Cross Stitch, shown by Donna Anastasi of ABC Gerbils, Portland, Maine, Black Mottled, female, 7 months, standard coat
2025_045 Lovely feminine build, streamlined without being skinny. Nice short, broad head with almond eye and correct ear position. Thick, straight tail with great tuft. Rich black contrasting with clean bright white. Gorgeous mottled pattern with color in the collar and variegation over the back and sides. Love the mixing of black and white at mid-tail. Coat is soft and clean. Well prepared and well photographed. First place.
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Shockwave, shown by Shanna Nelson of Khulan Gerbils, Pacific, Missouri, Pied Agouti, male, 10 months, standard coat
2025_004 Appropriate masculine body type, but on the smaller side; I’d like to see just a little more bulk to him. Nice short head with almond eye. Ears are too upright, at 11-and-1 rather than 10-and-2. Great whisker fan. Thick, straight tail with good tuft. Excellent base color! Correct gray eye circles and unticked golden fur at the demarcation line. Nice blaze, but collar is not complete. Some very visible molt lines. Coat looks soft, but has staining on the tuft and feet. Second place.
2025_004 Appropriate masculine body type, but on the smaller side; I’d like to see just a little more bulk to him. Nice short head with almond eye. Ears are too upright, at 11-and-1 rather than 10-and-2. Great whisker fan. Thick, straight tail with good tuft. Excellent base color! Correct gray eye circles and unticked golden fur at the demarcation line. Nice blaze, but collar is not complete. Some very visible molt lines. Coat looks soft, but has staining on the tuft and feet. Second place.
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Itchy, shown by Laura Goly of Angel's Burrow Gerbils, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Pied Siamese, male, 16 months, standard coat
2025_059 Excellent masculine body type, bulk in all the right places without having fat deposits. Very nice short, broad head, but eye is too round. Whiskers barely visible. Thick, straight tail. Tuft looks good, but it’s hard to make out. With his coloring, a dark background probably would have shown him off better. I’m quite sure this is a Dilute Siamese, but since that’s not standardized, he’s been judged as Siamese anyway. Good body color without too much fading on the sides, but nose and ear points are very light. Tail has either fading or white flecking along the underside, a fault for Pied. Nice blaze; collar is thin but looks complete. Coat soft and clean. Third place.
2025_059 Excellent masculine body type, bulk in all the right places without having fat deposits. Very nice short, broad head, but eye is too round. Whiskers barely visible. Thick, straight tail. Tuft looks good, but it’s hard to make out. With his coloring, a dark background probably would have shown him off better. I’m quite sure this is a Dilute Siamese, but since that’s not standardized, he’s been judged as Siamese anyway. Good body color without too much fading on the sides, but nose and ear points are very light. Tail has either fading or white flecking along the underside, a fault for Pied. Nice blaze; collar is thin but looks complete. Coat soft and clean. Third place.
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Marble, shown by Shanna Nelson of Khulan Gerbils, Pacific, Missouri, Mottled Burmese, male, 22 months, standard coat
2025_052 Thin male with an arched topline and lack of muscling in both forequarters and hind. Nice head shape with almond eye and correct ear placement. Pretty whisker fan. Thick tail with no kinks. I see hints of a nice tuft but it’s not displayed well. Base color is muted and lacking contrast in the points, which are significantly lighter than expected. Enough to make me wonder if he is actually LCP Slate or even Dilute Burmese. Interesting Mottled pattern; I like the color breaking up his collar and blaze, though the contrast gets muddled along the flanks.
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Secret, shown by Corinne Hughes, Austin, Texas, Mottled Blue, female, 25 months, standard coat
2025_035 Large female, with body type tending towards masculine. Nice head shape, but eye is overly round and ears point almost straight upward; looks like they may actually be pinned back somewhat in the front view. Tail is thick but not held straight; good tuft. This gerbil is Black, not Blue, unless the lighting is way, way off. Good depth of color along the midline. The sides are very faded and flecked, which is part of why I judged her as Mottled. Really she’s a tweener, in between Pied and Mottled. The amount of white is more in line with Pied, but the distribution is more Mottled, with color in the collar and lots of flecking along the flanks and in the tail. Coat looks soft and clean.
Scrubshump, owned by Michael Camarra, Ardsley, New York, Spotted Slate, male, 18 months, standard coat
2025_026 Obese male with fat pad over the shoulders and rolls behind the arms. Nice broad head with correct ear placement and almond eye. Thick, straight tail; tuft is hard to see in photos. This gerbil is very dark in places for Spot Slate; I debated whether to judge him as Spot Black. Spotting lightens the base color, and if you look at his most saturated areas like the nose and tail, he is darker than a Slate lightened by spotting should be. But the color is much lighter on his flanks, so ultimately I did judge him as a Slate. That light, uneven/flecked color on the sides is fine for Mottled, but not what we want to see on Spot or even Pied. Colored areas on those should be as close to full-saturation as possible. His markings fall between Spot and Pied, with a wide, ragged nape spot starting to extend into a collar, but not enough to be a true Pied. The color in his nose spot and white hairs in the colored portion of his tail are also faults. Coat is clean, soft, and well-prepared for show. He looks calm and friendly, and is well-photographed.
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Estrella, shown by Shanna Nelson of Khulan Gerbils, Pacific, Missouri, Black Spot, female, 26 months, standard coat
2025_054 Fairly good feminine body type. Possible arched topline, but this is exaggerated by positioning; all four paws on the floor will show the topline and overall body type much better. Short, broad head with almond eye. Ear position is difficult to evaluate, since one is flicked back in the front view, but they look a bit too upright. Thick, straight tail with nice tuft. Color saturation along her spine shows she is indeed a Black, but her sides are excessively faded, likely roaned. Her forehead spot is well-placed, but her nape spot is diffuse and off-center, and her tail spot is almost entirely missing. She would be a great prospect for a Roan project.
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Gypsy, shown by Laura Goly of Angel's Burrow Gerbils, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Mottled Burmese, female, 11 months, standard coat
2025_058 Difficult to judge a lot of aspects due to the lack of a proper side view. Body type seems okay, definitely not masculine, perhaps a bit small? Ears are too upright, making head look long/narrow. Thick, straight tail with good tuft. Color along midline is a good shade with strong points. There is just far too much fading/roaning on her sides. Rather than looking mottled or even variegated, the color and white are so mixed that her sides look almost a uniform pale brown. Coat is soft and clean – I can see the sparkles from a recent dust bath.
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