10.1 White lissen

The white squirrel is beautiful to see. A pure white colour draws the attention. However, albinism is -just like with other animals- a genetic mutation.

Albinism is gene that goes hand in hand with low to bad health/vitality, lack of pigment which results in a white fur and bad eyesight. Most of the time also a shorter lifespan.

One albino can have it tougher than another, from full red eyes without a pupil (blind) to light red pupils.

The colour white also exists in nature, a white squirrel doesn’t have to be an albino, although I have never seen it with squirrels that they were white and not albino.

A red pupil doesn’t always have to mean that they’re completely blind. Albinos “see” the colour red like black and most of the time they have trouble with depth perception (because their sight often contains more dark).

Depending on the severeness you have a squirrel that can take care of itself quite well, or a squirrel that only dares to make small jumps, or a squirrel who sees (almost) nothing. It also depends on the pupil how much they can see through it.

Deafness also happened with albinos, but is mostly seen with light animals with blue eyes (sometimes paired with blindness) and most of the time these animals are weaker or not viable (die before birth). This also goes for a few other (most) animals. For instance, you cannot breed with 2 blue merle dogs, because you can get white pups from this who, might not even get born, or die before 6 months.

I am also in favour of trying to breed white as little as possible among other squirrels, both red eyes (true albinism) and blue eyes.

Below some comments from people who had a white squirrel:

Arie:

We also had a white lis who was near sighted but she knew exactly how the aviary was decorated. She could regularly have a quirk where she kept spinning rounds that only went clockwise. It was a female and we didn’t have any males with her.

Yara:

Here we also had an albino with bad/little eyesight. He was very approachable when you were calm and announced your presence. Sadly he didn’t make it past 6 months.

Angelique:

We also had an albino lis a few months old. According to the breed she had no problem from her handicap that an albino only has 50% eyesight. But once we arrived home it stood out to us that even after exploring the aviary, logs, branches, nests, feeding trays, she was worse motorically. And the male we purchased at the same time, didn’t show any sign of interest in her. We though that was odd. She didn’t get older then 6 months. She was not skinny, looked good, she just started to lay curled up more often and longer in a metal food tray, while before she was quite active. She sat more on the bottom of the cage the on the gauze on the sides and ceiling like other squirrels. She didn’t approach the other squirrels and they didn’t approach her. After the bottom the period of the metal food tray started, and every time it lasted longer, until Harold eventually found her dead. Albinism… in free nature it’s a huge handicap, and the most wild albinos and earlier also negro albino people don’t live long… so I ask myself if breeding with these albino lissen, and albinos in al the other animal species, doesn’t weaken the whole health. Because a baby born from an albino and albino doesn’t go well, albino with normally coloured animal, gives albinos or pastel coloured babies, but they also carry the gene for albinism and pass that on. So I’m worried about this. Does anybody share that worry?

Peter:

Good story, clear about the cons of the albino lissen. What I do miss is how most albino are created, namely from the mating of 2 variegated lissen. This is where part of the albinos come from. If you pair an albino with a not variegated lis, there shouldn’t be albino babies, only variegated. If those babies from an albino parent are weaker, I dare not say.

Marysia:

I do know someone with a white male who is seven years old and he did get babies. Beautiful variegated squirrels. It is not clear is the offspring is fertile.

Wendy:

I had an albino female, this one died last year, was about 8 years old, besides poor eyesight, she also had weird behaviour, often spun around in one place, but they can get old.