really pretty "mandarin" hamsters from Holland

[annie81]

the colour looks intersting...although i think thats dangerous coz then more people will try to breed that colour especially if they think these hammies are not hybrids. hybrids are not really what you should breed.

[Iluvhamsters]

Nice colour Pity it's only showing up in hybrids though

[CharmeC]

Originally Posted by nooboo

i think you may need to learn a little more about genetics, as otherwise you wouldnt have made the mistake of thinking this means they cant be hybrid

I see! Thank you for clarifiying it! For some reason I used to think hybrids of Winter Whites and Campbell's would be sterile >.<

I have another question though, if both parents carry the argente gene, wouldn't the offspring come with Mandarin fur color AND red eyes?

[NaomiR]

good question, and thanks for posting that fabulous picture it's a really good example of the "mandarin / pudding" colour

[NaomiR]

Originally Posted by Tammy22

I am in no way a god in the hamster world, lol!! still got lots to learn!!

I'm sorry but to little-uns like me, YOU SO ARE!!

- not to mention the fact that ALL my robs want to come back in their next lives as yours

[SnickersTheFirst]

wow what a beautiful colour hamster it is a shame they are hybrids though.

[Tish36]

What a beautiful colour

[NaomiR]

I'll post more pictures a bit later, they've gone slightly "darker" in colour but still look like little chicks to me

[fionia]

I have mandarin hamsters.
But there are not many of them in Denmark because they are considered hybrids.

I bought 2 males at a market and was told that they came from Holland.
I have investigated the colour and found out that some believe it to be a hybrid of Campbell and Winter White and others that it is a mutation of the Winter White.

Well, I had 2 males, so I put them together with 2 females. I did not know anything about them in the begining, so the females was 2 wild colour Campbells. To my surprice I had both youngs of normal wild colour and mandarins in the first litter/generation.

I have now up till 4. generation of them and can say that the colour has nothing to do with argente. None of them have red eyes. Neither in colour or in the genes (I breed Campbell argente, so I know how they look).

It is a gene similar to that of the yellow colour af mice. That is the gene is as strong as the normal wild gene. If you mix normal wild and mandarin you will get half of each in the litter (statistically speaking). That means that the gene is a mutation and not due to hybrid-breeding.

I am sure that it originally is a mutation in the Winter Whites because the colour changes slowly either back to wild colour in the Campbells or to a much lighter colour, like cream.
The colours stays much better with the Winter Whites.

Sterile hybrids?
I normally breed either Campbell or Winter White to keep the races pure, but heard so much about hybrids would be sterile. I wanted to test this and tried several times. None were sterile. I tried till 5. generation and all were fertile.
Of course I never sold them for breeding, only as pets, and told that they were hybrids.

I have experienced though, that hybrids with genes that gives lighter colours, like black to brown, can cause trouble. I have had litters with half black agouti (wild colour) and half brown agouti, where the blacks were fine and the browns were tumbling. The browns had one eye a little bigger and could raise their head more than normal, would stand on the hind legs and through themselves backwards or roll sidewards over. This could start as early as 4 weeks or later at mayby 4 months. Of course I never sold these.

My guess is that since the number of genes in Campbell and Winter White are different, then the place were the genes for lighter colours is wrongly placed in the hybrids thus causing changes in their build in head/neck/eyes. Why I do not know, but the problem were only in the hybrid with lighter colours.
Of course I stopped this hybrid-breeding with lighter colours.

Noy the only hybrids I have is the mandarins and only because I did not know better in the begining and made hybrids.

People that come here to buy dwarfs simply love the colour and this is the colour that I sell first when people see the youngs.
I always tell them that they are hybrids.

I Hope that you understand more about the mandarins and I hope that someday they will be acknowledged for shows etc., as a new mutation.