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Old 02-17-2017, 06:47 AM   #1
Hekomi
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Default 2017 comes in with a bang - Welcome L17s!

Hello everyone, I hope you are all well! I have been terrible with popping in here but I wanted to share my latest litter (and hopefully be a bit move active with all you lovely folks).

The mum of this litter is our lovely Lady Karamilk Starbuck Fluffybottoms, affectionately referred to as Starbuck. She's a LH cinnamon from Holmden Hill Haven, with lines that date back to River Road Hamstery. She has wonderful type and a fantastic genetic temperament. She was Janice's pick of the litter, and I am so blessed and fortunate Janice saw me fit to have her, and breed her.



Starbuck's genotype is Aa C- Ee pp Rd- Rx- ll - so we wanted to pair her with one of our extreme dilute boys. My extreme dilutes have "okay" type, but they definitely need some help as their faces get quite long. My ED blacks are also browning more than I'd like, so with this great outcross I was hoping to sort that out. Luckily, the natural temperament on my EDs is fabulous and I've certainly selected for the best ones.

We tried her first with Toby (ED black band) and when that didn't work, brought in his son, Hamlet (ED black). Nothing was working - so we added sun lights to our house, bumped the temperature of the house, and began feeding the girls leafy greens to simulate spring. Still nothing!

Losing hope, I tried her on a whim with Hamlet's son, JD, who is a melanistic yellow carrying ED. Once, and bam! Starbuck ballooned. JD's type isn't too awful, definitely better than Toby's, and his temperament is wonderful. He's just rather small and kind of lanky. His genotype is aa Cc(e) P- ToY Ll so we're expecting LH pups from this pair.



She had her pups during the day yesterday (we were at work) and has been tending to them ever since. She's been a very good mum to them so far!

I'm very glad things have gone well with this litter. Our last litter, in December, ended up being a very stressful and sobering experience in my breeding career. The female, Gherkin, experienced dystocia (pup stuck in her uterus). Since we don't bother our females, we didn't discover the issue until two days after birth. There had been signs something wasn't quite right (she barely touched the supplements I put out) but two days later, at 6am I noticed a lot of blood in the bin. We got her out, and she was very weak, but still nursing her eight pups. I got SubQ fluids into her, we phoned Ontario Veterinary College, packed up Gherkie and her eight pups and drove off.

She was in very unstable condition, but the vet agreed to operate as it was the only way to save her life. The pups were kept in an incubator while they performed the emergency hysterectomy. No one thought she would survive... but she did! She even accepted her eight pups back after that, which was amazing.

Gherkin was hospitalized for two days, and sadly we lost four pups. Due to the hysterectomy, she was going to stop lactating. We found her four remaining pups a foster mum. She accepted the babies wonderfully, though unfortunately we did lose three of the remaining pups. It left us with one - Bumble - who has some lingering health problems as a result of the fostering/emergency and will either stay with us or live with Gherkin's family (she was on loan). Gherkin healed beautifully and is now back with her family, however the entire experience was very traumatic and terrifying. I was just lucky and glad we were equipped to deal with it, both in our abilities, and financially (just Gherkin's surgery and hospitalization were $1100, not including other costs). She received absolutely the best care, and we will be taking all future hamsters to OVC.

Hope to update you all with their growth soon!
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Old 02-17-2017, 06:58 AM   #2
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Default Re: 2017 comes in with a bang - Welcome L17s!

They are beautiful Hekomi. Hope this litter runs smoothly and we soon see some little cuties running about. That's a lot of money for the surgery Whewww!!
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Old 02-17-2017, 07:05 AM   #3
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Default Re: 2017 comes in with a bang - Welcome L17s!

After such an experience with poor Gherkin, you deserve some good news.

Congratulations on Starbuck's litter and I can't wait to hear all about them as they grow.
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Old 02-17-2017, 07:09 AM   #4
Hekomi
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Default Re: 2017 comes in with a bang - Welcome L17s!

