argente |
Genetic Code: pp
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The Argente mutation occurred in Russian sometime before 1993. The Argente has a bright ginger coat on the back and sides with blueish-grey roots. There is a thin grayish-brown stripe running along the spine. The belly is ivory in color and meets the ginger top color along the sides where three arches are formed. The eyes are red and the ears are flesh colored.
The Argente can vary in shade with some being so pale they are almost an orange-cream in colour. |
black eyed argente |
Genetic Code: bb
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The Black Eyed Argente has a dull brownish ginger coat on the top and sides and the roots of these hairs are gray. There is a thin brown-grey stripe running along the spine. The belly is ivory in color and meets the ginger top color along the sides where three arches are formed. The eyes are black and the ears dark gray.
Young Black Eyed Argentes are more obviously ginger when young but the coat becomes duller and browner as they mature. The Black Eyed Argente is sometimes referred to as the Sandy. |
normal/agouti |
Genetic Code: ++
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The normal coloring of the Campbell's Dwarf Hamster is a mid-brownish-gray over the top of the body. The roots are dark gray and there is a thin dark gray stripe running along the spine. The belly is ivory in color with dark roots and this extends up the sides where three arches are formed between the brown-gray top color and the ivory belly color. There is a distinct cream tint along the arches. However, some hamsters are pale and these tend to have little or no cream tint along the sides. The eyes are black and the ears are dark gray.
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opal |
Genetic Code: dd
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The Opal mutation occurred in 1992 in a laboratory in Canada from wild caught Campbell's Dwarf Hamster stock obtained by Katherine Wynne-Edwards. One male and one female from a litter born within the laboratory on 7th March 1992 were passed to a hamster fancier in the USA and the mutation was established and distributed to other hamster fanciers within the USA, and later to fanciers in other countries.
The Opal has a distinctive blue-gray coat on the top and sides and the roots of the hairs are gray. There is a soft grey stripe along the spine and the belly is ivory in color. There are three arches on the side separating the top blue-gray color from the ivory belly color and these arches tend to have distinct cream tinge to them. The eyes are black and the ears dark gray. |
beige |
Genetic Code: bbpp
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Beige is the two-gene color which is the combination of the argente and black-eyed argente (BEA) genes. Since both of these colors are recessive, the hamster must have two copies of both of these genes to be beige. It is not difficult to breed beiges if you have both an argente and a BEA hamster -- but you must have both genes. To get beiges, you would breed the red-eyed argente to the black-eyed argente. All babies would be normal carrying argente and BEA. You would then breed two of these normals together. From this pairing, you should get 9/16 normals, 3/16 argentes, 3/16 BEAs, and 1/16 lilac fawns. (It is a bit trickier but still doable if you start with animals who only carry these genes.)
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blue fawn |
Genetic Code: ddpp
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Blue fawn is the two-gene color which is the combination of the opal and argente genes. Since both of these colors are recessive, the hamster must have two copies of both of these genes to be a blue fawn. It is not difficult to breed blue fawns if you have both an opal and an argente hamster -- but you must have both genes. To get blue fawns, you would breed the opal to the argente. All babies would be normal carrying opal and argente. You would then breed two of these normals together. From this pairing, you should get approximately 9/16 normals, 3/16 opals, 3/16 argentes, and 1/16 blue fawns. (It is a bit trickier but still doable if you start with animals who only carry these genes.)
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dark gray |
Genetic Code: dgdg
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The Dark Gray gene leaves the black color pigment in the coat but removes all yellow pigment. Dark Grays are a chinchilla-like color, so testing was done to Albinos to determine whether the gene was indeed the chinchilla gene seen in other species, a gene which is known to be on the c-locus. Mating to two independent lines of albinos produced nothing but normal color Campbells, and it was concluded that this was not the chinchilla gene known in other species. It was given the name “Dark Gray” because it closely resembles the Dark Gray Syrian gene.
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lilac fawn |
Genetic Code: bbdd
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Lilac fawn (bbdd) is the two-gene color which is the combination of the opal and black-eyed argente (BEA) genes. Since both of these colors are recessive, the hamster must have two copies of both of these genes to be a lilac fawn. It is not difficult to breed lilac fawns if you have both an opal and a BEA -- but you must have both genes. To get lilac fawns, you would breed the opal to the BEA. All babies would be normal carry opal and BEA. You would then breed two of these normals together. From this pairing, you should get 9/16 normals, 3/16 opals, 3/16 BEAs, and 1/16 lilac fawns. (It is a bit trickier but still doable if you start with aniamls who only carry these genes.)
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blue beige |
Genetic Code: bbddpp
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Blue beige (bbddpp) is the three-gene color which is the combination of the opal, red-eyed argente, and black-eyed argente genes. Since all three of these colors are recessive, the hamster must have two copies of each of these genes to appear blue beige. It is not difficult to breed a blue beige if you have the three genes -- but you must have all three genes. It is always easiest, though, to start with two two-gene colors which have one gene overlapping. Then you can both predict what you get and recognize the colors when you get them. It is also easier to know what genes your babies will carry when you start with a two-gene color and add the third gene.
To breed a blue beige, you would start with two different two-gene colors like blue fawn and lilac fawn (beige works equally as well if you just make substitutions). Between them, you need to cover the three genes needed for blue beige with one color overlapping. Since blue fawn is the two-gene color for opal and red-eyed argente, you are only missing the black-eyed argente gene to get to blue beige. Since lilac fawn is the two-gene color of opal and black-eyed argente, you are only missing the red-eyed argente gene to get to blue beige. So you would breed the blue fawn to the lilac fawn with opal being the overlapping gene. All babies would be opal carrying RE argente and BE argente. You would then breed two of these opals together. From this pairing, you should get approximately 9/16 opals, 3/16 blue fawns, 3/16 lilac fawns, and 1/16 blue beige. |