I couldn't think of a decent name for this litter - I've mulled back and forth and tried to combine various things. It has a bit of a funny story, in that the dad is actually named Habib and is on loan from Nancy. However, my SO has decided that his name up here is Marshmallow so I call him Mallow. Harya and Arbib etc. just didn't sound super good, so, here we go - using Arya's full name 'Arabica' and Habib's SBH name!
Arya is my lovely Ee black tort girl from Shiloh and Darissa. She is a big girl (207g before pregnancy) with a pretty nice head. She carries for LH and may carry for cinnamon, but we're not certain right now.
Habib/Mallow is actually 3 days earlier than Arya, and was from Davin and Hope at Nancy's hamstery in Ohio. He is a really gorgeous homozygous ED Ee melanistic yellow. He definitely carries for cinnamon, as his mother was dove. He may carry for LH, but I doubt it. He has good size, and a nice looking head.
Both are super friendly! This litter is a bit of a 'gamble' for me, in that I have a 25% chance of getting ee pups (on yellow which is a problem) but Nancy and I felt it was more important to focus on the type (which is quite good on both mum and dad for North American hamsters!) right now. Since finding nice type hamsters this side of the pond is quite tricky, I feel it is more important to choose type over colour. The other males I had the option of choosing may have carried cream as well, and their type was not as fantastic as Habib.
Here is Arya enjoying a new treat I have discovered called "mushies". They are meant for toddlers, and are fruit, vegetables and yoghurt. No sugar added, and they're delish.
Here is Habib/Mallow waiting for his date with Arya in one of my spare bins. I think this picture does his colour a decent amount of justice, but it's one of those things that you must see in person to understand.
They were bred on April 21st, so I am expecting pups sometime on May 7th. So far Arya has been a bit roller coaster-y for pregnancy signs, but I am fairly confident it has taken. She has gained about 23g or so, and has built quite the nest, and been naughtier than usual. She has also demanded cuddles quite a bit!
Here is a rather blurry picture from yesterday, but shows a bit of the swell she is getting to her:
I'm expecting all pups to be some form of black. Of course with a yellow x tort, 25% tort pups, 25% yellow (mel. yellow in this case) girls, 25% yellow boys, and 25% black males. We may also see some doves, dove torts, and honey blacks, pop up if Arya carries cinnie... and BECs on the males. I'll have to be very picky about what we get. Luckily I have quite a good wait list for her pups. All her pups will carry for extreme dilute, if we are correct about Habib being homozygous ED. Longhair is a possibility, though not at all expected based on it being a couple generations back on Habib. My hope is to get an EE black tort from them with mum's size and a nice head on her. Of course, I may have to settle for Ee with her, and then selectively breed out the cream... which is becoming a longer task than originally thought!
Will update as there are things to update! I had wanted to post this for a while, but figured it would be best to post closer to the date.
C15 - The Malricas
Sadly I am sure their genetics live on in the pet market, and the first, Cora's, sister was bred several times. 
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