Winter White inspired make-up

For this look I used eyeshaow primer for Pearl, dark brown (I used that shiney one, because I could not have access to matte one) for Agouti and dark gray mixed with plum colour and brown (again it's shiney, it shoul't not be) for Sapphire. I really love it and my model loves it too.

FiFi and Peanut's Dinnertime

Winter White Genetics

Are you one of hammie owners who would like to know as much as possible about your hamster but there is no one to explain some things to you? I had this exact problem finding out infortaions about WW genetics; but after asking some breeders and vet, I gathered few informations and decided to share them with you.

# WW hamsters come in only three colours: Agouti, Pearl (dominant, D) and Sapphire (recessive, R). There are colours in dwarf hamsters known as Pudding (Mandarin), Merle, Moscow, Imperial and so on, but they are not registered for WW hamsters. WW eye colour can be only black (blue), and red eyes in "WW" hamsters shows that it's actually hybrid, also known as "Pudding hamster".

# Some standard show that Pearl is in fact pattern gene, not colour, but this system works out for Pearl as pettern as well.

The following formulas can help you to determain colour of possible hamster colours if you know paern't colours. Remember that genetics are much more complicated and this isn't 100% true in all cases since a hamster may have combination of many genes due breeding different colour mutations earlier in family line.

Agouti (D) + Agouti (D) =Agouti (D)
Agouti (D) + Sapphire (R) =Agouti (D) (with Sapphire gene(R))
Agouti (D) +  Pearl (D) = Agouti (D) + Pearl (D)
Sapphire (R) + Sapphire (R) = Sapphire (R)
Sapphire (R) + Pearl (D) = Pearl (with Sapphire gene(R))
Pearl (D) + Pearl (D) = Pearl (D)

Let's go Artisitc Pixie

TRIXIE Running Disc for Hamsters/Mice REVIEW

Few days ago I ordered hamster wheels from ZooCity (http://www.zoocity.hr/). The wheels are finally here and I am doing a review. Enjoy!

Name: TRIXIE Running Disc for Hamsters/Mice
Price: 29 kunas (Croatia) / £4.49 (eBay)

My opinion: When I first saw this wheel online, I was kind of sceptical. The reason is that there isn't much information on these wheels online at all. It was really low preice compared to some othee wheels and I decided to get it. When I first got it, I put it in hmsters' cages and they didn't really pay attention to it. But later all of them learn to use them. Thsi wheel is extremely silent and good for hamsters that live in owner's bedroom. One of three needed just a drop of oil since it was kind of squeaky, and is 100% silent now. 

The desing is pretty fine and it really looks good in hamsters' cages. It does look kinda futuristic, but it's not problem with me. Only thing about it's look I don't like would have to be the coulour. These wheels are sold only in this green base-blue disc version and there are bot any other combinations. Besides that, the look is pretty good for me.

RECAP:

Price: ✗✗✗✗✗

Sounds: ✗✗✗✗✗

Space: ✗✗✗

Look: ✗✗✗

Overall: ✗✗✗✗

Visit to tha forest

Last weekend my family and I payed a visit to forst to pick some shroooms. I couln't post this earlier due too much school activities, but here are some photos:

As soon as we arrived, I saw a fire salamander, I was pretty excited. (I saw one like 10 years ago, they are pretty rare to meet during daytime):

Welcome to a fairytale:

There was also a frog prince waiting for preincess' kiss:

At the end, Masha managed to find some mashrooms:

My hamster is runt. RUNT?

Lately I have been wondering around youtube and interent generally to find as much informations about hamsters and their care and everything. The theme I found really interesting to write about were runt.

Anyone who owns a hamster should know what runt is. But do they? Well, mostly no! 

Runt is a hamster that is smaller, weaker and has more chanceses to have health problems. There are also higher chanceses for bad temperemant in hamsters. Basiclly, hamster runts are usually born as runts.

Left: Bella- 9 months old adult hamster; Right: FiFi- 6 months old adult runt.

Not only runts and "normal" hamsters have differences in size, other differences are as evident. FiFi is runt hamster that I saved from pet shop. If I didn't buy her, her litter mates would most likely kill her. That's not strange in case of many runts. Ever since they are born, they need to survive. It's not easy with few more litter mates and usually mother that are trying to eliminate the weakest one. Sadly, the old quote "only strongest survive" is pretty much the rule. 

 FiFi's ears were bitten by her siblings and Bella.

