Do you know there are a huge variety of colours for Syrian hamsters? If you do not, you are in for a colourful treat!
Well he’s not that colourful (assuming the standard for colourful is rainbow) but here in this week I gonna introduce the varies colours there are for Syrian hamsters. From here you can select your favorite colour to be your pet.
Agouti colours are Syrian hamsters with the colour and markings of a wild type. They include cheek flashes and ivory crescents. They may have a base colour with ticking on the top of the fur. Below is an illustration to identify agouti markings.
Simple explanation on the headings before we get confused – Genotype is gene of the hamster while phenotype is the appearance of the hamster. We will explain more about it in another post. Keep in tune!
Note:
- Some pictures from other sources are self credited in the picture itself.
- Picture for Beige cannot be found due to it’s rarity.
- Descriptions are of show hamster. There may be variation for some colours.
Colour: Beige
Genotype: bbdgdg
Phenotype: Soft pale grey with brownish tone
Remarks: Known for kinked tail, best to outbreed. May reduce in size if bred progressively. Very Rare.
Colour: Blonde
Genotype: Sgsgpp, Lglgpp
Phenotype: Creamy blonde carried approximately one third of the way down
Remarks: Tends to have orange tinted muzzle
Colour: Cinnamon
Genotype: pp
Phenotype: Rich russet orange, Claret red eyes
Remarks: Eye colour darkens with age
Colour: Dark Golden
Genotype: ++
Phenotype: Rich dark mahogany red, Black ticked, black-eyed rings
Remarks: Wild type colour
Colour: Dark Grey
Genotype: dgdg
Phenotype: Pearly grey with black ticking, Black-eyed ring
Remarks: Known for kinked tail, best to outbreed. May reduce in size if bred progressively. Very rare.
Colour: Light Grey
Genotype: Lglg
Phenotype: Buttermilk-grey with black ticking
Remarks: Homozygous Dominant Lethal Grey. Also known to be incomplete dominant.
Colour: Silver Grey
Genotype: Sgsg
Phenotype: Light Silvery Grey with black ticking
Remarks: Extremely dominant gene. Breed with caution. Heterozygous Silver Grey is similar to light grey in appearance.
Colour: Honey
Genotype: ppToY/ppToto or bbToY/bbToto
Phenotype: Light cinnamon/orange to the roots
Remarks: Red-eyed Honey (ppToY/ppToto), Black-eyed Honey (bbToY/bbToto)
Colour: Lilac
Genotype: dgdgpp
Phenotype: Soft pale grey with pinkish tone
Remarks: Known for kinked tail, best to outbreed. May reduce in size if bred progressively.
Colour: Rust /Guinea Gold
Genotype: bb
Phenotype: Rich orange brown, cheek flashes dark brown
Remarks: Very rare
Colour: Smoke Pearl
Genotype: dgdgToY/dgdgToto
Phenotype: Pale greyish cream to the roots, black tickings, black cheek flash do not have solid but concentrated tickings
Remarks: Known for kinked tail, best to outbreed. May reduce in size if bred progressively.
Colour: Yellow
Genotype: ToY/Toto
Phenotype: Rich dusky yellow with black tickings
Remarks: Sex-linked. Cream, Sable and Golden mask the colour thus giving ‘ghost yellow’. ‘Ghost yellow’ is invisible, but yellow gene is still present and still may be inherited. ToY is male while ToTo is female.
PS: If you do have any pictures of the hamsters which you think is glorious and magnificent please feel free to send to theonepet@gmail.com. I will give you credits if the picture is taken by yourself =)