Page:The Golden Hamster Manual.djvu/15

 price per animal when larger numbers are purchased. For that reason, a beginner who knows where he may immediately sell some of the stock to be shipped to him may safely order more animals than he may need for starting his own hamstery. Regardless of strain names used, two or more hamsteries near each other frequently pool production to fill orders, and may exchange stock to add new blood.

The hamster In American domestication and laboratory use is the Syrian Golden Hamster. For advertising purposes, various attractive names are employed to interest breeding stock and pet buyers. The author and other competent small stock judges have examined thousands of hamsters, including both breeders and offspring, from all lines of production and report no one dealer's so-called strain or strains in any manner superior to others of like condition and weight from any well-managed hamstery. Whether prize, gem, royal, wonder, gold mine, diamond, or what have you strain, buy them of whatever or no strain name, as you please, cross them as you like. They are of one variety, Mesoericetus Auratus. The important consideration is the quality of stock selected to fill your order.

Breeding records such as kept on rabbits, etc., are simple and inexpensive, and are kept in a well-managed hamstery. Upon a pedigree and breeding record card (see Illus. 54 and 55) is written the date of birth and name, number, letter or symbol representing a female. Upon a similar card is written similar data on a male. Then follow data on parents, grand and great-grand parents, if desired. Below, or on the reverse side as per Illus. 55, are the blank spaces for keeping accurate record of matings, litters, etc. Such a record is useful in maintaining or improving quality in production. With animals sold for breeding stock, some shippers include such breeding record cards, writing thereon two or three generations of ancestors, which are equivalent to unregistered pedigrees—some others charge about 10c extra per animal for such records—showing the beginner how to keep breeding and production records, for he uses the card to keep a breeding record of the animal named thereon. See Chap. 32 for illustration of such card and how to keep records. In filling a breeding stock order, unless otherwise requested, an honest shipper selects males not immediately related to each other or to females shipped; females likewise. Thus, pedigrees on commercial breeding stock purchases are unecessary.

It appears that the largest profit and most pleasure In proportion to time and money invested comes to small operators keeping only a few producing animals selling offspring for purposes bringing largest returns per animal, such as pets and observation propagation stock for nearby schools, as well as for breeding stock sold to others locally and in surrounding territory at the regular prices for them while these animals are still so new. Buyers frequently pay more for stock they may see and take right home with them. The