My Russian boy

[Queen Of The High Teas]

Not put pics up of Orlando for a bit, and as I've just done the robo's I thought I'd do some of my little guy. Orlando is a p@h hamster, so yes is possibly a cross between a CRD and a WW, but I tend to call them just 'russians' as opposed to CRD's as I don't like the term hybrid:p. Hybrid's are cars, why are hamsters called it? Why not a crossbreed, like a dog "he's a CRD/WW cross" or a Winterbell:mad:? But that's a discussion for another thread, so here's my chunky lil ham:

http://imageshack.us/a/img5/9999/img2735t.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img13/9977/img2742nr.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img600/2277/img2717u.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img10/9012/img2724nu.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img809/9296/img2723mz.jpg

He's a lovely boy, so friendly and cuddly. He adores people, as soon as the cage door is open he wants to come out. He has a super temperament, one of the best I've had out of all my russians, he's not nippy, very laid-back manner and loves cuddles. In fact considering he is a pet store ham I'm amazed at how tame he is. Oh and I've no idea why his right ear is folded back like that, it was like that when I bought him! I think it's a nice little quirk and part of his character:p.

[neily]

He's gorgeous!! Such a cute little face :D

[kyrilliondaemon]

The reason for hybrid is because with dogs its a cross between breeds, with hamsters its a cross between species - same as when you cross a lion and a tiger for example. Hybrids are much more at risk of health issues e.t.c than crossbreeds.
Oh and I've had an email from P@H confirming that their hams are all hybrids, so yeah he's a hybrid lol

He looks very cute though :)

[DrKMcK]

LOL. The term hybrid was used for living things before advertisers started using it for cars. Hybrids can also be better than the purebreeds sometimes. For some species of animals who have been interbred for years and years, the purebreeds can sometimes be born with serious physical problems. Many dogs have hip, eye and hearing problems associated with their breeds. Gerbils have been interbred so long that seizure disorders are fairly common in them and breeders are working on breeding it out of the new generations. Some hamsters are born with neurological disorders, one of which causes "flipping". Some people think this is funny or cute, but it's actually a disorder. No animal from any species should be bred if they have these disorders. Hybrids have what's referred to as "hybrid vigor". It means that the combination of better strains make the species itself healthier and stronger. So the term hybrid is actually a good thing for our furries over time.

[Queen Of The High Teas]

How come you can cross some species but not others? Or with out problems? You can cross breed a lion and tiger, 2 totally different types of cat form different parts of the world, or a donkey and a horse, but if you do so with hamsters you get problems? I've seen some beautiful mandarin hamsters, and would love one, but I don't believe their CRD's or WW's, so I've not gone for one.

[DrKMcK]

It depends on their genetic lines. Lions and tigers are from the same family tree, and can be bred, although it isn't easy for this to happen. This is done by artifical insemination in labs and zoos. This would never happen in nature. Hybrids like Lyger's and Tyons wouldn't breed on their own and, in nature, they wouldn't survive. Their coloration and sometimes their huge size creates problems for them. If certain populations are kept apart from each other for generation after generation, there are small changes in the genetics that prevent the different species from breeding.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Lion and tiger hybrids have problems too. Never done much research into hybrids of anything else though. I think with the hams its as much a problem because of the way they've been bred as anything else though - people took hybrids with health problems, bred them with more hybrids with health problems and the long term result is the state of hybrids we have today.
And yeah, mandarin hams are hybrids.

And RrKMcK - Hybrid vigour is (frustratingly) a term used for crossbreeding animals of the same breed rather than different species, like breeding two breeds of dog for example. Hybridisation in hamsters is the hybridisation of two species and causes a lot of health problems.

[FinalStraw]

He's such a cutie. The third picture is so adorable! I got my little guys at P@H too :)

[sully]

Hes very pretty!