New Mating Diary!

[Holly]

Well hopefully anyway!

I know I love reading about other people's litters and I plan to do a diary on my website about my forthcoming (hopefully!) litter - I thought I'd post it here as well if no one objects - Gill and Teresa do you fancy doing the same for yours? We won't be able to post early pics here (forum rules) but we can discuss progress and post pictures later on. We can also ask questions of the more experienced breeders!

Tonight's the night for Smartie and Toblerone (I hope). Smartie has consistently stood every fourth night for the past 12 nights so I'm hopeful.

Smartie is a LH Satin BEC bred by Chocolate Hams (me and Will!). Her parents are our Caramel (Tristar) and Paws (Custard Hamstery). As Smartie has Cinnamon/REC on both sides of her ancestry I'm hoping she carries REC!

Smartie is a bit mischevious at times (bar chewing etc!) but she has a lovely temperament and, though she's still very young for a show Cream, she's won two 3rds in LH Satin out of her first three shows (and come well up the table in the one she wasn't placed in) which is wonderful! She's a good size (180g at five months) and should get bigger during and after her pregnancy!

Smartie:




(These are both when she was young - will edit with new pics tonight).

<Edit> Here's Smarts as she is now - infortunately I put too much olive oil on her wheel spindle yesterday so she's got a greasy mohican ):





Toby (Toblerone) is a LH Mink who comes from Bourne Valley, his parents were a REC LH and a Sable-Roan LH. He is one of the most laid back hamsters I've ever met (though he's recently discovered slightly obsessive wheel running ). Toby is also still pretty young and he's a good weight for a male (184g at nearly five months - though he was up to 190g before he discoverd the wheel). As he's a Mink he is shown in Non-Standard and he's been placed in all 3 of his shows so far - a 2nd, 3rd and 4th! We have high hopes for Tobes when he's a bit older!

Toby:





(Again these are baby pics really - will edit later)

<Edit: Updated with pics of the grown up Toby:








I'll update tonight if I think The Smarterones have been conceieved! As with all litters I can't be sure what colours we'll get - definitely BEC's and Sables, hopefully REC's and Minks, some Satin and all LH!

I hope everyone thinks this is a good idea and that Gill and Teresa will join in - hope I haven't chanced fate posting this