Choosing good type

[Uniceros]

When you have a 5 week old litter of hamsters and you're deciding who to keep, how do you choose pups with good type? Aside from the NHC handbook, are there any useful illustrations of proportions?

I have a general idea of good type, but I'm in the USA where shows are quite rare.

I have a litter of Syrians that and I would like to keep one or two with the best size and type. I will try to get individual photos tomorrow.

[Uniceros]

Attached are photos of a female pup, five weeks old. I'd like to know how her type is or how should could see improvement. This way I can look at the rest of her littermates and try to pick a keeper.

[Drago]

Not sure about standards or what makes a good type- especially with Syrians. However, I'm sure the more experienced breeders will be here soon to help with that! It's just a personal opinion of mine that health and temperament should always be your first considerations before form and coloration. She's absolutely adorable

[Hekomi]

Her head is quite long, and her eyes are too close together. She looks rather small to me for 5wks, and has more of a wedge shaped body with her shoulders being narrower than her hips. She's also quite light for a golden, but honestly, most of the North American hamsters are.

She's definitely nicer than a pet shop hamster, but still has a lot of faults. What are her siblings like? I'm not sure she'd be pick of my litter, but I know the struggles we go through in North America with type.

Type is one of those things that's quite hard to learn without hands on experience, but can be done. It's picked up gradually because of this, and North America's fragmented nature.

[Uniceros]

Thanks for the comments! They confirmed the suspicions I had about areas that need improvement. I think to start I just need overall size and wider shoulders and head.

I'll take some pictures of some of the better siblings tomorrow.

[Hekomi]

If it helps, they're absolutely all critiques I can make about my own hamsters. The wedge shaped body especially. In my mind I think of it as potato vs. cheese.

It's kind of slow going, and not a process you'll fix overnight. I know some of the ethical breeders in the area plan to import both from California and from abroad in the future, so I'd encourage you to consider networking with them/us should that be something you desire.

[Uniceros]

Here are some photos of remaining pups in the litter.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/149729730@N02/GWMgg7

I would love to get in on an international import!

[Hekomi]

Are the parents of these guys pedigreed? I know how difficult it is to find pedigree hammies in the USA/Canada. In Virginia, there is Zika Hamstery though - might be a good option.

To be personally fair, I'm not overly thrilled with any of them, haha.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/149729...7681734897540/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/149729...7681734897540/ Top left

Would be maybe? the best. I would go based on temperament, and consider a more strategic pair to fix up the head shape, which is a long and arduous process, hah. But can be done when selecting for consistent polygenes.

[Uniceros]

I really appreciate your honest help!

The parents aren't pedigreed. I've been looking at Zika's pairings to see what would best compliment the adults I have now.