour (termed 'heterozygous'). Breeding two agouti heterozygous carriers together will result in roughly one quarter of the litter being born blue, one quarter born homozygous agouti and one half born heterozygous agouti. You can see why the initial breeders had problems producing healthy blue degus without resorting to inbreeding to produce more agouti pups. Below are shown some blue degu pups only a few days old.

Adult blue degu pictures © copyright Karin van Veen (Netherlands); blue degu pup pictures © copyright Julia Riedel (Germany)- it is unlawful to take these pictures without permission of the copyright holder.

>"Black" degus<

Black degus are actually a very dark shade of brown, and are very uncommon. Very little is known about the genetics of this colour variety and the degu in the above picture may well be a unique example. Nevertheless, this is one of the first examples of a colour mutation in the degu's coat.

Adult black degu picture © copyright Karin van Veen (Netherlands)- it is unlawful to take these pictures without permission of the copyright holder.

>"Sand" degus<

Another unusual colour variety, the sand degu, has an almost ginger coat. This variety was bred in Germany, but it is reported to have very un-degu like characteristics (the degu pictured is a particularly large example). Sand degus are not commonly bred due to their numerous health defects as reported by Degus-Online.de.

Adult sand degu picture © copyright Nina Sogn (Germany)- it is unlawful to take these pictures without permission of the copyright holder.

>"Patched" degus<

The patched degu is becoming a popular colour variety, particularly in Germany and Finland. These degus are usually agouti with areas of unpigmented skin, producing patches of white fur all over the body. The white patches are reported to be a dominant trait, we have been advised by a breeder that if you breed a patched degu with a homozygous agouti degu then half the pups born are patched (Mayer, 2008- personal communication). This may mean that the patched degu is actually heterozygous for the trait. Below are some pictures of patched degu pups, only a few weeks old. One picture clearly shows the difference between the patched degu and their agouti littermates.

Adult patched degu pictures © copyright Barbara Walter (Unknown); Patched degu pup pictures © copyright Hanni Mayer (Germany) and Sofia Hogberg (Sweden) 2008- it is unlawful to take these pictures without permission of the copyright holder.

>Other "Patched" degus<

It is not only degus born with white patches that can end up with unusual white markings. There is also a rare genetic mutation that causes white patches to develop on degus as they age, even if they have been born with agouti fur and remained patch-free for several years. These patches often occur on the degu's back and are not related to old injury sites. The degu below, Eddy, developed this white patch when he was 4 years old:

And Fancyfree (below) developed his white patch when he was a couple of years old:

Eddy's age-patched degu pictures © copyright Keith (Green Mt. Gerbils, US); Fancyfree's age-patched degu picture © copyright Melissa Tiley-Waters (UK) 2008- it is unlawful to take these pictures without permission of the copyright holder.

>"White" degus<

The degree to which these degus are truly white needs clarifying. Truly white or albino degus have yet to be bred, the reason why this common mutation has not yet arisen is unknown. Albino animals are born without pigment of any sort, and so have pink skin and also pink eyes. It may be that, as in the horse, the genes which cause albinism to be expressed are lethal. Two types appear to exist; those in which the pigment exists in the coat but is prevented from entering the hair follicle, and those in which the degu is born agouti but the coat turns white at a later stage (this is a very rare genetic condition). Mayer (2008) reports that white degu varieties are born with pink skin that becomes grey as they develop (but the hair remains white all the way down). Pigmentation may also be found in some of the nails. This type of white coat is likely to be an extension of the patched variety, as in some cases a few agouti hairs are still present as shown in the pictures above. Below are two white pups, only a few days old.

Patched degu pup and adult pictures © copyright Hanni Mayer (Germany) 2008- it is unlawful to take these pictures without permission of the copyright holder.