Potential New Color Gene in the Campbells

I have been testing a potential new color gene for over a year now.  I have come to the conclusions that it is a new color gene.   I have called this potential new color the Moscow color purely for simplicity until we can give it a proper name and title. I bought the original mother in an open air pet market in Moscow on May 2, 1999.  There were no other dwarf hamsters of any color except common normals.  I knew she was a different color/shade than the typical normal color so I couldn't resist buying her.  I chose her over her two sisters (of the same color) since she didn't bite and they did.  No males were available then or when I returned a couple of days later.  No other vendor had any of this color. Here is a picture of her and her son/mate.  She is 15 months old in this picture.  Now, at about 20 months of age, she appears to finally have quit having litters (my marathon mama).

This is the original mother from Moscow and her son.  She is about 15 months old at the time of this picture and just had a new litter.  She is the one on the left -- the lighter color.

These are siblings -- two normals and two of the lighter Moscow color.

When I returned to the US, I mated her to a "pure" normal who ended up carrying albino.  She stayed with the son above while the other six babies were put in two trios.  They have mostly stopped producing at this time.  All three groups produced the new color at the appropriate rates for a recessive gene (one trio produced albinos and this was accounted for). Two of these Moscow babies were paired together and are still producing.  All of their litters have been 100% Moscow colored babies.  Here are a couple of pictures of this pair.

These are pics of the pair in which both are the Moscow color.  All babies are also of the lighter Moscow color.

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