Quote:
Originally Posted by Pinkchi
Oh my goodness what a pair of stunners!
Feeling extremely green with jealousy here!
My OH has put his foot down on the torti girly I've fallen in love with 
He says 1 hammy is more than enough and as Jasp is becoming increasingly elderly that I should wait until he passes on until I can have another. Pooey
Hopefully another will come along or I'll be able to find a breeder with some nice coloured hams. I'd like something a bit different like a torti or a lilac or something but we'll see. |
I was absolutely blown away when I went into the store. I had to stand on my tip toes to see them, and at first wasn't sure if they were in fact hamsters (or what they were!). I had to ask about it, and the lady handed me my little one first, and I held her and she was so calm. It was obvious they had been handled often. Her sister was a bit jumpy, but just baby jumpy. I held her as well, and she tried to jump out of my hands (scared the clerk actually) but I held onto her well, and calmed her down, and she was fine. I think the employees were pretty impressed. It was actually such a good thing I posted my tank set up on here, since they did ask for a picture of the cage they'd be going in, and I showed them my set up. I bought the food they were on (extrusions) but I plan to wean them off it. I'll have my girl onto oxbow and Harlan Tekland 2018, and put Hammy20's girl on the mix she uses, which I have since I'm getting a baby from her
So I'll add a bit of those to their food dishes tonight when I'm home.
I know what you mean about OH/SOs. Mine has been tricky to convince for more hams, but I eventually win him over. Since I'm home alone quite often, I'm the one who does all the care, and he knows that I love them so much, and he does too. We did wait for one of our little ones to pass on (Coffee) before entertaining more hamsters, though initially we weren't going to get anymore. That went out the tubes now with this little lady and our dom spot boy. He enjoys spending time with them though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jemmalg
Oh my goodness they are gorgeous! I'm so jealous, I would love a little tortie... I'm cream-based at the moment though so torts wouldn't fit in my plans Maybe one day down the line, they are so beautiful!
In terms of genetics, you are correct that tort is sex-linked because its allele is only present on an X-chromosome, not on the Y. It's produced from the yellow gene, and a male hamster can only inherit one yellow gene, and so be either yellow or not-yellow. However a female has two opportunities to inherit the gene, if she gets both copies she will be yellow. However if she only gets one she will be a tort, resulting in yellow or yellow-derived patches amongst her underlying colour. Then if you mix in dom spot or banding as in this case, you get tort and white |
Thank you! Hammy20 was on facebook when I "screamed" "THEY HAVE TORTS" and it was just by luck that they had two! I have a feeling if they were further to the ground, and had a sign on them, that they wouldn't have been there... snapped up fast! Their colour made them more expensive than your average hams (anything to milk a couple extra dollars, lol) but it's pretty obvious they came from a conscientious breeder and have been hand tamed, so I didn't mind paying a little extra. They're both still very wary, but I'll be working on taming them Friday and Saturday morning, until I bring Mocha to Hammy20.
Thanks for the great explanation too! I remember studying how x-linked traits dealt with baldness in high school, so I had some idea, but I wasn't sure how the gender played a role (though I know it does in cats too). I've always found genetics fascinating, which is probably why I'm so very keen on learning hamster genetics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by souffle
aww they are stunning hamsters - I love torts to but they do earn the name of naughty torties so you will have hams with attitude there 
There is a decent explanation here on torts:
Tortoiseshell and White |
Thanks Souffle! Someone on facebook commented on how good their colours were. I honestly had no idea, except I thought they looked extra flashy. I wish we had shows around here! I've heard of naughty torts... lol! When the employee was putting them in the box carriers (they were like chinese take out boxes, I immediately bought a plastic one because I knew they would chew their way out, and I didn't want a repeat of the hamsters in the glove box!) one of the girls bit the employee. I'm not sure which one, but I did tell her most people referred to torts as being naughty. So far Corretto seems to be a little timid, but I think I need to rearrange their tanks a bit. I put their water bottles across from their houses, which in hind sight was really really dumb! Mocha was up and being a bit of a silly ham, curled up in a wooden bendy bridge and licking the glass. When I first got her in she was wedged between the glass and the house (by choice) and my SO walked in and was like "... what is wrong with that hamster? she is derping?" I think she was just exploring. They had some stuff in their cage at the store, but not a ton of amazing things. They both had water dishes, so I was worried they may not take to the bottle too easily. Mocha did, and was drinking backwards when I saw her over facetime last night (I put them intentionally lower to the ground just in case they couldn't reach them).
There is a BIG size difference between both girls though. They're obviously from the same litter, but I do think that Corretto must be a runt, or she just is tiny.
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That's Mocha by her food dish
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And Corretto by the same size food dish in her tank
I'm going to weigh them both Friday. I've heard 30g difference in littermates can be normal, but Mocha is rather light so I think she's just bigger. Corretto is very vocal when she's agitated too, she clicks and snuffs a lot when we're in the tank. But she didn't seem to mind my SO picking her up last night, though he said she was a bit jumpy (as most babies are, I hear, and of course didn't want to listen to me about letting them settle, but I told him off when he told me). MUCH tamer than Java was though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by corrieberry
So, SO gorgeous!! Absolutely adore them and I'm sure they will be wonderful additions to yours and Hammy20's hamilies!
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Thank you!!! I hope so.
Java seemed perplexed last night about the smells... I felt a bit badly for her, but I'm sure she'll figure it out. She got her wodent wheel last night, but I haven't put it in yet since I didn't have time to set it up before running out the door. It's massive though and takes up quite a chunk of her cage. I don't know how I didn't realise how big it was... I ordered three, so one might be out of use for a while (they'll fit in the 29gal but not the 20long) but I have a feeling we may just have Syrians, and/or expand our tank collection when we have more space. We already have two 40gal breeders, so I'll probably keep Syrians in those next time round, and dwarfs in the smaller tanks, if we still have dwarfs. Not sure.
Ramble ramble ramble. I'm so excited. I wish I was home already, but I'm stuck with my mum until tonight!
Re: SO UH... this happened...
I've always been told I'm an expressive writer, glad to hear it's not just my friends! I wish it was evening already so I could go check on them. My SO does a great job with them, but I was a bit hesitant leaving them with him for the first night, as he tends to want to dive right in and give treats and play. He did give Corretto a little smidge of broccoli (which I told him off for) but she doesn't appear to be affected by it, or his handling her. She has the flying saucer so I hope that was okay for her. Both girls were sharing a wheel so it might be nice to just have her own space. 
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