Preparing for Showing.

[ian]

I have quite a while as I'm not planning on showing until April, however I like to be fully prepared.

My question is how (if i need to) to groom Imogen's tufty bits. She is long haired, to a normal sort of female length so nothing really tanglable but at the mo her tufts look a bit ratty and strangly.

I provide her with a sand bath which she uses with enthusiasm, it keeps the rest of her fur beautiful.
Which brushes can I use which will be gentle enough for her fur?

[souffle]

My she is a well cared for lady! We have several brushes that we use for longhaired hamsters. A firmish toothbrush is good and we also use one of the fine toothed small animal combs and a hamster petting brush which is a bit like the soft brushes used for a baby. If you are showing her in pets then a nice brush all over is good.
If you are showing her in the main show female long haired hamsters should have the same lenghth of fur all over. It is possible to trim the fur a bit but best not done just before a show or else it will look obviously trimmed. Do it about two weeks before and just a little to tidy it. If she has any staining underneath wipe her with a damp cotton ball and check her claws are not too long too. They can be trimmed with baby nail scissors or clippers but take care doing this. There is a knack!

[ian]

I was hoping to enter her in the main show but only for fun really if not im happy to go for the pet section.
She has a bit of a skirt at the back and two tufts coming from behind her ears, the rest of her is generally just a bit fluffy.

How can you tell if the nails are too long, what is a good lenght?

Has anyone got any pics of a successful show long haired (female) black eyed cream, i would like to compare Imogen just to get an idea of what she will be up against. Im not expecting much but I dont want her to be dead last!! Ive looked at the standards but to be honest I dont know what Im looking for and the pics on the website dont show a huge amount of detail
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[ian]

Cant resist popping on some pics of my Imogen, taken yesterday while she was 'enjoying' her christmas present-a new indoor pen.

Let me know what you think about the tufts?

The other thing im worried about is that she is quite a pale colour will that seriously affect her marks?

[souffle]

This is our LH red eyed cream who did well when she was younger having two Junior Best in Shows and two Best Opposite sex and one Overall Best Opposite sex




This is Red recently. Her 'skirt' is too long for showing her and we would trim this about two weeks before a show.


She is quite dark cream and in fact black eyed creams are even darker almost orangy cream at shows. The red eys are more a pinky cream.

You have a lot of competition down there as some of the best creams in the UK are bred by Bourne Valley and Tristar which are both down your way but I would say give it a go and I am sure you will enjoy it.

[Basia]

Lovely photos of Imogen and Red.
Is Imogen quite young because creams go darker as they get older?

[ian]

Cant wait to see all the beautiful creams at the show.

Ive only had Imogen for a few months so she is still a youngster, maybe she will get darker by april, she was pratcially white when i got her and she was a teeny baby.

Reds skirt is much longer than Imogens, hopefully I wont have to do anyhitng to it, maybe just as tiny trim to even it all up.

Are the ear tufts ok, Imogens are quite similar to the hamster in the first picture?

I noticed that Your creams have light coloured ears while Imogens are dark skinned-which is the most advantageous?

[souffle]

She will likely deepen in colour as she gets older. The ear tufts are Ok and if you rub them they often sort of tease out anyway. The reason Red has pale ears is because she is a red eyed cream (I know she looks black in the pics but she is red eyed) Red eyes have flesh coloured ears which usually get some brown tinging as the get older however the standard for a black eyed cream calls for dark grey or black ears so Imogens are correct for her eye colour. She will likely also get some darkish pigmentation on her 'girly bits' and her hip scent glands. You can read the standards on the Midland Hamster club site if you look there.

[ian]

Thanks for that. I've read the standards so many times over and over, it just doesnt seem to be sinking in, and also find it hard to assess whether Imogen fits in with them or not. Sometimes I think Im hoping she does so I'm convincing myself, I really need to see other hamsters at the show to have a proper compare.

The more I think about it, it may be best to enter her in the pet bit first and suss out what goes on and is expected in the main section, maybe I can find a really nicely bred hamster at a show (although im not allowed any more pets, says my partner!)

Thanks for the pictures they are very helpful for a comparison, if there are any more pitures of prime examples of syrians around please post them here so i can have a good look.

Thanks

[Holly]

Originally Posted by ian

I've read the standards so many times over and over, it just doesnt seem to be sinking in, and also find it hard to assess whether Imogen fits in with them or not.

I found exactly the same - until I actually started going along to the shows and looking at the hamsters that did well in their classes I found the standards didn't make an awful lot of sense to me. I'm sure once you start going it will all become a lot clearer.