Bath Show - 18th July 2015 - Page 2

Fluffagrams · 07-19-2015, 01:13 AM

I couldn't stay as long as I'd have liked but I'm glad I went.

I went to the show with my mum and when we arrived we looked at some of the Syrian Hamsters in the main class. I've kept Syrian Hamsters before but some of these looked huge compared to how I remember the Syrians I had were.

Following this we observed the dwarves. I didn't see that many Chinese there for judging compared to some of the other species but I saw my first Chinese BEW and a simply delightful little dominant spot. I was quite interested to watch the judges at work and I realised that it was probably for the best that I'd already ruled out entering Lady May quite yet (there's no way she would have kept still long enough to be looked at).

Even though I have already decided where I would like the next addition to the Fluffagrams family to come from, I had a little nosey at the sales table. The hamsters there varied in price but all of the ones I noticed were cheaper than my latest pet shop hamster purchase. At the time, I only noticed two Chinese. A dominant spot boy and a normal girl. The boy was asleep and partially buried so I couldn't really see how beautiful he actually was but the girl was awake and looking very chilled out. Whilst at the sales table I watched as a girl was handling a white Syrian. As someone who has so far only ever sourced hamsters from pet shops, I've seen more hamsters who are anxious about being handled by a prospective owner than I have ones as calm as this little one was.

As a newcomer, I found that you had to approach and speak to others rather than wait for someone to approach you but once you've done that you'll find some really nice people who actually get the fascination and love that we have for our rodents. It was great to meet Kyrilliondaemon and Vectis and I wish I could have stayed a bit longer. Hopefully we'll catch up at a future show some time.

Vectis Hamstery · 07-19-2015, 05:14 AM

It was lovely to meet you, Fluffagrams. Now I know what you look like I'll know to say hi. Hammy folk at shows are usually friendly, if they aren't in the midst of a task. The people on the hamster and equipment sales are great people to ask questions of. It took me a while to get used to the idea that you were expected to handle hammies before buying them at shows!

I really enjoyed my day and got to catch up with old hammy friends and make hammy plans. I brought home three beasties I didn't take: one wee mousey, a LH yellow Syrian I'd reserved from Tristar and Romeo Romeo who is back here on loan from Tuftyfluff. One Chinesey went to her new home and one Syrian failed to go to her new home. Oops! She was from Romeo's last litter here and was supposed to be going to Tuftyfluff, but I really really wanted to keep her to start me off with cinnamons. So I begged. And lovely Tuftyfluff let her come back home with me!

While I was scheming, chatting and eating cookie monster shaped cakes, my little show crew did well. The Syrian judging went on until nearly 7pm as there were 160 Syrians, though the dwarfies finished earlier with only 93.

2nd SH AOC male (Griff, out of 15!)
1st and 3rd normal Chinese (Kaja and Perdi)
1st, 2nd and 3rd dom spot Chinese (Nin, Ning and Ashey)
2nd BEW Chinese (Lucci)
1st and 2nd young stock (Nin and Ashey)
1st FMC and 1st Grand Challenge (Kaja)
Best in Show and a Certificate of Merit (Kaja)

Coco61 · 07-19-2015, 05:25 AM

What a great day for you Vectis. Forgive my ignorance, but how close is Kaja from becoming a Champion?
So Romeo is back for another romantic holiday on the south coast via Bath. What a well travelled ham he is. Did you have just the one litter from him last time or two? He is so smooshy I am not surprised you wanted to keep his daughter!

Vectis Hamstery · 07-19-2015, 05:34 AM

I'd paired Romeo with two girls, but only one had pups.

A hamster needs three Certificates of Merit from two different judges to become a champion, so she needs just one more. I have found 2 COMs a difficult hurdle to move on from. I have another ham who has had 2 COMs for a year and has stalled there.

I bought Kaja from one of the feeder tables at Houten so her achievements are even more special to me as she was never bred to live this long, let alone win Best in Show twice!

Coco61 · 07-19-2015, 06:10 AM

Stunning achievements for Kaja then. Well done!
Will there be a different judge available soon so Kaja has a chance of becoming a champion?

Hope Romeo lives up to his reputation as a ladies ham this time too!

Vectis Hamstery · 07-19-2015, 06:15 AM

Kaja's two certificates are from different judges so it doesn't matter who gives her a 3rd

Shannonmcn · 07-19-2015, 06:16 AM

Congratulations Vectis and all the hammies but especially Kaja, what a special girl :3 I'm going to have to arrange a little hamster holiday in England at some point so I can get in on all this fun!

Coco61 · 07-19-2015, 06:36 AM

Ah ha! Do I detect a trip to the Real London show on 12th Sept??

ZippyRIP · 07-19-2015, 11:04 AM

This is amazing! I didn't know you got hamster shows... Are there any in Scotland?
p.s. Was at Pets at Home today looking at wee baby hamsters...

**kyrilliondaemon** · 07-19-2015, 11:40 AM

I had a great day there too, I'd been really looking forward to catching up with a few friends so I spent most of the day with those but also got to chat to a few others which was nice. I did miss a few but am sure I'll see them at another show in the future

I took three hams and two gerbils for pet class and was quite surprised when Pumpkin got reserve in pet female syrians. For a ham normally busy causing trouble its great how well behaved she is at shows lately

Rusty, Inky and Chute didn't place in pet class but Silky was highly commended in female syrians which was nice, especially after we'd had second thoughts about taking her to the show at all.
Inky and Chute made a few people want gerbils, Rusty saw his breeder, Silky made a new friend and Pumpkin saw the person who gave her to us. The gerbil girls seemed to be very excited by it all and we're not entirely sure they went to sleep at all between 8am and 3pm but they do seem to have enjoyed the excitement and behaved brilliantly with everyone they saw there.

A few people asked why I stayed so late, unfortunately the answer is currently fast asleep in his cage but I'll try and introduce him to the forum soon. I also collected a couple of mice from a friend, those're also asleep at the moment but it was a really long day for everyone yesterday (rodent and human) so I can't really say I blame them to be honest.

I don't think there are any shows in Scotland ZippyRIP but you can find a complete list of shows for this year on the NHC website.