If you don't know her yet...
Topokki joined the family late last year
She became a mother at 4 months old
Although she was a bit small
She gave birth to more babies than Paprika
Lots of people guessed their colours in the last video
Some were very close!
So what colour are they?
Longhaired ivory satin
2 boys and 1 girl
Longhaired cream satin
1 boy and 1 girl
Longhaired cream
2 boys and 2 girls
Longhaired ivory
2 boys and 1 girl
The longhair gene is recessive
2 longhaired hamsters can only make longhaired babies
The satin gene is dominant
Only one satin hamster is needed to produce satin babies
You cannot mate two satin hamsters
They may produce hairless babies
Ivory is a combination gene of two mutations...
By combining black-eyed cream with a grey gene
Which grey was Toppokki carrying?
Her pedigree would tell
Pedigrees can help identify genes in their families
They can also help avoid bad inbreeding
Some guessed there would be black babies
Mrs Mushroom did have a black baby
But the chance of a black baby in this litter was...
Although her babies can carry the black gene
They also carry the cream gene
Black will be masked by cream
So it's impossible to see a black hamster here
Topokki stayed cautious after birth
So I didn't disturb her in the first few days
She even ate treats in the nest...
She only came out for boiled egg white
Let’s take a look at the babies
Their hair were still growing
But I could already see the satin ones
I wouldn't touch them until 14 days
I started giving them natural treats after 10 days
Her babies have exactly four colours
Hamsters have 22 pairs of chromosomes
Although there can be other colours in this litter
I won't go deeper here
Otherwise Topokki will bite!
Feel free to do further research if you are interested
Hope the babies grow up healthy and happy!