If baby hamster survives first few weeks, it will most likely be sold as well as it's brothers and sisters. But due the bad treatment at very young age, there hamsters have really bad temperemant. Runts are well known as skittish, biters or scared of everything. They need more taming and can never be tamed as "normal" hamster. FiFi is pretty tame, even she bites a lot. She is also scared if I don't talk to her before handeling and jumps a lot from my hand. 

Hair loss. Common problem in hamsters with bad health, especially runts.

Probably the biggest problem about runts are their health issues. Their suffer from many diseases that are normal for hamsters, just have higher chances to have many illnesses especially being susceptible to stress related problems. That why your runt should have regular trips to vet and health control 24/7. 

I really hope this article can help someone and inform.

-Marko

All cats of mine

So, before I start, I just wanna say that besides hamster cats are my second obsession. I have had cats since I can remember and they are in very special place in my heart.
Ever since I can remember my family would have a cat or couple of them. But sadly, they would allways end up sad way. First cats I can remember of are Žućo and Sivka. They were brother and sister that I got from my grandma. Žućo was short haired yellow cat, and Sivka was gray long haired female. I don't really know how Žućko ended, but we had pretty much trouble with Sivka. Once she decided to play with already dead mouse trapped on glue. We ended up cutting her hair. She looked pretty scary, but funny at same time. Some other time, she got hit by car. I was really scared and thought she would die. She folowed my and mum ridding bikes. She was bleeding hard from her head. My friend said she will be OK. And she was. I don't remember if she had any kittens, I just know she lived with us couple more years before dying. She was great cat.
After her, I had Cicko. One day I was going back home from school with friend and found lost kitten, actually young cat. I decided to bring it home. At first we thought it was girl, but later it turned out she was he. He lived like 2-3 years until he disappeard. Later I found out that my friend mentioned above, my best friend, shoot it with his shotgun. Cicko was good cat, but he wasn't really house pet.
From that time, I didn't have cat for a while. Then one day my dad called home from work. The local stray near his job had litter and was hit by trunk. We decided on adopting two kittens; Tikki and his sister whose name I can't remember, but think it was Nella or Nalla. Anyway, the next day dad brought home another kitty; Brza. They were like two weeks old. Tikki was hit by car when they were like month old and he lost lower lip. Anyway, two months later family went to summer vacation and left kittens with granny. When we got home only Brza left. Later we noticed other two living in our street at some people's. They were probably playing near street and kids took them. Anyway, Brza made great pet. She lived with us 2 years. It was like May, she was pregnant like baloon, and she got hit by car. Kids were playing on street and said she was hit on purpose.
That's it, I QUIT. Cats suck. They all keep dying on you and break your heart.
In autumn the same year stray kitten moved in our basement. I didn't want to bond with her. But as the time was passing, I started building relationship with her. She had really weird voice and was meowing in strange way sho my mum named her Mao Mao. Eventually next year she gave birth to 6 kittens of wich one was dead. When they grew up, I rehomed all exept Flekica, who still lives with me. Mao was also hit by car. I was really sad she died but it was easier to overcome the sadness with another cat.
This spring Flekica got girlfrind, feral cat whom I named Mamingkah, and they got three kittens.

Let's make some salad

Hello. Just wanted to share a recipe for a fruit-vegetable mix salad I feed my hamsters with. It's all made from food you can alway find in your refridgeretor of your fruit bowl. Here are the things you may use:
Veggies and fruits:
-cucumber (skinless)
-broccoli
-carrot
-endive or cabbage (smaller amounts)
-kidney beans (precooked)
-potato (precooked)
-string beans (precooked)
Fruits:
-mellon (skinless)
-watermellon (skinless)
-strawberries
-apple (seedless)
-kiwi fruit
-papaya (dreid or fresh)
-peach
-avocado (seedless, skinless)
It is important to mix some of these fruits and veggies and make salad. Watch out, you do not need to put whole mellon and ten big cucumbers. Make as much mix your hamster(s) can eat in one meal. Try not to put only sweet stuff and feed your hamster feed salad all the times. They could easily develop diabetes.
The salad you prepare should be served to your hamster fresh. Your hammie should eat this kind of meal as well as regular dry seed mix once a week, or every 7-10 days. Be careful not to give your hammie too much fruits with water, they could easily get wet tail.

