Hi everyone!
We don't normally breed litters so close, but due to extenuating circumstances (Starbuck on the upper cusp of too older for a first litter, and the male, Toby, in this litter being almost 20mo) we bred for two litters, and luckily both took.
This litter is with our youngest female, Jubilee, from our October 2016 litter.
Jubilee is a black tortoiseshell banded LH who carries extreme dilute (aa Cc(e) E- P- Toto Baba ll ). She has better type than both her parents, and had a lovely natural temperament. She became a bit jumpy after being separated from her siblings, but has calmed down a lot. I'm hoping motherhood will also help mellow her out. She's friendly and sweet - just a bit anxious.
For the sire, we had a devil of a time choosing the best fit. My two solid boys were her full brother and her father, so we chose a different male. Unfortunately, we had no other option but another banded male - however he does compliment her weaknesses. I am lucky to have such a long pedigree on them which shows absolutely no white belly, however I really prefer to not breed pattern to pattern. I'm hoping to choose solid pups from this pairing. One of our females was double banded, and so we've ended up with a lot of banded offspring.
The father is Toby, who is an extreme dilute black banded male. He's 20mo old almost, and has a few other litters here and there, though I only have one other offspring from him.
Toby has the sweetest of temperaments, and always has. I'm hoping that shines through in this litter. His type is fairly typical of my ED line (so, not great) while Jubilee excels in areas he does not, with a shorter muzzle and slightly wider set eyes. I'm also hoping Jubi will properly test Toby for LH. I don't think he carries, however.
Other genes "up for grabs" are cream and cinnamon.
I should get all black based pups, black tortoiseshell females, and melanistic yellow males. 50% should be extreme dilute (hamsters don't tend to listen to probabilities however).
Jubilee decided to have the pups last evening around 5pm when my partner and I were making dinner and prepping out meals for the week. We keep our litters in between the kitchen and living room, so we had to cut the dishwasher off and be very quiet. She seems to have taken fairly well to motherhood, only leaving for supplements now and then.
Again, her nest sucks. I don't know what it is with these two... but my other females build MASSIVE underground nests and I can barely tell they've even had the pups. Jubilee has a divot in the bedding. She even has almost a full roll of toilet paper. Sigh.
Anyways, all seems to be well for my littlest girl. I'll update as they grow.