New arrivals

[Pendragon]

Sherry Trifle



A beautiful Dove Tortoiseshell & White satin, all the way from Babyboos in Scotland...



http://www.pendragonhams.com/New%20Hams/trifleface.jpg



http://www.pendragonhams.com/New%20Hams/trifleback.jpg



(It's hard to take photos of Satins... the wonderful shine gets in the way of the colour and throws the light balance off.)



She's 4 months old, and stayed a little while in Yorkshire on her journey south. Her temporary carer reported she was a little minx, always bar chewing and generally hyper (sounds about right for a Norty Torty, they're nutters).



And she was too... so last night she did some tail-uppies and met Toast. Since then I have hardly seen her... a refomed character, she was obviously desperate for a man! babies due in 16 days or so..... expecting Black Tort & Whites, Black Torts, Black males, and Yellow Black males & females unless Toast is also hiding the gene to make Dove.



Now I have a Welsh hamster (Elderberry was born in Wales), a Scottish hamster, and of course plenty of English hamsters, will they all sit around telling bad jokes...?? "A Scottish hamster, a Welsh hamster and an English hamster walked into a pub...."

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Bandit



Not least by any means - you will have seen pics of this little beauty already! A young Mancunian hamster, born at the home of Nooboo & Dave.



http://www.pendragonhams.com/New%20Hams/bandit1.jpg



She is a Silver Tort - her father being a het SG - so she is light black ("off-black") with pale cream pattern.



http://www.pendragonhams.com/New%20Hams/banditback.jpg



I adore her pattern, and can't keep staring at her! Hard to photograph but she has a wonderful midline split under her chin right down past her chest and front paws - half cream half dark, dead straight line. Hence the reason I love Torts - having bred Harlequin, Magpie & Tri-colour Dutch rabbits.



Of course she is a little sweetie just like her big sister here, Violet... doesn't bar chew, daft as a brush and loves to come out for a cuddle.



Big thanks to Babyboos & Nooboo for these lovely girls, and Emder for Trifle's B&B :D

[flogging_molly]

what exact colour is het Sg i remember talking with you online about it, is it "off-black"?

[Pendragon]

what exact colour is het Sg i remember talking with you online about it, is it "off-black"?



A normal show-type Silver Grey has TWO copies of the Silver Grey gene. This gives them their lovely clear silver colour with clean white base coat. You'd symbolise this as AA SgSg or Aa SgSg. The genetic term for this would be "homozygous Silver grey" because it has two SG genes.... "homo" meaning "the same" referring to having the two genes the same.



A "heterozygous" SG has only one SG gene, AA Sgsg or Aa Sgsg., and presents some colour in the background, usually a cream, fawny, tan or brown tint. Not the lovely pure silver, but still quite attractive in its own right. Sometimes the "tarnish" colour can be so faint it can't be seen in some lights - I was honest and entered a Het SG in non-standard last week at Highworth and the judge couldn't see why... In the light in that hall I was told she should have been entered in Standard classes and would have done quite well.



When you combine Silver Grey with black, a Black hamster appears kind of light black, dusty looking and not Jet black. This would be a Het non-agouti SG... aa Sgsg. But with TWO SG genes, they become.... Little Brown Jobs! Signified as aa SgSg. So, a homozygous SG Tort would be deep dark brown with white markings - not produced one of those yet but it's work in progress :)



If that confused you, I should explain Bandit has only one SG gene - so she is aa Sgsg plus Tort.

[SnuggleHam]

Thanks for sharing Pendragon,



The first hamster is certainly unique looking. All are of course very cute and precious, as all hamsters are precious. I don't know much about genetics, but you seem to. Would you be interested in putting and informative article about hamster genetics for hamster central? We have been looking for an article on this subject for some time. There are certain changes being made to HC, and an article on genetics would be a most helpful addition, beneficial to the site as a whole.



Of course no pressure, just asking. :D You can contact me via PM about it for more details.

[Emma]

Both stunning hams :)



So you might make new LBJs from Bandit? Has that been done before - to make sure that LBJs are aaSgSg?



I think silver grey can be a very confusing colour, what with being incompletely dominant, and then you go an thrown in all sorts of other variables with other genes too!

[Pendragon]

So you might make new LBJs from Bandit? Has that been done before - to make sure that LBJs are aaSgSg?



I have Violet here - Bandit's full sister from a previous litter. Violet's a Silver Dove Tort... not the usual Dove but a lighter shade with cream tort markings. Same father as Bandit obviously, a het SG, AaSgsg.



I bred her to Albert Einstein, a black banded, whose mum was Elderberry, a LBJ. He is totally unrelated to Violet.



The litter contained Dove, Silver Dove, Black Tort & White, Black banded & Dove banded (three of the blacks being rather off-black) plus a LBJ Banded!



So this is pretty consistent with LBJ being aaSgSg. I still have the LBJ Banded boy here looking for a home...

[Emma]

Ah cool. I didn't know you'd 'made' an LBJ (if that makes sense!)