ive fianlly decied to maybe get another syrain

[Matty Day]

A you probably know I had an old Syrian called baldrick who died three days before his fourth birthday last September I thought I could never have Syrian again and I have finally decided to break this promise and might look for at north Somerset.
however if pick a good show winner ia going to have a big problem as ive deiced to breed Chinese i am going to need 6 of my seven hamstery spaces for them.

just out of interest could i possibly lend my boy as a stud to a another breeder to continue my line and therefore keep a show winning line going if i get one for a few years until I have more room for hamsters and can expand my hamstery.

[Spuds Mum]

We've found that happens quite regularly Matty, but of course you would need to find the individual that just so happens to need your male at the time!

I don't think you can count everything on someone borrowing your boy to continue the line, but it certainly isn't out of the realms of possibility, for instance I currently have a loan of a beautiful golden boy from a good breeder to try with my girl, and I know Holly borrowed a male (Paws) from Souffle and Pophammy to mate to her cream girl Caramel.

the problem is of course, you wont be able to guarantee that your ham will be a show winner. All you can do is try to get one of the best in the litter, but sometimes this does not mean that he will grow up to take best in show every time! It only takes one hamster that scores more points, and sometimes the hamsters with most potential, never really seem to fulfill it. You also have to consider that it is likely that a hamster with absolute show winning potential will be kept by the breeder!

But as I said, not to say it can't happen. Pophammy's ww hamsters were from Wellington Hams and both have won BIS at the last two shows!

[souffle]

The boys were from Sarah at Midnight spuds mum. As well as breeding there is much in the nurture and raising of the hamsters, how they are fed and their accommodation and their mental wellbeing that all combine to make a good hamster. If I were you Matty I would stick with breeding one species to start with and just keep one to show and have as a pet if you want a syrian. Remember they are all with you for life and will need feeding, caging and lots of time and also money if you require vet care. You will also likely be studying more as your exams appoach so may have less time. I am not trying to put you off, just making you aware of things to consider. If you do get a good male someone may want to breed him and then to keep your line running you would need one of the male pups which would then need to be a winner for someone to want to breed him and so on.. With the short breeding time of hamsters this can all happen very quickly

[Matty Day]

tell you the truth I am only thinking of getting another Syrian nothing is set in stone I am only looking over all available options
and exams are no problem for me as at exam time I get extra help from my dad so I don’t have to clean a single hamster out until they are over

really I am just putting a chain of ifs and buts together to see if it would be possible to do my idea.
I might just abandon the idea totally any how

[Spuds Mum]

Originally Posted by souffle

The boys were from Sarah at Midnight spuds mum.

I knew that! I remember Sarah saying on another post that she wished she had kept one of the litter sorry, must have been having a senior moment, I even thought I had written Midnight!

I agree too with the rest of your post. A lot is nurture and nature, and I think we were both saying that there are no guarantees.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll decide what's best for you Matty!

[Holly]

I think I'd probably go with souffle's advice and concentrate on the breeding/showing of one species only to start with - it is very easy to get carried away and end up with more numbers-wise than you intended to (as I can attest - 10 was going to be my limit and I already have 16!).

I absolutely LOVE robos since getting our beautiful little rescue-robo, Bean and I'd love to have more robos in time and possibly try breeding them. However that is for the future, I want to concentrate on Syrians and breed/show them to the best of my ability and I just think (unless you are someone who can have 70+ hamsters) it would be difficult to work with more than one species and do it properly - it would for me anyway.

That doesn't mean don't get a Syrian - as souffle also says you could get one as a pet and do a little showing with him/her.

Just what I think, I don't want to offend anyone!

[Matty Day]

well i have deiced im going to get one as a pet and will be taking him to all the showsi go to.

all ims aying is if i buy a show winner then i might lend him out to whoever needs a stud providing they are vetted first.