Hamster Personality

Hey everyone. It's been a while since my last post.
I've been thinking what to write today, and I saw :
this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76_t27NKsa4&feature=g-all-c&context=G21bb75eFAAAAAAAAAAA
And I decided to make small post on what hamster to pick. I read all those comments like "choose this type, it is the best, rest are devils", and I wasn't feeling right. Thing I learned on my own is that all of us pick our clothes and preivate stuff based on how something looks like. The same thing is with pets. Everyone would rather buy a hamster (or any other animal) that is attractive to us over some not so good looking.
When decide on getting a hamster, look for conditions you can ensure your hamsters. If you ask me, hamsters are really similar besides some defined facts. I would recommand any hamster you want as long as you can ensure it the best possible live and much much love. Only the hamster that recives enough love and care will be tamed and friendly. Because you should know that you are the one who forms your hamsters behaviour.

 -Marko

Choosing a Breeder

Hello everyone.
Today I am posting about breeders. Breeder is a person that breed pets (animals) for two main reasons: money or love for animal species. I highly recommand getting your hamster from a breeder over petshop if it's possible. No matter money or love breeder, it is much better then petshop. In fact, I would rather buy a hamster from stranger then take it for free. I don't know why, but I belive that it should have better genetics if I pay for it. Free hamsters might just be from sick parents or something. It doesn't necessarily mean that hamsters you pay for have good genetics withoust any disoreder. So I recommand getting a hamster from a good breeder, maybe a friend or person you know just to be sure. But the problem is how to pick a good responsible breeder for the first time?
When I first got Pixie, I didn't knew a single fact about hamsters. So it took me like a month to really look through all web pages and books I could find just to learn some basics about hamsters and decide on more of them. From one side it was good experiance because I was learning along Pixie, but it could turn ot really bad. So do your job and get prepared before even walking into a petstore. First thing you should know when visiting a breeder you think to get hamster from is how much that person knows about hamsters. So be prepared, have like 10 questions in your head like "Are all the hamsters from petstores same breed", "What bedding should I use", "Should I bath my hamster" and so on. Of course you know answers to all these questions, but just to test the breeder. Second most important thing is to give attention to all breeder's hamsters. Are only the mother and pups in one big cage while other are in some small cages? Are they separated in proper way? How much hamsters does the person have? Because if person has only one hamster, the mother, it is most likely he/she got a hamster as a pet, it gave birth and now they are gtrying to make profit on babies. Ask about family history. Next thing off is getting information about the local breeders. You can always ask in petstores or some friends that have hamsters for information about local breeders. Really important thing is also if you are planing on breeding your hamsters make sure to get you hamsters frokm different places to prevent any problems.
Hope this post helped someone. If any questions feel free to contact me.
-Marko

Happy Easter

Hey guys, it's me again.
I just wanna stop by to say happy Easter everyone. Hope you are having great times with people and animals you love.

-Marko

How to chose the type that suits you the most?

