| British Hamster Association Standards August 2002 Feature | Agouti Markings (Syrians) [Judging can be found below.] Agouti markings are those found on the coats of the wild type animal. Hamsters with coat color mutations (currently known) that prevent expression of these features are called Self. Markings are different for Syrians and Dwarves so will be addressed separately. In the Standards Agouti Markings are included in the Colour and Markings category which accounts for 30 of the possible 100 show points. Standards copyright and reproduced with permission of the
British Hamster Association | | Cheekflashes extend from the bottom of the jaw up past the ear to the shoulder. Crescents, behind and below the cheekflashes, are generally an extension of the belly fur color. The degree of definition of both cheekflashes and crescents varies according to the animal's color.The topcoat should be marked by even ticking over the head and body (exclusive of belly). Ticking color and intensity also varies with base color. Undercolor always should be even in tone from head to tail. Belly fur is much lighter and is demarcated from the body fur. The chest band should be divided into two halves by a thin, uniform line of belly fur color. | | Pictured below is a shorthair Dark Golden showing good agouti markings photographed by Lorraine Hill . The cheekflash is solid black, of good size and shape, and nicely demarcated from the crescent. Ticking is black and even over all of the golden areas. The belly fur border is sharply defined. (Reproduced with permission of Lorraine Hill.) |  | | 
| Above is Dune, a Yellow Shorthair male from The River Road Hamstery. The ivory line dividing his chestband is thin and complete. | | Another hallmark of the Agouti hamster is hair banding. Classically, each hair has three distinct zones - the tip, the middle area and the section nearest the skin. Certain Self hamsters (such as the Sable) appear to have hair banding since the undercolor contrasts, but it isn't the tripartite banding of the Agouti. |  | | | Cheekflashes | Crescents | Ticking | | Golden | Black | Ivory | Black | | Cinnamon | Brown | Ivory | Absent | | Dark Grey | Black | Ivory | Black | | Light Grey | Dark brownish-grey | Buttermilk | Dark brownish-grey | | Silver Grey | Black (concentrated ticking) | Pale Ivory (nearly white) | Silver Grey (slightly darker than coat) | | Yellow | Black (concentrated ticking) | Ivory | Black | | Rust | Brown | Ivory | Brown | | That's it! Now go take some pictures of your favorite hamsters with the "best agouti markings", and upload them to the BHA Standards Photo Gallery. For Syrians, focus on the cheekflashes, crescents and ticking. For Dwarves, go for the scallops, dorsal line and ticking. No camera? Surf the web for photos of hamsters with great bands, and submit a link on the BHA Standards Links List. In your post be sure to indicate which hamster you're entering on the linked page in case there is more than one. If multiple people submit the same link, credit will go to the first. (No links to hamsters at AAA Hamsters, The River Road Hamstery or the California Hamster Association.) Only two entries per member per month please. Questions? Post to the BHA Standards Message Board. Remember - enjoy your hamsters, and... | 
| Have your Standards! | | Linda and Jan Judge's Page by Linda Price | This month's hamsters were particularly difficult to judge over the internet. Good photos are hard to take and don't always give a true picture of the animal. Many times myself I have been surprised at what my hamster looks like in the photo compared to what I see in real life. A couple of the pictures were so dark that the hamster didn't appear to have crescents. The umbrous gene can darken the crescents, so this may have played a role in addition to the darkness of the photos. Additionally, one had a strong glow to the hamster. It was either a satin hamster and/or the flash was on. Even though I liked the hamster, I could not adequately judge it to place it. When judging a Syrian over the internet, we can really only look at four aspects of the agouti markings. (Aspects like chin stripes and undercoat are too difficult to do over the internet.) Each of these will vary based on the color of the Syrian but should be clear and noticeable. They are: 1. The cheekflashes
2. The crescents
3. The ticking
4. The belly fur border Any deviations on any of these four criteria result in points removed from the 30 total points for color and markings. Remember that we are only looking at agouti markings for this month. Thus, we will entirely disregard any comments or points on color or other markings. Before discussing the winners, I want to give the overall impression of this group. In general, the Syrians' markings were too light -- both cheekflashes and ticking. I see the same thing on the show bench in California. This group leads me to believe that it is a general weakness in many of our Syrians. This should then be one of the key criteria that we each evaluate when choosing animals for breeding. Through selection, we can improve the markings in our agouti animals. |  | Molly is the winner for the agouti markings. Her markings are light -- particularly the cheekflashes which are her key weakness. The cheekflashes are disproportionately light in comparison to her ticking. Her ticking is darker than any of the other entries and appears to be even. It should still be darker to get full points. |  | Sasha is one of the runner-ups. She was a difficult hamster to judge. She was entered as a Light Gray, but I wondered if she was a Silver Gray from both her color and her markings. In this photo, I cannot see the cream coloring in her face which is a clear sign of a Light Gray. It may be because of the photo or she may have light coloring. | | Let's look at the difference in the two colors are far as the markings are concerned. If she is a Light Gray, she should have dark brownish-gray cheekflashes and ticking. Her crescents should be buttermilk. Her ticking is significantly too light for a Light Gray, and her cheekflashes almost look more black and brownish-gray. If she is a Silver Gray, she should have finely ticked black cheekflashes, pale ivory crescents, and silver gray ticking (slightly darker than the coat). This more closely fits what I see although the cheekflashes would be too dark for a straight Silver Gray (without Light Gray). |  | Rosie is the other runner-up and is a Golden. Both her cheekflashes and her ticking are definitely too light. Her Golden coloring is also light, so her color and markings appear to just be very light. If breeding Rosie, you would pair her to a male who had very strong markings and then keep babies who markings were also strong. | Congratulations to all our winners! |
