| More information on the types of Syrian hamsters that are the Specialty of BraBascHamstery (more pics) |
Though it is just another color variation on the common "golden hamster", this is the blackest coat found in syrian hamsters. The proper term is Black syrian hamster. Black banded hamster have been referred to as Panda Bear Hamsters. While baby blacks and very young hamsters may appear to be of solid black color, as they grow you will realize that there is a mixture of brown and gray hairs mixed in the fur. Some individuals may have a reddish or ruddy cast to their fur, hence the name Black Bear, borrowed from the bruin world. A black bear hamster will have no color eye rings, as in the sables. In past times the sable was identified as a "black" hamster, but this was far from what we know as the black bear. Another characteristic of self colored hamsters that is shared by our black bears are the white chin or throat latch, white on the feet and under belly. This maybe slight or profuse, but produces and very pleasing effect on the back ground color, plus makes each animal unique. Originally the Classic Black was know as a normal (short) coat. However, the color may be combined with other syrian genes to produce a wide range of variations in patterns and colors.. Long Hair BLACKS - The longer profuse coat in this variety will slightly lighten the depth of the black on a normal coat. But the color and lack of eye rings in unmistakeable that the animal is a black bear. See more about Teddy Bear hamsters below. BLACK BANDED - This is the addition of the common white banding gene to the black bear gene. The banding may clarify the blackness of the coat a bit, and makes for another wonderful nuance in Syrian hamsters. DOMINATE SPOT - The DomSpot Black is carried the same way as any DomSpot in color, as to say, it is a semi-lethel gene. So, breeding of DomSpot to DomSpot is not feasible, but DomSpot to an agouti or self color will produce about 50% doms. |
| Tortoise Shell & white (tri colors) |
| Just like cats, Tri-Color hamsters are always female. When working to attain these types of hamsters, only about 25% of your female offspring will result in tri colors. Most often they are the result of black bear fathers and calico/tortie females, but the true calicos are sometime from one or both parent being banded and both being of black bear parents. One parent may carry only yellow or cream with NO OTHER color present, other than white markings, as long as the other is a BB, the chances are there to produce tri's. The young can show banding or not but some times pure cream can substitute for the yellow, but golden and gray will dominate if these colors are in the mix. Breeding pure colors insure the chances of getting tri's. Dove and yellow/cream can also produce pastel tri's, which are also very lovely. Some tri's maybe perfectly marked and even, others may barely show the delineation of separate colors. There is no sure way to produce the perfect Tri color black or tortie, it just takes lots of breeding, ...and some luck! Currently, I am working on DomSpot black male, bred to tortie females to produce a more even spots or white over the tortie coat, as opposed to the banding I have seen in most tri's. Some of my female tri's are long hair, some are normal and some carry satin. |
| Long hair hamsters |
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| Teddy Bear, long hair, ruff coat and angora ... all the same, but the acceptable term is Long Hiar. It is the gene that affects the hamsters normal short coat to grow longer and sometimes a bit unruley. Here I will refer to it as LH. This a recessive gene, meaning both parents must carry it to have it turn up on the offspring. Both parents may have normal coats, but will produce LH coat young if they are both heterozygous for LH Some lines may have a tendency for longer, heavier coat then others, but males always show heavier, longer coats due to the link with testosterone. Females will show a shorter coat, but it is still very different from normal short hair, to the trained eye. Some females have such long coats they look to have the the hair of a male LH, and I would like to find one of these ladies to see what can be done with her in my breeding program. One therory I have read suggests that females with exquisite long coats may also have an elevated levels of testosterone, therefore maybe extremely aggressive as they mature, which would hamper breeding and ability to raise the young. Even if the they DO breed (by this therory) and rear the young, aggresive hamsters are not they goal of any good breeder. In the years past (20-30 years ago) LHhamsters were noted for having rounder, more cobby bodies, with a shorter, blunter nose & head. I have seen this trait diminish in my area of the USA,, and have been working to see if it can be reestablished. I think it is a much cuter animal, and as long as there is not effect on the health and temperament of the animals, I will continue to pursue this goal. |
| SUMMARY In closing, you can do a lot in the way of breeding hamsters to suit many tastes. For beginning breeders, they need to work with known, yet unrelated lines of hamsters, keep impicable records and watch closely the direction of their successive generations in terms of health and temperament, as well as color. ... You could breed a Huge black banded ( or tri colored) long hair DomSpot, rex hair, satin coat, blunt head, cobby bodied hamster wonderful of temperament that lives far longer then the normal pet shop grade hamster! Goals and other info |
| "Black Syrian" |
| Tri Colors |
| Long Hair |
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