what color is this??

[operationotohamstry]

So I came across this little guy at work today (as I normally steal away from the actual job to play with the new squiggles) and had to ponder on his color. I'm not sure what to make of him...he's probably just a black, or a chocolate umbrose but I'm honestly not sure and wanted your guys opinion. I tried to get the best pictures I could considering it was a cell phone heh. Hopefully it'll be enough. He's got a nice chocolate around his eyes, on his back, cheeks, and a little on his belly, but the rest of him is black and he has very dark roots and dark eyes. Very sweet and very photogetic! Any guesses?

[internet_nobody]

He looks to me like an *incredibly* dark normal WW. The head and ears do not say "campbell" to me, and look how thick his dorsal stripe is, and the shading around the arches.

[anorak]

He is gorgeous!!!!!!!!

[souffle]

I agree with IN that he is a normal. He is dark though but maybe is very young and will lighten off?

[WinterbellHams]

Well it appears he is has no arches, like a WW would have... Sadly I_N and Souffle, this is the color you see for black quite frequently in the pet market here (or even any self color-- you can see the dorsal stripe on most of them)... But I agree with the thickness of the dorsal stripe and head shape... So with that, he is most likely a hybrid.. Seing as is color appears (to me as I don't see arches) self, and WW's do not come in self colors.

[operationotohamstry]

Usually the odd colors I dont entirely trust to be purebreds. I'm not sure he's a hybrid though, just because we have two lines of hamsters, one WW and one Campbell and they look distinctly different, but you never know hehe. He's a young dude, probably barely a month old. I probably wont 'know' him long enough to see if his colors lighten. He came in with a very dark black male and a r-e mottled blue. I shall have to see what becomes of his color :)

[internet_nobody]

There's no way he's a campbell with that stripe and that ticking above his arches. Likewise, no way he's WW if he's "self" coloured! He's very cute, but steer clear of him, his littermates and other hams from that breeder for starting your hamstery!

[operationotohamstry]

No worries my hamstery is already well started and this little fellow isnt involved :). I just work at a pet store and go nuts over colors. Whenever I cant identify them I feel defeated. Usually I give up but this one threw me entirely so I just had to ask hehe.

[Katty_Sheldon]

He does not look like any pure winter white, but he is totally cute!

[Christmas_hamster]

His colouring kind of looks like what is usually referred to as 'dilute black', at least over here, mentioned on this site: Black Dwarves (http://www.aaahamsters.org/Blackdwarves.html)

I'm not sure if a different name has been given to the colouring since that was written but the colouring does look similar especially since it can vary on how dark or light it is.

[operationotohamstry]

Oh man that website just made me wish even more that I lived out in Cali! You'd think that a place like NY which is known for having 'everything' would have something like hamster shows or even a small club! But I'm stranded out here!

Thanks much for that site, its got lots of nice info and some of those new colors are amazing. I'm a genetics nut hehe.

[Christmas_hamster]

No problem! And don't worry I'm alone here in Ontario too. We used to have a club but it died around the same time I got into hamsters. :P

[operationotohamstry]

I wonder what I would have to go through to get a club going around here. Who knows I could get some sort of following. There is an obedience club around here called Tri-County Obedience and it services NY, NJ, and PA...I would totally ship something like that hehehe.