a dilema

[Matty Day]

my Chinese normals are seriously lacking in colour compared to the standard there a lot of dom spot in the back ground what would you do?

my choices are to soldier on breeding for colour (and of course temperament) in each litter until I get it right.

or do i take the easy option and turn my current line into pure dom spots and start from scratch with normals in over a years time what to do ?

[ami_j]

could you not do a bit of both? breed for normals and dom spot?

[Foreverhamsters]

hi matty
i have found that when breeding dom spot to normal alot you get normals with collars( this is really a bad dom spot)
i keep my show normal breeding population completely seperated from the dom spotsi only breed normal to normal for show if i know the normal is pure (a few generation of pure normal) im not saying dont breed dom spot to normal but i would keep them in seperate populations.

[Bunsey]

well, with syrians, if you've got 2 pale hams, you're never gonna make dark hams from them. it just doesn't happen. the genes aren't there.

you could get a really dark norm and put that to yours to darken the colour and then *shudder* line breed back up to the dark one again

or just scrap it, change it into a dom spot line and start again getting dark normals another time.

[Matty Day]

Originally Posted by Bunsey

well, with syrians, if you've got 2 pale hams, you're never gonna make dark hams from them. it just doesn't happen. the genes aren't there.

you could get a really dark norm and put that to yours to darken the colour and then *shudder* line breed back up to the dark one again

or just scrap it, change it into a dom spot line and start again getting dark normals another time.

well i wouldnt line breed it but i would keep adding unrelated dark normals in for a few gens

ive got the time and im not realy bothered if i dont do well form a while

[Foreverhamsters]

if you don't start breeding in good dark hamsters you are never going to get darker hamsters, however on looking at you hamsters at Andover the male you had in the show didn't look that pale and neither did one of the females. the other two were a bit on the pale side though. if i were you i would mate the two darker ones if they aren't related.

if the lines don't improve after a few attempts it may be just as good an idea to re-stock as you might put it, and bring in a few new darker hams.

if you want your normals to improve you must not mate them with dom spots, i made the big mistake of doing this with one of my lines about 4 gens ago and they are only starting to darken up again from that last litter. however one line i have going (casanova-mai-squeak- are all in it in some way) which i have never bred dom spots into and it has stayed a rich mahogany colour, i have some imoani here who is the 9th generation hamster from mai!!! and she had a litter but unfortunately i didn't keep any as i didn't have the space

Alex

[Matty Day]

Originally Posted by Foreverhamsters

if you don't start breeding in good dark hamsters you are never going to get darker hamsters, however on looking at you hamsters at Andover the male you had in the show didn't look that pale and neither did one of the females. the other two were a bit on the pale side though. if i were you i would mate the two darker ones if they aren't related.

if the lines don't improve after a few attempts it may be just as good an idea to re-stock as you might put it, and bring in a few new darker hams.

if you want your normals to improve you must not mate them with dom spots, i made the big mistake of doing this with one of my lines about 4 gens ago and they are only starting to darken up again from that last litter. however one line i have going (casanova-mai-squeak- are all in it in some way) which i have never bred dom spots into and it has stayed a rich mahogany colour, i have some imoani here who is the 9th generation hamster from mai!!! and she had a litter but unfortunately i didn't keep any as i didn't have the space

Alex

All my Chinese are related sadly as I had originally had 2 sisters and your boy

I have done all the diet changes you and rob recommended heres hoping they work

[Foreverhamsters]

you got some linseed?
that stuff works wonders for the fur.

[Matty Day]

yep ive made a new food mix 1kg linseed to 1kg harry hamster to 1kg millet

[Foreverhamsters]

that sounds great, pretty much what i use.
i bought a 15kg bag of budgie seed (millets etc) and mixed it with 15kg of burgess hamster supreme. however for the robo's i just give them, millet and other small seeds, with fresh foods every couple of days.

my husky robo's go nutty over strawberries! although it isn't great for their appearance