Quote:
Originally Posted by Drago
That's awesome news, congrats! Don't have much more than just a very baseline knowledge in hamster colors and genetics, but they're two beautiful hamsters and I'm sure their offspring will be just as impressive  |
Thanks! It's not my perfect, ideal pair. Ideally, I'd have a solid ED male for her. I had to make due, especially given we are the only breeder working with ED ethically in Canada, and one of like, three? in North America. Kinda stinks.
The dangers of pattern to pattern lie in the ability of bands (and all patterns) to hide a gene called white belly. White belly does as you think - make the belly white. On a banded hamster, where the belly is already white, it's impossible to know if the hamster has it.
Of course, a pedigree eliminates this possibility, one of the very important reasons to breed with one! Luckily, we have several generations on each side of their pedigrees, so we know they're white belly free. Even still, it's not ideal since any banded pups in the litter could then be either single banded, or double banded.