When you hear the description, the "Snow" Bengal you think of a white spotted or rosetted Bengal cat. If this is what comes to mind, you would be correct, however the word "snow" is a blanket word used for 3 entirely different "snow" colors.
The 3 different colors of "snow" are:
Lynx - Born all white - Spots start to develop at three weeks of age and can take up to 2 years old to fully develop/darken.
Mink - Born a cream color with spots - Spots continue to darken up to 2 years of age.
Sepia - Darkest snow, born with dark spots.
The genetics, colors, eye color and looks are all different between these three different snows!
Let's break down the difference including the genetics of these incredible colors.
First, we will talk about what genetically makes up the Lynx, Mink and Sepia:
All three colors are recessive which means they have to get a copy of the color gene from each parent to display the color. The parent does not have to display the color to produce the color. For example, a parent can be a brown/silver/charcoal/blue colored Bengal, but they could have 1 copy (making them a carrier) of the recessive snow gene.
You have to have 2 copies of any color (1 from each parent) to be and display that color. The only way to know what colors a cat can produce is by a DNA test of both parents.
Lynx - 2 copies (one from each parent) of the Siamese color point gene (cs/cs).
Sepia - 2 copies (one from each parent) of the Burmese color gene (cb/cb)
Mink - 1 copy of the Siamese color point (cs) and 1 copy of the Burmese (cb)
The Seal Lynx Point, this is the whitest of the three snows. They are born all white and their spots start to develop as they age. You can start to see their spots appear around 3 weeks of age. Most of the time they are very faint at 3 weeks old but as they grow and get older their markings and spots continue to darken.
They are a pointed cat, so they keep their gorgeous blue eyes.
The Lynx is the only Bengal with blue eyes!
All other Bengal's may be born with blue eyes, but they change color, I have seen this take up to 4 months to develop their true eye color.
-- Theregalbengal Opal of Woodsbengals Aka: Juno (3.5 months old) --
The lynx markings, spots/rosettes continue to darken and can take up to 2 years of age before they are fully developed into the gorgeous color, they end up being.
Below is our queen: Theregalbengal Opal of Woodsbengals Aka: Juno
You can see how her spots/markings continue to darken and change as she ages.
This is our previous kitten (Peggy) at 6 weeks and again at 6 months old:
Mink (Coming Soon):
Sepia (Coming Soon):