Bob discovers pasta! Video inside!

[Gust0o]

Bob, our Syrian, has just discovered a new favourite - pasta!

I wasn't sure this was something hamsters would be interested in, until I saw other owners using it as a treat - and it's a definite hit; part-game, part-meal!

I don't like the sound of my voice in this - I have a cold, and why do I sound like I'm 12?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh72Xl0Lvv4

Hope you enjoy! :)

[bindleybird]

That was really cute. :lol:

[Gust0o]

I love the bit at the start - Bob is so keen on racing over my partner, and the couch, that she misses the pasta! :)

That sums up Bob - unbelievable levels of energy!

[Basia]

That's such a funny video. She so reminds me of my Fuzzy when we give her pasta.

[Spacemonkey]

Aw, thats so cute! She looks like she is having a good old nosh there :D

[souffle]

Aww so sweet. Ours love pasta. We have one called the Spagetti hams on our website :lol:
Did you see this video on You tube?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfqNXADl ... re=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfqNXADl3kU&feature=related)
Strange little hammy! Poor wee man falls off the piano!

[Gust0o]

Ha, it just can't get enough of the popcorn!

Some very interesting hamster videos on Youtube - that's the first video I've ever put up, but I could get into the habit! :)

[jayne]

Bob certainly seems to be enjoying it! I introduced my Max to pasta the other day and he loved it :)

[Spuds Mum]

That is just too cute Gus. Bob is a darling so pretty!
As for the voice - I take it that you are not a Yorkie through and through? Do I detect an antipodean influence there??
If not, and you are a Yorkshire lad, that cold really did affect you didn't it? ROFL

I think Bob is a golden tortoiseshell banded and absolutely gorgeous - does she have apricot cream patches on her back?

Or is it just my eyes as well as my ears that need testing :oops: :D

[Gust0o]

Erm... normally it's scouse. The family are from Flint, and it's rubbed off! The cold has turned me into a teenager again, mind - and they dropped a while ago!

It's good though, people ring my work phone "Hi is Gus there?", "Yeah, it's Gus", "Oh, never mind... I'll try and catch him later"! :lol:

She does indeed have apricot patches! Is this a common thing?

[Spuds Mum]

Its fairly uncommon in pet shop hams, though more are being bred at the moment it seems as on another thread both Holly and I were saying we saw tortoiseshells in P@H. It is a popular pattern for showing though and some tortoiseshells can be very striking, for example a black tortoiseshell gets lovely yellow patches.

Yellow is a sex linked gene and when a female only gets one 'dose' of it the result is a tortoiseshell which as you can see with Bob is a similar result to a tortoiseshell cat. In golden hams like Bob the yellow shows as a lovely apricot colour, and from the video she seems to have some really nicely marked patches. very pretty indeed. :)

I can't believe I thought you were an Aussie - how embarrassing! :oops: I'm awful with accents lol. I do apologise - but to me you certainly didn't sound like a teenager (mind you most teenagers these days have deep baritone voices by the time they are 14 don't they? - and that's just the girls!!! :shock: :x )

[Spuds Mum]

oh I meant to say - apart from the torty patches Bob is so similar to how our girl Bramble used to look (she has lost a lot of fur since this photo and so doesn't look as healthy now) What do you think?

http://www.madabouthamsters.com/our_hamsters/bramble/main/hamster_006.jpg

[Holly]

Very cute video and Bob is stunner 8)

I can't see the tort in her at all - I'd have said she's Golden-Banded! Guess I need to go away and study my colours a lot harder :oops:

[Basia]

Very cute video and Bob is stunner 8)

I can't see the tort in her at all - I'd have said she's Golden-Banded! Guess I need to go away and study my colours a lot harder :oops:

I thought she was a golden banded too. :oops: That's another reason she reminded me of Fuzzy so much.

[Gust0o]

I'm not sure myself, and I see her every day!

I don't have many pics to hand, which might clear this up - the joys of being at work!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii186/Gust0o/Bob1.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii186/Gust0o/Bob2.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii186/Gust0o/Bob3.jpg

And, just to confirm I am, indeed, an adult - me! (also so I can hog some of Bob's limelight!)

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii186/Gust0o/Gus.jpg

[Ghostofarose]

Very cute! Oh and Bob's sweet too :D

[Gust0o]

You old charmer, you ;)

[Spuds Mum]

Norwich Union Toilets - nice! :shock:
holly - the apricot patches I noticed on the first part of the video - on the right side of Bob's back and I think I noticed one on the left side around her back leg?? Bob turned and ran around away from the pasta for a second or two - and that's when I noticed it.


If I did really see them of course!
I think you can just see the top edge of the back patch in the second photo of Bob.

But you know even though I am a woman and its nearly impossible , I could be wrong!!! :shock: :oops: :x

[Holly]

I've just re-watched it and I see what you mean, I think - I just thought they were lighter golden bits where the banding didn't quite go round!

Must pay more attention at shows in future :oops:

[Gust0o]

Norwich Union Toilets - nice!

Well, I've tried skiving at my desk... but it's just a little too visible! :lol:

I had a bit of a closer shot at Bob - but could someone explain what the patches might mean? I'm assuming these would be a good thing?

