The NGS and ShowsIt may surprise you to learn that, just like showing Cats or Dogs at Crufts, you can also show your Gerbils or just go along to see other owner's gerbils.
There are shows throughout the year with one atleast every two months. Gerbil shows are often along side Mice, Rat and Hamster shows. The shows often take place in Sports Halls with the London and Bradford shows being the main and biggest shows during the Calendar. The Bradford show, which is actually held in Doncaster at the race course also has Rabbits, and Guinea pigs there. It is a very large event with plenty of 'other' stalls too and many many Rabbits to see.
At each show awards are given to the winner of each catagory. With the biggest award being to the owner of the BIS - Best in Show. This award is given to the 'best' Gerbil out of all the entries. Often it is the Gerbil seen as having the best type, coat and build - with type meaning it's personality, whether it bites or is at ease.
As the NGS promotes the wellbeing and breeding of gerbils, the personality of the Gerbil is of most importance. It is unadvisorary to breed bad tempered nasty Gerbils as they will pass it onto their young. When breeding you should always breed for type before colour!
You might very well have a lovely looking Siamese, with a nasty temper. You should not breed it on, your aim in breeding is not to get the best colour, but the calmest and tamest animal you can.
When you join the NGS, you will be sent a magazine called the Nibbler, which contains information about shows, genetics of Gerbils and other things. You will also automatically be able to show your Gerbils for £1 per entry.
Please Visit their website for more information and also please consider becoming a member - remember the members are probably the most knowledgeable people about Gerbils you will ever meet.
Show Standards
As with any animal show, there are certain standards that the Gerbils are judged to. So before I explain how the judging is done and what accounts for how many points, I feel it is best to show you the UK, or NGS Show standards.
First, there are three different categories... These are:
White Bellied
Self
Other
I feel these categories are quite self explanatory, but for those who do not know a great deal about Gerbils, colours and genetics I shall explain them.
White Bellied - This section is for any gerbil with a white belly. So, all Agouti Gerbils are whitebellied, this includes Grey Agouti, Golden Agouti, Argente Cream and Argente Golden. A spotted animal is not classed as being Whitebellied.
Self - This section is for any animal which has a solid colour, so this includes; blacks, lilacs, dove, slate etc. Again, a spotted or pied gerbil is not classed as being self, even if it would be a self without the spotting.
Other- This section is for Gerbils that are neither Self nor Whitebellied, so you have; the Colourpoints (Siamese, Burmese Himalayan) you also have Nutmegs, Saffrons, Silver Nutmegs, Black Eyed White. This is the section where you also have the Spotted and Pied classes.
The NGS does have a provisional section too, this is where a Gerbil colour does not have a full standard yet and so can only win this particular section and it can not go forward for the BEST IN SHOW.
In the Provisional section there are:
Silver Pearl (Colourpoint Grey Agouti)
Mottled - an extreme form of Pied.
Blue - very similar to slate, is rare in this country as it is caused by the DILUTE gene (go to my genetics page for more info).
Shaws Jird - A large relative of the Mongolian Gerbil.
After the provisional section there is an unstandardised class, which any other Gerbil colour will be entered into, and they all fight it out for the top three places. Not many breeders will show these unstandardised colours as they can not win anything major, and can also be seen as being a waste of time to breed. But if you are like me and find that there are lots of colours you like which don't have a standard for some reason or other you will find yourself wanting and breeding those colours. For example, Kyoto she is not a standard colour, but I personally think she is gorgeous and very very pretty. Once I have my own place etc I will definately be breeding for her colour just as a personal goal.
Below are illustrations showing each of the NGS standard coat colours:
White Bellied
White Bellied Golden Agouti ( commonly known as Golden Agouti or Agouti)
White Bellied Grey Agouti (commonly known as Grey Agouti)
Argente Golden (Also known as Cinnamon in USA)
Argente Cream
Dark Eyed Honey (Also known as Algerian Fox or Sooty Fawn)
Red Eyed Honey (Also known as Yellow Fox in USA)
White Bellied Cream (Known as Ivory Cream in the USA)
Self
Pink Eyed White
Red Eyed White
Black
Slate
Lilac
Dove
Other Varieties
Himalayan (Also known as Dark Tailed White)
Siamese (Also known as Lightened Colourpoint Black)
Burmese (Also known as Colourpoint Black)
Nutmeg
Silver Nutmeg
Saffron (Known as Red Fox in the USA)
Black Eyed White
Now, these are not all the possible Gerbil coat colours, these are just the NGS standard colours. There are plenty of other variations, but as a lot of them are so similar the NGS chose not to allow a standard for it. For example, a Colourpoint Slate is VERY similar to a Burmese and so they do not allow a standard for this colour. Also, I notice that the colour Sapphire does not have a standard, this colour is inbetween Lilac and Dove and is no doubt the reason for not giving it a standard.
A colour that I would love to see have a standard is the Schimmel, but as this colour actually fades with age, it is too difficult to say exactly what the Schimmel should look like, it also means that you can only show it at a certain age. I think this may cause problems with the colour and perhaps be the reason why they are not very available yet in the UK. Although breeders do have the colour, they are not breeding it a lot because it can't be shown. The only reason for having it is personal and once you have one you don't need millions of them! Thus not many are bred.
The full colour list is so massive, I simply can't type it all out. For most colours there are atleast two variations of it, so you can have; Golden Agouti --> Colourpoint Golden Agouti --> Lightened Colourpoint Golden Agouti.
There is also, Dark eyed honey --> Colourpoint Dark Eyed Honey --> Light Dark Eyed Honey (literally a BEW)
The list goes on and on!
