Stubborn Starter ... need Advice!

[Luna1987 Resident]

I have a male Naughty Kitty! - Naughty Coal that refuses to show his hidden fur. I have 6 Gen Smokey 3's from him *sigh* He has had a few girls and still notta not sure if i am messing something up or what

His 2 girlfriends have been
a very pretty 9T Bali Cream & a 7T Caht Coffee & Cream (retired) I just matched him up with the 9T Bali for her last kitten and want advise on what to get for him next to try with..... He is 68 days old so still has a few more kittens in him

[anna Acanthus]

No Luna you're not messing up.
I think that we've all been through this and not just a couple of times.
And when they finally do show it's Ben Charcoal lol.
But then again it could be something very cool so keep at it and cross fingers that something will show in time to do a breed back or a sibling breed at least.

** no fur is likely to "pull" your starter's fur more than another so I'd keep going with the bali Cream or a more recessive even , that way if you do get that recessive shown then at least you know it's worth finding out what it's hiding.

[Sanura Snowpaw]

Just keep trying. I would use a retired fur personally so I know that it isn't hiding what I bred it against but otherwise sometimes it is just the luck of the draw.

[Tad Carlucci]

Technically, since he's a Genesis fur, and a starter, any non-Genesis fur "will do" but a retired fur is "wisest"

I would suggest a retired fur from at least half-way down Saga's chart. That way the odds favor you seeing the hidden (since it's dominant to Mom's shown fur). Somewhere around Russian White through Ocicat Chocolate should do and avoid breaking the budget. A low-cost Seal Lynx or Cream Lynx would do better, but finding one at "low cost" may be a problem.

[Luna1987 Resident]

I have a ton of Seal Lynx, i will open one of them ... thanks for the help ^.^

[anna Acanthus]

All that using a retired can tell us if it shows is that it cannot be hiding that fur but a more recessive.
So in the case of a Bali Seal showing then it can be hiding any of the furs recessive to it.
So using the most recessive retired as you did (Cream Lynx) is obviously the better choice if you are hoping for a highly recessive hidden on your starter. If Cream Lynx shows then there's a range of only 6 (as far as we know) other furs which could be hiding, narrowing down the field.

Other than that there is no other particular advantage to using retired furs or traits when breeding starters.

If one uses say a Foxy S&P (third most recessive right now apparently) and that shows, it's all the same difference really, although if S&P doesn't show it could produce you a nice Bengal Black for example.

Another big advantage of using the most recessive possible with a starter is that if it produces a more dominant fur thats you don't much like then you won't need to waste time and money back-breeding for an unknown.

Perso i go for using a well traited kitty no matter how dominant the fur, as it can give me (hopefully) more infos on all the hiddens and tell me if there may be something in there worth trying for, and if back breeding gives me a nice fur surprise then thats a plus.

Anyhow we all use what we have on hand or can afford, and muddle through as best we can in general.

[Kayleigh McMillan]

It helps though to use a retired (reci) I think to make sure if you get that retired back from your starter it at least hides something different.
In some cases we can keep guessing what that starter was hiding if we are really unfortunate and keep thinking if it may have been the same trait.
I like my retireds depending on the goal ofcourse