Here she is - albeit in video format... you'll see, instantly, why we don't have many still shots of Bob! I do swear at the end, so cover ears! :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILbCdsmRLgQ

They're very visible to me, now I'm looking for them - she has some very distinct peach patches on her back, and leg (as noticed earlier) - but what does that mean?

(You'll note she loves choc treats - bad hamster!)

[Spuds Mum]

Its all basically genetics Gus.If Bob is a tortoiseshell (forget the banded bit for a moment) what it means is she has inherited one yellow gene (classed as To) from one of her parents. It just means that one of her parents was either a yellow hamster or a tortoiseshell hamster (Mum only)

Yellow(To) is a sex linked gene. What this means is that this colour is attached to the X chromosome. Males are XY and females are XX. With me so far?

Okay - so if you take a yellow male hamster and mate him to another colour hamster the male will give half of his genes to make the new hamster, and the female will also give half her genes.

Say the other hamster was also yellow - the hamster pups would all gain one To gene from Mum (on the X chromosome). It is the male that decides on the sex of the pups and some sperm will carry X to marry with the females X and make girl hams and some will carry Y and marry with the female's X to make boys.

So boys only need one To gene to make them yellow. If they dont have one To gene they will be non-yellow. As Mum has given a To gene to all pups - all the males will be yellow!

Females, having to X genes, need two 'To's to make them yellow (shown genetically as ToTo). In our example above, the girls will also have inherited Dad's To on his X gene as well, so all females will be yellow too.

If one of the parents does not carry To however, there are other possibilities for females. For males, he either gets a yellow or he doesn't. He only needs one as I said.

For females, they can inherit ToTo (they will be yellow) no To (they will be non-yellow) or one To....
they will be tortoiseshell and show patches of yellow.

Depending what colour they also inherit this affects how the yellow appears from a bright yellow to a grey/peach. Here are some pictures from a breeders site just to show what I mean. They are special only in as much as good ones show a beautiful patterning and can be quite stunning!

Hope this helps!



http://www.hammysworld.com/gallery/Images/01/11.jpg

http://www.hammysworld.com/gallery/Images/01/10.jpg

http://www.hammysworld.com/gallery/Images/04/06.jpg

http://www.hammysworld.com/gallery/Images/06/10.jpg

http://www.hammysworld.com/gallery/Images/06/03.jpg

[Gust0o]

I got the drift of that, but I'll admit it's a long night!

So she's on 'To' as we classify things - in as much as she's not yellow (ToTo), but reflects this gene by having selective patches of peach on her fur.

Her pattern is beautiful - I did comment as much to Al, when we first got her; she's a far cry from Hammie, whose fur wasn't half as lustrous.

Thanks for the information Spud's Mum - I'm trying to learn, as you might have gathered! :)

I suppose the next logical question is - should she be shown? You mentioned they were popular, and even my layman eyes have noticed she looks great.

She has a small nick in her ear, from a past fight as a baby - will this affect her chances?

[Holly]

Interesting pictures Teresa - I must admit I've only ever seen the Black Torts at shows, I had no idea yellow could appear in patches like that on other colours (though obviously it makes total sense that it does).

Gus - the fact that she's got some Tortoiseshell patches probably doesn't mean a lot for Bob in the showing world (I'll explain why in a mo!) BUT I did think when looking at your video that she is a nice chunky shape and has a nice "type" face - these factors would help her a lot more on the show bench.

Golden Banded's and Tortoiseshells are both shown in the same class - Patterned - so whether she is or isn't a Tort doesn't change her class. I'm no expert on patterned hamsters but from what I've read and seen the judges are looking for even patches of colour all over. With bands they are looking for a band approximately one third the length of the hamster's coat and ideally it should be unbroken (very unusual and difficult to acheive as unbroken bands don't breed true). Colour and markings are a only a proportion of the marks awarded - Size, Type, Fur, Eyes and Ears and Condition make up the rest of the marks allocation.

Pet shop hamsters don't always do well in shows but some do - the first hamster I ever showed was a good old pet shop Grey and he did well and came third in his class and second in the novice class - I was delighted!

Showing is a bit complicated to understand initially, though simple once you've seen it and understand all the terms - if you are interested in showing I'd suggest you get hold of a copy of Hamsterlopaedia by Chris and Pete Logsdail (great intro to showing) and come along to a show - there's one in your neck of the woods in March!

[Spuds Mum]

Yes I love the pics Julie - they are from a site called Hammy's world.

As Julie said, it can be quite hard to get a good banded show hamster, and can be just as hard if not harder to get a good tortoiseshell and white as there should be even sized patches of the three colours, the main colour (ie golden for Bob) should conform to the standards for that colour, and you've got the band too!

I would agree that probably going to a show would give you more information on what the judges look for. At each show there is usually a pet section too, where hamsters are judged on tameness and condition only. Entering Bob in this would probably be a good idea at the start as you can then talk to the judge(s) and other breeders to get a good independent view on Bob's potential.

If you did decide to do that you would certainly be welcomed by club members - the Northern hamster club covers your areas, and Holly and I are members of this, so you can at least be assured of two people who would coo over Bob!
:D