a/a B/* c^ch/c^h D/* P/*

"Eyes black. The Burmese is to have light Chocolate body colour all over. The points, which are very dark brown, almost black, are like with the Siamese."

Breeding information below the pictures.

All mice in the following pictures should have a lighter body colour in order for the points to show better.
	SH Burmese buck Rapunzel's The Measure Of A Man b, o. & pic: Anniina Tuura
	SH Burmese doe Dragon's Anya Returns To Full-Throttle Vengeance b.: Tuire-Sini Tukiainen o. & pic: Anniina Tuura
	This Burmese has all too dark body colour, which makes the points to blend in with the body colour. A Burmese with bc/* instead of B/* ("Chocolate Burmese") looks most likely like this mouse. SH Burmese buck Rapunzel's Who Mourns For Morn? b, o. & pic: Anniina Tuura

Note: This article is old and waiting to be rewritten.

Quick Look

Burmese is genetically a mouse with one chinchilla gene c^ch and one himalayan gene c^h. This variety is like a darker version of the Siamese without the shadings. Actually, you can get a closer image by picturing a Himalayan mouse with light chocolate body colour in stead of white and with very dark points.

If you do not have any Burmese mice to start with, you will need a Siamese (Seal Point) and a mouse with the chinchilla genes. Chinchilla genes are found on Chinchilla, Silver Agouti and the standardized Foxes. Do not try to use a foxed Bone, Beige, Coffee or Siamese, as with these colors the white belly is caused by the diluting factor of c-locus recessives, turning the tan belly into white. Best option would be a sepia - Black with a double dose of the chinchilla gene.

The out come of the original cross with the Siamese and the variety with cchcch depends on the genetic make-up of the chinchillated variety. If the original cross is Siamese (a/a B/* c^h/c^h D/*) x Chinchilla (A/a^t B/* c^ch/c^ch D/*) the resulting offspring will be non-agouti a carrying mealy Burmeses (the agouti group colors ruin the colors in the pointed varieties, i.e. mice with A/* instead of a/a will be of a poor, mealy colour) as well as some of these with Fox belly. Leave these foxes out of your breeding program. They have the tan gene a^t, which is dominant and can be tricky to breed out. When two of these mealy Burmeses are mated together, you will get some Burmeses (with the needed a/a) and other colours including Siameses, mealy agoutied Siamese, Chinchilla, Silver Agouti and sepia. If the original cross is Siamese x Silver Agouti, you will have only mealy Burmeses (no Foxes) in the first generation. Proceed like with the Siamese x Chinchilla example.

Another option for getting Burmese is to use a black group Fox (chinchillated tan), for example Black Fox. Mate the Fox (a^t/* c^ch/c^ch) with the Seal Point Siamese (a/a c^h/c^h) and you will get Burmese. Some of them are Foxes. If the Fox had a double dose of the tan gene, all of the young from this first cross will be foxed. Mating them together should give you proper Burmeses. It is easier if you choose not to use the foxed Burmeses in your breeding.

Best option of all would of course be a sepia. This last one is a self Black mouse with a double dose of the chinchilla gene. The colour is dull, poor black / dark chocolate without the warmth of the self Chocolate mouse's colour. Sepias may crop up in Chinchilla, Silver Agouti and Black Fox breeding programs, so ask around from breeders of these varieties. Breeding a sepia mouse to Siamese Seal Point will give you a whole litter of Burmeses.

Burmese is a variety that does not breed true due to it being heterozygous in the c-locus. When breeding two Burmeses together, you will get litters of approximately 2/4 Burmeses, 1/4 Siameses and 1/4 sepias. The last one is a self Black mouse with a double dose of the chinchilla gene. The colour is dull, dark chocolate without the warmth of the self Chocolate mouse's colour.

The Burmese is called Siamese Sable in American mouse club standards. I introduced the variety to The Finnish Show and Pet Mice as Burmese (a name of a gerbil variety, Burmese gerbils are also a pointed and dark colour variety) instead of the Siamese Sable for two reasons: 1) The name "Siamese Sable" was considered a bit misleading (to us non-English speakers, that is) as the name brought in an image of a variety with the shadings of the Sable and the Siamese combined. This misunderstanding among others. 2) The name "Burmese" was already used by the Finnish Mongolian Gerbil Society for the "dark Siamese" (in quotes, as the variety has a different genetic make-up from the gerbil Siamese), so the same name was adopted for the use of the mouse club.