Like what does is mean if your glider has het genes and things like that. I have a mosaic ringtail. So are her genes dominant mosaic or how does it work? The colors confuse me too. Also, how can you breed the red series of sugar gliders?

One thing I am surprised at though is when I bred my mosaic and my standard I got a white tip. Ive read over and over that white tip is its own gene, not a mosaic variation. What I cant find is where the white tip gene comes from.

http://www.glidercentral.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=genetic_compatibility

The link above has a lot of information. The most comprehensive database of lineaged gliders is here: http://www.thepetglider.com/the-pet-glider-online-pedigree-program.html

I can answer part of your question but if you are in need of detailed answers for planning to breed gliders, you may want to contact a breeder that deals with various color gliders to get more detailed information - especially breeding the "red series" which is a color designation I have ONLY seen listed on the Pet Glider (Priscilla Price)

Most glider colors are probably controlled by more than just one gene pair - in addition to the color patterns - leucistic, white face, mosaic, etc. there are probably other genes that control the minor variations such as how light or dark the grey areas are.

The term "het" is short for heterozygos meaning one gene. It is usually used to indicate that a glider has the POSSIBILITY of carrying a recessive gene based on the glider's ancestors.

A glider that is termed 100% het means that one of its parents was the color produced by TWO recessive genes - Leucistic gliders are a good example. If a glider has a Leucistic parent then the joeys will always have ONE copy of the leucistic gene even though it is a grey or other color glider.

A glider that is termed 50% het means that one of its parents was a 100% het so there is a 50% CHANCE that the joey carries the gene. The only way to know if the glider actually does have the gene is for the glider to parent a joey that has the coloring. If a 50% leucistic Het glider is paired with either a leucistic or a leucistic het and DOES produce a leucistic joey then that glider would be called a PROVEN 100% het because it is then known that the glider does carry the gene.

The white tip trait has been more elusive for breeders and is probably a recessive trait that might be controlled by more than ONE pair of recessive genes. It probably is a separate trait from the Mosaic trait which is a dominant one. Because the Mosaic trait is a dominant one, it requires inheritance from only one of the parents. If you pair a Mosaic with ANY other color there is a 50% chance that any joey will inherit the trait.

Any recessive traits also carried by a Mosaic glider would be hidden by the Mosaic coloration. If the mosaic carries a recessive gene for the white tip and is bred with another glider with the recessive gene for the white tip trait - then there is a 25% chance a joey would get the gene from BOTH parents to produce that trait - but it would only appear if that joey did not ALSO inherit the dominant Mosaic trait. If any trait is controlled by more than one recessive gene the chance that a joey would receive BOTH recessive genes from EACH parent would be a lower percent CHANCE.

I hope that helps and does not further confuse you. Genetics is much more complicated than just the results of inheriting one or two genes to produce the color traits that we can see in our gliders.

Thank you candy that did help a lot. It's still a little confusing but I'm starting to understand better. So if I understood this then, if my mosaic female and my standard male breed and have a white tip, then they both have a recessive gene for white tip. So then the white tip Joey, if bred, also now carries the recessive gene? I thought that the joeys was a mosaic white tip. That's all I knew to call it even though I have realized they are two different colors. The Joey has a white spot on the back of his head also, along with the white tipped tail.

So then the other point is that there is a 50/50 chance that the joeys they will produce are either mosaic or standard correct?

I have seen that the red series is rare. I have a sugar glider supplier I go to for bonding pouches and such that has a cinnamon glider. I guess I will ask her if shed got her from Priscilla.

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The Joey has a white spot on the back of his head also, along with the white tipped tail.

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If your joey has a white spot on his head and a white or white tip tail then he is a MOSAIC. Mosaic gliders have variable amounts of white on them. Are his feet and legs also white?

The true White Tip gliders are normal grey gliders and ONLY have a small white area at the end of their tail.

The gene that produces the Mosaic color patterns is dominant so any joey from your pair has a 50/50 chance of getting the mosaic gene from the Mosaic parent.


Many "cinnamon" gliders are actually gliders that are stained from a poor diet and not actually a different color. Many folks have purchased gliders they called cinnamon - only to have them become beautiful standard grey gliders after a few months on a good diet.

Ok I see the difference now. It makes more sense. I've heard that before. The pictures I've seen you can tell there's a gray undertone.there really pretty though when they are true cinnamon.

Hey just wanted to make a little addition to Candy's reply. Candy you always have great advice thank you. I do bring up the point about the heterozygous though. That term generally means a mixed gene as opposed to homozygous. for example the progeny (baby) is grey lets say and they got that from having a black coated father and white coated mother. example of homozygous is the baby is black coated and both parents are black coated (nothing to do with dominant or recessive at this point) not sure how it mixes in with the lineages just thought i'd clarify.