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They are beautiful Hekomi. Hope this litter runs smoothly and we soon see some little cuties running about. That's a lot of money for the surgery Whewww!!
Thanks Souffle! I'm really happy with the direction our hamsters are taking. I'm really getting a much better eye for type, and learning more than just head shapes, and also body shapes. I'm working on becoming judge trained, and am working with a lovely group of other ethical breeders in the area. We're meeting up in April to do some sharing of hamsters. I can't wait to expand my gene pool. One gene I'm really dying for is rex, however the rex North American hammies aren't great. We're shipping up some from California, who have much better health than the other ones around us.

Hah! Actually, we were rather surprised the surgery was less expensive than I expcted. We had emergency fees, plus the hospitalization and 24hr around the clock care in an incubator. OVC is the leading veterinary school in Canada, and arguably the most knowledgeable and experienced place to take hamsters. We had never been, so it was a very positive first experience. The vet was amazingly thorough, even going so far as to bring other departments into the swing of things to make sure any medication she was given was also safe for her pups. They became kind of like "icons" in the hospital, and a lot of the students and interns would come visit them. I suppose they don't often get teeny baby hamsters!

I'm glad it turned out okay. It was incredibly tense, and I was really proud of both my partner and my ability to get through it.
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Old 02-17-2017, 07:23 AM   #5
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Default Re: 2017 comes in with a bang - Welcome L17s!

Sorry to hear about Gherkin, that must have been really hard for you, lovely to have some good news now with Starbucks litter, look forward to updates on the pups.
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Old 02-17-2017, 07:27 AM   #6
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Default Re: 2017 comes in with a bang - Welcome L17s!

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Originally Posted by Fluffagrams View Post
After such an experience with poor Gherkin, you deserve some good news.

Congratulations on Starbuck's litter and I can't wait to hear all about them as they grow.
Thank you! I'm really pleased it's gone well. We understandably have some PTSD after what happened with Gherkin. I'm not sure I could have handled another episode like that.


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Sorry to hear about Gherkin, that must have been really hard for you, lovely to have some good news now with Starbucks litter, look forward to updates on the pups.
Thanks! I am so glad this litter has gone well. We've had some difficulty in the past with our females. I try to turn these experiences into teachable moments on why people who aren't equipped to breed shouldn't. I'll be working with Hopping Hammy to create a similar video to the one we did about Dulce to discourage casual, irresponsible breeding.

I'm very excited for these guys to all get fuzzy! The days go by so slowly when you're waiting.
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Old 02-17-2017, 07:55 AM   #7
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Lovely news about Starbucks. I can totally get the PTSD after an episode like that - sounds like you made all the right decisions though.
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Old 02-17-2017, 08:00 AM   #8
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Default Re: 2017 comes in with a bang - Welcome L17s!

Congrats on Starbucks! It sounds like you need some good news after all that stress. It's good though to hear that after such a rough time, things are looking up for you. I'm glad you were able to save little bumble and that mom Gherkin recovered well. I couldn't imagine having to go through all of that with my hams, but you sound to have handled it well. Hope all continues heading in a positive direction
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Old 02-17-2017, 08:13 AM   #9
Hekomi
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Default Re: 2017 comes in with a bang - Welcome L17s!

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Originally Posted by Serendipity7000 View Post
Lovely news about Starbucks. I can totally get the PTSD after an episode like that - sounds like you made all the right decisions though.
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Originally Posted by Drago View Post
Congrats on Starbucks! It sounds like you need some good news after all that stress. It's good though to hear that after such a rough time, things are looking up for you. I'm glad you were able to save little bumble and that mom Gherkin recovered well. I couldn't imagine having to go through all of that with my hams, but you sound to have handled it well. Hope all continues heading in a positive direction

Thank you both. It was very stressful. With Gherkin being on loan it was hard to know if we were making the right decisions. Gherkie was born in our May 2016 litter and belonged to a wonderful 12 year old girl. We kept her father in the loop every step of the way and once she was home from school (and the worst of the tension was over, as she missed the whole "will she survive surgery?!" Panic) we let her know what had happened.

Their family was so wonderful about the whole thing and very very understanding. We are so lucky to have amazing adopters like them!
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Old 02-17-2017, 09:35 AM   #10
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Default Re: 2017 comes in with a bang - Welcome L17s!

I liked your last video with Hopping Hammy awhile back, look forward to you upcoming video as well Being a breeder you obviously are knowledgeable and equipped to deal with emergencies but casual breeders might not have those resources that you do.
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