Hey hamster lovers. This is the post for evryone planning on getting a hamster. I had this problem while I was buying my hamsters and I belive many people out there are having it as well.
WHICH IS THE BEST HAMSTER FOR ME?
If you are looking for hamster that will be a good companion, but mostly loner, you should get Syrian. Syrian hamsters, also known as "golden" or "teddy bear" hamsters, are good for people who are looking for a hamster more as commintment then a pet. I know this sounds harsh, but it is reallity. Syrians are more loners and would not like you to handle them. Taming them is also harder than with Russian Dwarfs. Anyway, I like Syrians because they are unique and being solitary animals makes them good as one owner's pet.
If you want hamster that will be cute and easy to tame and handle; Winter White should be your choise. I do not own any Winter White but saw them in pets stores and they seems not to be asocial at all. In fact, they can even live together in small colonies (up to 5 hamsters, but they will need a big habitat and remember, one male per colony if it is mixed gender group). They are holding friendly and would like to give them attention. Only fact that I do not like about Winter Whites is that they come in only three colours: agouti, pearl and saphire. Mutations between colours are posible, but it is most likely that hamster with other colour is not pure Winter White, but partly Campbell hybrid. Winter Whites are non-biters and are great for hamster begginers.
If you want a hamster that has cuteness of Winter White and almost as strong temperament as Syrians; get Russian Campbell's Dwarf. Campbell's are as cute and small as Winter Whites, but if not tamed appropriately, they could become little monstrums. However, if tamed in a good way, they become really good and peacefull pets. The good fact about Campbell's is that they come in like fifteen different colour varietis. Some people recommand having Campbell's in groups, but from my experiance it didn't work out well. Maybe because FiFi and Bella aren't from the same litter. So I recommand not having more then one Campbell's per cage if they aren't put there while they still being young. I also recommand not having different sex hamsters in same cage if you do not want pups. Campbell's, as well and Winter Whites, are like baby popping out machines.
If you are looking for watch but no tuch hamster, get Roborovki, also known as Robo. So Robos are really samll, smaller then other two dwarfs. They have like tons of energy and are really funny to watch. But problem with Robos is when it gets to taming. Robos are likely Syrians, just smaller. They are also know as common biters. But they are redeciously cute and amusing to watch. If you really work hard on your Robo, it could turn out peaceful, but remember it is still kind of wild by nature. Do not try to change it, just learn how to live with that.
There are aslo few tipes of crossbreeds. Moat popular is Pudding hamster. Pudding hamsters are Winter White-Campbell's hybrid, and is strongly reccoamnded not to try getting  them at homes. They have colouring of Campbell's but natural friendly soul of Winter White.  They are really pretty with unique orangle-yellow colour, but are extremly rare. I do not even know do they sell them in pet stores. Getting Pudding hamster requires a lot of knowledge and experiance about breeding and hamsters in general. You do not want your hamster die because you tried to get Pudding hamsters. Sadly, in most cases it will happend. No matter is mother Campbell's or Winter White, she could have complicatons because of too big fetuses and die. And no one guaranties you will get Pudding pup. I mean, is it worth of it?
I hope this article actually helped someone. If any aditional questions, feel free to contact me via comments or mail (you can find it on my official).
Have a nice weekend,
-Marko

Buying a Hamster?

Hey all.
First (real) topic I would start with is how to buy a hamster. Let me tell you one story:
"It was 2 weeks before X-mas last year and new pet shop opened in my town. I wanted to get a dog, but my mom didn't let me, so I said I will buy a rat. If I did that, she would probably kick me out of the house. OK I said. You do not let me have dog, I'll get rats. Too bad, I could find any. But few days later my granny found two mice. I was happy. I took old terrarium and placed mice inside. When my mom got home from work she almost had a stroke. But she realized I really wants a pet and I am serious about that. So she let me buy a hamster as my X-mas gift. Same day I went to pet shop.
There were like two terrariums. One crowded with nice and colorful baby syrian hamsters, and another with three big albino angora hamsters. Shop assistent came and asked me what I need, I said that I would like to get a hamster. All she did is aked me which one I like. I picked cute silver ball. It was a bit affraid. I asked assistent can she tell me is it boy or girl. She didn't know. But I immediately fell in love. "No matter what, I am buying you", I said. So I bough it. When I came home first thing to find out was sex of my hamster. I didn't take a while to find out he was boy. Next goal: pick a name. At first he was nameless for first few days, and then I found perfect name; Pixie."
So, this is quite how it was. What I am trying to say is DO A RESEARCH. Do not be a stupid kid who point and gets something without knowning a single thing about it. It is much, much easier to care for hamster with some experience and knowledge, belive me. It is much easier to raise FiFi now after I already raised Pixie and Bella.
Read a lot of different stories about experiences with hamster. But do not stick to them. Remember that every hamster is unique. So, a lot of research and choose a good pet shop. I would reccomand to visit few before buying your hamster and make list on good and bad sides of each, and in the end choose the best. Eve better is buying hamsters from breeders. And the best thing is, that there are those breeders that breed because of love for hamsters and not money, who may give you a hamster for free. But prepare yourself, they might fool you. So do your best, do little research and I am sure your new hamster will spice up your life. Hope this post helped someone.

-Marko

Initial word

Hey all. First to indroduce myself. I am Marko from Bjelovar, Croatia. I  am great animal lover (at least I think so). My animal kingdom contains a cat (Flekica, don't let the name fool you, he is a boy), a dog (Masha, a pekingese mix breed), aquarium with many fishes (mostly mollies, guppies and platies) and lst but not least three beautiful hamsters; Pixie (syrian boy, lazy piece of work), Bella and FiFi (two dwarfs girls, actually chinese hamsters, who act like sister to each other, but they are not). I know I am not some hamster expert, but think I know enough to make blog about them. Sorry, I can't put any photo in this post since I have any on laptop, but promis to put somoe pics soon.
                                                                                                                                              Marko