Captive-bred Gerbils
Many color varieties of gerbils are available in pet shops today, generally the result of years of selective breeding.
Over 20 different coat colors occur in the Mongolian gerbil, which has been captive-bred the longest.
Another species of gerbil has also been recently introduced to the pet industry: the fat-tailed gerbil, or duprasi. They are smaller than the common Mongolian gerbils, and have long, soft coats and short, fat tails, appearing more like a hamster. The variation on the normal duprasi coat is more gray in color, which may be a mutation, or it may be the result of hybrids between the Egyptian and Algerian subspecies of duprasi.
White spotting has been reported in not only the Mongolian gerbil, but also the pallid gerbil and possibly Sundervall's Jird.
A long-haired mutation, a grey agouti or chinchilla mutation, white spotting, and possibly a dilute mutation have also appeared in Shaw's jirds, and white spotting and a dilute mutation have shown up in Bushy-tailed Jirds.
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