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I've had some interesting revelations about the genetic backgrounds of my two newer hamsters. Because any genes that are carried are by definition recessive, it will take at least two generations to discover what they are unless they have been declared by a breeder. Well, the second generation of hamsters in Cubit and Patches' family have been born and this is what we now know. Probably Cubit has carried Satin and Albino. I can't be sure that one or the other of these genes is not carried by Patches instead of Cubit but I have a hunch that this is not the case. I do not know that there aren't more genes hiding, but I will now attempt to isolate each of these genes. Pure colors are hard to find right now in the US; but pure colors are important in genetics to determine the uniqueness and viably of new genes.
At this time I have pure Red Eyed Argente and pure Normal Campbell's lines. I'm currently working to get a pure Opal lines established. Albino introduces a new challenge in that it masks any colors that are in the phenotype. I have three Albino in the current generation; I know for a fact that each of these three Albino also are showing Opal though it is masked by the Albino gene. There is also a 50/50 chance that any of these three Albino also carry Ruby Eyed Mottled which is dominant. You can see that trying to isolate the Albino could take generations of work.
It would be a simple matter to exclude the mottled gene in one generation by breeding the Albino to a normal. Mottled would show in their offspring in one generation because of it's dominance. So then, inbreeding the normal offspring, I should then get a 50% chance to get Albino or Opal in the phenotype of any hamster in the subsequent generation but unfortunately this would still not be pure.
Not withstanding the difficulties involved I will still give it my best effort. I will have pure Opal by the end of the year. Albino could take years.
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