A thread for Holly :)

[cactus]

She's really sweet to handle, she loves climbing all over me and trying to get up my sleeves. It's so cute when you speak to her and she gets onto her back legs to listen to what I'm saying

[Pie]

Originally Posted by cactus

I'm pretty sure she's pure Campbell (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!)

Actually, to me she doesn't look very Campbell. Why do you think she's a Campbell, or even a hybrid? Was the mother/father a Campbell? Or did you just assume she was as 99% of hamsters advertised as either one or the other are hybrids? To me, it looks like she could very well be a purebread WW, but that's just my opinion LOL. You should still treat her as a hybrid though, especially with the diet. It's always better to be more careful. In any case, she's a very pretty little girl.

[cactus]

I am treating her purely as a hybrid right now after a lot of research as I don't really know for sure. I was advised by the store I got her from that she was pure Campbell but I don't really trust them after learning more about them. With her diet I am treating her as a hybrid, it's much better to be on the safe side! I've been looking at her a lot lately and been thinking there is certainly some WW in there but her coat has virtually no white on it at all and hasn't seemed to change as the weather has got colder which confuses me. I would have thought if she were pure WW then I would have seen some changes by now but I'm still not sure. Her pictures do look a little odd as to how she looks in real life, her coat is a lot darker than it is in pictures. The camera is just a bit messed up lol. I'm really grateful for your input Moonlight, it's been driving me mad lately trying to work out what she is She's just glad she's beautiful XD

[Pie]

Not all WW's change into winter coat! In fact, most don't as it doesn't have to do with the temperature but rather with how long the days/nights are (or seem to be, for the hamster). In some pet shops this is exploited and Winter Whites are kept in dark corners where the sunlight doesn't reach which means they can sell pretty white babies and thus make more profit.

[cactus]

I didn't know their coats don't always change! It is starting to seem like she could be pure WW in that case. She's kept in the light from dawn (about 8:00AM I think?) until we go to bed around 1 or 2 in the morning so that would help explain it! That's really sad about some pet stores keeping them in the dark like that! I love the white coats but I certainly wouldn't keep them alone in the dark just to see one! I'll be trying to get some better pictures of her and researching more into WW's to help solve this mystery Thank you for the help again Moonlight

[Pie]

Aww, don't worry too much about it! Truth is she's most likely a hybrid as no pet stores ever sell purebreds, especially the big chains like P@H. There's really no knowing 100% if she's a hybrid or not unless you know the parents, grandparents and so on. In Mila's case I don't know them precisely, but I know that her previous owner got her from a breeder who has had pure WW's for over 20 years and has never had any Campbells mixed in so she's really as purebred as it gets. Not that I even care! Whether she was a WW, Campbell or Hybrid wouldn't make any difference to me. I actually still treat her as a hybrid because from my understanding even purebred WW's are still prone to diabetes and I'm a little scared of that. On a different subject, since you mentioned your camera was breaking, if you're getting a new one we should really talk. I love photography and I love to convince people to get DSLR's instead of those rubbish ones from the supermarket.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Just for future reference - I've spoken to P@H about their "russians" and they've openly told me that they are fully aware what they sell are hybrids, and its why they label them as russians.

[Pie]

Yeah, it's what most pet shops do. The ones around here label them as Russian Dwarfs as well.

[kyrilliondaemon]

I think one of ours has been known to label hybrids campbells lol
But yeah, the one in this thread is from P@H and they've confirmed that they knowingly only sell hybrids.

[cactus]

Thanks for the input Moonlight and kyrilliondaemon, we've been really researching into it and it does look like she's a hybrid. It really doesn't matter to my if she's Campbell, WW or Hybrid, it's just good to know so I can get her the right diet etc. Now that I know she's hybrid for sure it's a lot easier to get everything perfect for her. My little princess deserves the best The girl I spoke to in P@H was not the one who boxed her for me that dealt with the animals a lot but one at the check out and she really didn't seem to know what she was talking about, when I got Holly I still figured that the pet stores know everything about the animals they sell but I know better than that now! I've since asked in P@H and they confirmed what kyrilliondaemon said that they only sell hybrids. I need to get her thread moved into the hybrids section but I have no idea how to do that. Is there a specific mod I can PM about that? I'd love to talk camera's at some point too Moonlight I won't have the funds until about mid next year but there's no harm in early research You can PM me about it if you like so we can keep little Holly's thread on topic.