Which color to cross my dove female with?

[Lilbet]

Hi! I have a five month old dove female Syrian, named Lavender. She's my first hamster ever and I've been reading up a storm on Syrian hamsters and their genetics. I met a local breeder who had recently lost her only grey female and was very much interested in any future litters Lavender might have. I've thought about breeding her and the breeder offered one of her rust males to stud. We were both very excited about the possibilities of the colors, mostly the chocolates, but in spite of several dates Lavender wanted nothing to do with the male. She attacked him every time the breeder tried to introduce them. So, now we have a group of disappointed potential hamster owners and us.

The breeder recently has two new litters and one more on the way. She offered me a male from any of the litters. The thing is, she's not sure on the colors yet. She thinks most of the males from the two current litters will be yellow, brown agouti/wild type, and white; I believe one of the mothers is a honey banded. My question is...which color when crossed with dove will allow for the recessive coloring to remain? I know if I cross her with a yellow male, she'll have tortie females and yellow males, but I can't find any info on if she is crossed with the other colors. I'm assuming the wild type will override her recessive genes? Is there any chance of getting chocolate coloring out of any of these crosses? Thanks for any and all help!

[souffle]

It all depends on what recessives they are carrying Lilbet. Your dove to the rust would never have produced chocolate unless the dove was carrying rust. They are all recessive genes and you need two of each to express the colours and colour combinations.
Rust is not a common colour. Are they sure the male was a rust and not a pasty golden?
Chocolate is aabb (Black and Rust)
Dove is aapp (black and cinnamon)
Rust is bb (rust)
Mating the dove and the rust would give you a litter of all golden babies each carrying rust, black and cinnamon.
In reality what you get will be unknown without knowing the shared recessives carried by both hamsters.
Do you have a picture of her and the potential mate.
Yellow hamsters are not ideal pets. They often have fiesty temperaments. Mating the dove to the yellow would give you torts and these would all carry black and cinnamon as would the males.
Look at other things about the hamster and select a mate not only on colour but on trying to improve other aspects like the temperament, health, type and size of both animals. If the female had for example a narrow head you would need a male with a nice broad head to try and improve the head shape.

[Vectis Hamstery]

I wouldn't recommend mixing rust and cinnamon (dove has, as Souffle mentioned, two cinnamon genes). This is because trying to separate the two colours out later is very hard given how similar both colours are in appearance. Reputable breeders usually avoid doing this unless they are experienced and aiming for a very specific outcome.

[Lilbet]

Thank you for the feedback! I know Lavender comes from two black parents, not sure on their genes, but they both had to be carriers for recessive; the litter was composed of a couple of doves like Lavender, blacks, which included a long haired sibling, and solid cream. She is a very sweet hamster as far as temperament, although she is very active-wont put up with being held for too long, but we are slowly working on that. She has only bit once and that was my fault, I forgot I had just handled her veggies. The male was much larger than her, she is on the smaller side, and is a very calm hamster. When we were talking, he was chilling the whole time in her hands. His coat was also on the longer side. Pretty sure he's a rust...most of her hamsters are the orange-ish and yellow hues, although she does get quite a lot of dark colored agouti babies in her litters. But, Lavender decided she didn't like him Lavender has good form, broad head, good shape, etc. but she is small overall. I guess I will have to wait and see what the breeder's babies look like to decide. They are just starting to get their coloring in, so I have a little while to wait.

Here's a pic of two from the breeder's recent litter that she is certain are male; both golden banded. So far, she has golden, golden banded, and cream banded, although not certain on the gender for all of them yet. I can ask for a picture of the male, but I think she gave up on that union since Lavender was not cooperative at her place. It's a good thing he has longer fur, she wasn't able to get a hold of him when she attacked him. We're hoping she'll be more likely to breed if I keep her at home. She was upset for a couple of days after I brought her home from the breeder's house. And I'll try to get a pic of Lavy if she'll stay still for me, lol. I do have a video of her on my cell phone if that would help.

[souffle]

From what you describe of Lavender's siblings we can deduce that both parents were carrying cinnamon which produced the Doves. The black pups are either cinny carriers or straight blacks and the fact there was a cream means both parents are also carrying cream. Cream is epistatic which means it 'covers up' the other colours so although the cream pup will genetically be at least definitely black the cream is covering the black up. If it is a red eyed cream then it is a Dove underneath the cream.
This means there is a good chance that Lavender also carries cream. Mixing cream and yellow is a big no no as you end up with ghost yellows and the yellow keeps popping up all the time. Mixing yellow and cream can really ruin lines. Don't even consider doing this.
As you have no idea in reality what she carries and the breeder sounds less that knowledgeable about her stock, the colours and what they carry you are really going to get what appears if you breed her.
The picture of the two pups without their eyes open being handled has been removed due to this not being allowed. Please read the rules on posting pup pics in the breeding forum. The breeder should not be handling them this young as it is stressful for the mother who may well cull the litter.
It sounds highly unlikely the supposed male rust was a rust from your description and mating her to him would have served no purpose so I would forget that. By the time those pups are mating age (I'd say at least 4-5 months so you can see how they develop) Lavender will be pretty much too old to mate so if you must breed her you need to seek out an older, proven male now. If she is small then not too large a male as the pups may make birthing hard. Remember every mating is a risk for both male if he is attacked and the female as things can and frequently do go very wrong. Ensure you have plenty money in your vet fund in case she were to need vet care and that you can keep up to 15 individual syrians should you not get them homed.
Some females just will not mate. They know their body is not right for mating and the time or conditions are not suitable and you cannot force them to accept a male. If they are stressed they just don not conceive or if they do they resorb or cull the litter.

[Lilbet]

Thanks, I didn't notice that until after I replied with the pic and couldn't figure out how to edit the post. I'm keeping my eye out for an adult male that is suitable. There is a nearby breeder that has beautiful hamsters, but she refuses to ship (which I agree with) and will not sell them to breed (which is her prerogative). I did reserve a male from the litter anyways, although not to breed with Lavender; maybe with one of her daughters if that happens. He's a black and white spotted and adorable, but then again, they are all kind of adorable. I read I should avoid crossing her with a banded since her white stripe on her stomach means she carries the banded gene as well. Is that right?

[Hekomi]

I really think it's important that you learn a lot about hamster genetics before you pursue breeding. It will help guide you in the choices and decisions you make.

I would ask the other breeder if she would be willing to mentor you. Once you feel more confident with genetics then it is worth looking into again.

From what I know about the availability of the rust gene in North America, it's not very prolific. I would put my bet on a paler golden, rather than a rust as soufflé said.

[Lilbet]

Thanks for the advice, guys! Probably not going to breed her now, mostly because it's too hard to find a suitable male nearby. There aren't that many hamsters round abouts either, which I suppose can be seen as a good thing. She's happy as a pet anyways. I did, as I said earlier, reserve a black and white spotted pup from that breeder and he joins the family in February. He will only be a pet, since the "breeder" can't tell me anything about his genes...anywho, looking forward to getting him. Thinking of calling him Atticus I remember how cute Lavender was at that age (4-6 weeks).