Greetings from Jon

[Jon17]

I'm no geneticist, but I gather it's a deliberate breeding rather than a "freak of nature" or something. They all tend to have eyes that are neither red nor black, but somewhere in between. They don't like bright lights (a la Gremlins!) but you can most definitely feed them after midnight.

Basil is about 4.75 inches (12cm long when fully stretched) and his tail the same again. So he is a whopping great male. His two sisters, The Amazing Velcro and Cheeselet aka the Graplingcoats because they can cling or "grapple" their way right around the cage by deftly moving sideways on the bars. Velcro is more like Basil's length but skinnier and Cheeselet is lighter on the beige part of her body and smaller overall than The Amazing Velcro.

Basil absolutely cracks me up because when he's woken at a time of day that doesn't agree with his nocturnal cycle, he looks precisely like a great hefty bloke that has chugged down 12 pints the night before. The girls though, don't quite look so awful. I think it's because their fur is also much silkier.

Here's a nice one of the girls:

[racinghamster]

So pretty! Sleeve hugging I see! Siamese mice are mostly due to selective genetics by fancy mouse/show bench breeders but you won`t often see them in a pet shop unless the shop gets supplied by a good, ethical breeder. Mice are not often kept as pets by many which is why it`s called a `fancy`as once you start keeping mice as pets, it usually becomes addictive!

Hamsters and gerbils are probably far more commonly kept as pets. x

[cypher]

They really are so beautiful & very cute hanging out in your sleeve lol!
Looking at that I want to reach out & stroke those silky little noses & gorgeous ears

[Piebald]

Wow they really are gorgeous! How long do they live? Keep looking around HC soon you'll want a hamster too. Did you find a taker for the Barney yet?

Maybe a mod could resize those pics for you

[racinghamster]

Mice usually live around the two year mark Piebald, some longer, but a lot depends on their genetics and whether they become prone to respiratory problems which are usually caused by the mycoplasma bacteria in mice and rats. Some strains of mice manage to have good immunity to it while others just sneeze and wheeze and require Baytril to supress it.

I stopped keeping mice after my last female passed away because it was a labour of love, although I do admit my decision to stop was mainly due to not having a car and when I needed Baytril, I always had to book a return taxi and it was more often than not! So I only keep the one dwarf hamster these days as I`m getting older too and feel it`s easier for me to cope with. I worried too much when I had my meeces! x

ETA: Glad you got the cage advertised Jon!

[racinghamster]

Jon, Alison is asking about your cage over on the mouse forum!

[Jon17]

Ah thanks for the heads up Racinghamster! Will go check.

I forgot to answer some questions above too:

1. Longevity is from a few months if really unlucky to nearly 2.5 years as I've had in some cases.

2. Basil weighed 68gr last time I weighed him!

3. Yes, my apologies for the enormous images. I did them in a hurry.

Jon

[Jon17]

By the way, every thread I've responded on so far has auto-subscribed me. How do I disable this feature?

[cypher]

If you click the go advanced button you'll see thread subscriptions & you can select not to subscribe, if you want to unsubscribe from threads you already replied to I think you have to do each of them individually using the thread tools options at the top of the thread.
There's more info here too Hamster Central - FAQ: User Profile Features

[WinnieTheHam]

Welcome to the Forum Jon, Basil is gorgeous!

Hope you have a good time looking through the posts and things on here. You may even be tempted to get a Hamster - They're very addictive and such loving companions