Last month we examined white faults on the undersides of self hamsters.  This month we will examine color faults on the bellies of white patterned syrians.  The BHA standard for the standardized white pattern genes states that

"The belly fur shall be white."

This is the ideal.  There should be a clear demarkation between the back and the white belly.  Sometimes syrians have patches of color on the bellies, though.  This should be selected against.  Judges can deduct points for this.  If they choose to deduct points, the points will be deducted in direct correlation to how much color is on the white belly.  Points would be deducted from the Colour and Markings category which accounts for 30 of the possible 100 show points.

On occasion breeders have believed that the spots of color on a hamster's belly may be due to the Piebald gene.  However, the coloring on the Piebald consisted more of large, often undefined, patches of color than the smaller and more defined spots that we see on the Dominant Spots today.  Indeed many Piebalds showed a much larger amount of color than white on the body.

Pictures of skins of the Piebald in scientific papers and in old books also show that the Piebald had an consistent pattern over the entire body with the same amount of color on both the back and belly.  These pictures also show that selective breeding to increase the amount of white on the Piebald resulted in equal increases in white over both the belly and back keeping the pattern consistent over the entire body.

There were difficulties with the Piebald - it was prone to calcium deficiencies due to the females' inability to produce sufficient quality milk which often led to small offspring which in turn were prone to broken limbs.  The Piebald is a recessive gene believed to have been extinct now for a number of years.

Although the ideal hamster is a hamster with an entirely white belly, the contest this month will be to find the patterned hamster with the most non-white color on its belly.  We will thus be able to see the range of belly color currently found in our hamsters (plus it will be a lot more fun than looking at white bellies!).

	This female has a significant amount of black on her belly.  It almost bridges across the entire belly.  This would be considered a fault, and a couple of points would probably be deducted by the judge.
	This female does have a white belly in the center.  The black spotting starts to encroach on the belly from both sides and from the bottom.  A judge might deduct up to a point each for both the side encroachments and for the encroachments at the bottom.
	Again, this hamster has a mostly white belly.  She does have color visible when she's turned over, however, particularly at the bottom.  The side encroachments may or may not receive a half point deduction, but the black at the bottom would probably receive a deduction of a point or so from the judge.