# JR CHERRY STARTING TO MARBLE



## N2TORTS (Jul 29, 2010)

This is a nice shot of one of the Jr. cherrys who now is a strong 6" ...is really starting to show "her" Marbling...as well as excellent coloring...





JD~


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## Isa (Jul 30, 2010)

Wow, her shell and its coloring is beautiful


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## ChiKat (Jul 30, 2010)

Very pretty!! Look at that gorgeous red head


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## terryo (Jul 30, 2010)

Beautiful. I think Pio's marbling is starting to get a little darker from being outside all summer. I LOVE marbling.


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## -JM (Jul 30, 2010)

How pretty! 
I'm not sure if this has been discussed or answered somewhere else, but what causes marbling? Is it genetic or....??


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## N2TORTS (Jul 30, 2010)

-JM said:


> How pretty!
> I'm not sure if this has been discussed or answered somewhere else, but what causes marbling? Is it genetic or....??



Its all in the " jeans"......


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## -JM (Jul 30, 2010)

Fascinating!
(I took a couple of genetics classes my junior year; the way stuff like this shows up is amazing!)


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## luck102573 (Jul 30, 2010)

At what size do they start to marble? 
thanks


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## N2TORTS (Jul 30, 2010)

luck102573 said:


> At what size do they start to marble?
> thanks


Of the ones I own ... 
Most tend to start showing around 2yrs old ...to notice any really dramatic changes ... it just depends on each individual.The one in the pic .. I recieved around 3" ... and that was 3 years ago ... now she is about 6" ...and Ive really started to see more of it "show" ...

JD~


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## -JM (Jul 30, 2010)

Do they all marble?


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## N2TORTS (Jul 30, 2010)

-JM said:


> Do they all marble?



NO...... just depends on genetics .... here another example from a different gene line ..




JD~


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## -JM (Jul 30, 2010)

WOW! that's one gorgeous tort! I can see where breeding for marbling characteristics might be desirable.


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## TORTOMANIA (Jul 30, 2010)

i wonder if it's caused by inbreeding, like in whitetail deer. they will start to marble and eventually down the line turn all white.
I have witnessed these beutiful animals with my own eyes.


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## luck102573 (Jul 30, 2010)

I got that new red foot and they were not sure if it was a cherry head. How will I be able to tell? Do I have to wait till it gets bigger to find out.


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## N2TORTS (Jul 30, 2010)

TORTOMANIA said:


> i wonder if it's caused by inbreeding, like in whitetail deer. they will start to marble and eventually down the line turn all white.
> I have witnessed these beutiful animals with my own eyes.



HUH? ..... Inbreeding? ....ummmm no..but if you do select animals that have these traits and breed them together " of course the chances of the marbeling trait will show. Its called Genectics ...and pulling a recessive gene is in this case the " marbeling". Since most cherrys/rf's ...are darker in color .
In humans ... here might be an example.
If everyone in your family for the past 4 generations has had brown hair and brown eyes, but your new little sister comes out with green eyes, the gene that caused the green eyes are the recessive gene. It is the gene that is not dominate. 
If she mates with a Green eyed male ...Most likely their baby would have green eyes.... and so on .....
fun huh ?



luck102573 said:
 

> I got that new red foot and they were not sure if it was a cherry head. How will I be able to tell? Do I have to wait till it gets bigger to find out.



Post a pic of the plastron ... is one way we can help . There are other tell tell signs.....but thats a great start! 
JD~


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## TORTOMANIA (Jul 30, 2010)

In whitetail deer if they inbreed for enough generations, you get whats called a piebald which is marbled.
I'm not saying you can't cross certain animals to get others that represent the two you crossed, but where did the original genetics come from. 
Albino genes is what they are starting to show, which is actually a breakdown in genetics.
I don't know alot about this subject. I do own a brilliant marbled cherryhead. i will post pics 2 morrow
Where cherryheads created in captivity?, because if they were it would mean they all originated from a fairly small gene pool


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## -JM (Jul 30, 2010)

Actually, albinism isn't a "breakdown"--it's just a different code in the sequence of nucleic acids. It changes from coding for the pigment "melanin" to coding to "NO melanin" Which can cause some problems with tolerance to sunlight and rate of predation, but not because of instability in the genome. 

The reason that traits such as albinism show up more frequently in inbred animals is because of the similarity of the combining genomes. It greatly increases the odds that a trait will show up, but that's not the only way it can occur


Edit: Remind me about this in a couple of weeks and I will look up the chapter in my genetics book so I can tell you in better, more specific detail. I don't have my book with me right now.


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## TORTOMANIA (Jul 30, 2010)

that's why it's good to have smart college educated people here 
that makes sense 
I would like to know more about this, and i think alot of other people would too


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## -JM (Jul 30, 2010)

Inbreeding can also increase the chance of spontaneous mutation, but I don't know as much about that off the top of my head. Again, when I can get to my text book I will happily look it up for you!


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## N2TORTS (Jul 30, 2010)

-JM said:


> Actually, albinism isn't a "breakdown"--it's just a different code in the sequence of nucleic acids. It changes from coding for the pigment "melanin" to coding to "NO melanin" Which can cause some problems with tolerance to sunlight and rate of predation, but not because of instability in the genome.
> 
> The reason that traits such as albinism show up more frequently in inbred animals is because of the similarity of the combining genomes. It greatly increases the odds that a trait will show up, but that's not the only way it can occur
> 
> ...


JM ~
OH YEA!!!!!... DATS what iam talking about!
SCIENCE RULES!
^5



TORTOMANIA said:


> that's why it's good to have smart college educated people here
> that makes sense
> I would like to know more about this, and i think alot of other people would too



Mania ' ... a GREAT BOOK ... is " Genetics For Herpers" ... By Charles Pritzel ..... 
EXCELLENT ..and pretty easy to follow . A Must in my words ... for any persons wanting to learn genetics.
JD~


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## luck102573 (Jul 31, 2010)

N2TORTS said:


> TORTOMANIA said:
> 
> 
> > i wonder if it's caused by inbreeding, like in whitetail deer. they will start to marble and eventually down the line turn all white.
> ...




Thanks JD. I'll get one taken tomorrow and post it in the redfoots section.


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