Oops please forgive my neglect of starting this month on time and TY Souffle for waking my brain.
DAY 1
Since I have missed 4 days you shall get several Photos in this day.
ST's Hamstery came about when I started raising Syrians in 2000. I had raised Syrians a long time before that when a good friend of my parents owned a small privately owned and operated Pet Store and wanted me to raise hamsters for them which were supplied to me along with a complete set up able to house 10 Females and 2 Males.
However The 1st photo is of me as a teenager with Bellbottom slacks and a cat Fluffy who was trained to not desire Hamsters. Please don't do this with your hamster and cat as unless well trained to not see the rodent as food this would be very dangerous.
I found boys, and a real job and the days of breeding hamsters ended until one day in 1999 at a flea market in Mansfield Ohio I found my love for hamsters return(as well as my desire to rescue helpless Hamsters) My Husband Michael and I saw a horse trough full of about 40 young Syrian hamsters. The seller was obviously out for the money, and was telling any child who came near that there was one girl in the trough and if they could talk their Mommy or Daddy to buy her they would have lots more. I tried to resist the urge but after three more kids I decided to bring the female home so no unknowledged child would get her.
As I reached in to pick her up a Black male just leaped in my arm and ran up to my ear and gave it a kiss. I collected him and placed him back saying I was sorry but I only had a tank and not any place to house him so he had to stay. He answered that with a big leap up to my ear and gave it a kiss. That happened 2 more times and I decided to get him as well.
The female became Specks and she was a Red Eyed Cream Dominant Spot
The Male was named Nibbler because when he was done with handling he would nibble my finger just enough that I knew it was time to put him back
These two had two litters and had I known then about genetics like now I would have doubted I would get a Black Dominant spot but back then it went like this: Black is a dominate color in many other animals so there for the Black would surely dominant the cream. LOL by pure luck Specks proved to carry Black so I got a Black Dominant Spot pup the first breeding.
a female I kept and named Spicks, I also kept a Black male pup I named Nibblet.
Here is Spicks
And Nibblett
Specks lived to 2 years 4 months, and Nibbler was given to a young girl who had a nasty Female who just didn't like kids. One day when I had to go to the Dog wardens to purchase dog tags for my dogs I found a Grandma and her two young grandchildren with a Box and many tears flowed from the Childrens eyes. Curious what they had in the Pet Store Small animal box they showed me a lovely Black Dominant Spot adult male. The crying was because they had come to surrender their pet because their Mother had decided she didn't want a rodent in her home. The dog Warden wouldn't take the Hamster nor would the pet store Grandma bought it from take it back. So Fred came into my life. This Photo was just a few days before he passed away a old man ham of about 2 years old.
