BRAMBLEWOOD-HEDGEHOGS

Welcome to Bramblewood-hedgehogs and our look at colours

Hedgehog Colours

If there is one hedgehog subject to make hedgehog breeders disagree it is the subject of colours. As one mans dark cinnacot is another mans brown…

Here we pay more attention to nose and eye colour than quill colour. We have found this is the most accurate way to do things. Apart from when judging Apricots and the Cot range and the Snowflake and white range. As then the percent factor steps in.

Cinnacots and Apricots
One of the colours often mixed up is the Cinnacots, Champaign and Apricots. Apart from the nose and skin clolour, The quills do play a part as well.
Cinnacots have two colour banded quills, cinnamon and apricot.
Its all about % I find when judging if your hog is a dark cinnacot or cinnacot.
A dark cinnacot has about 75% cinnamon and 25% Apricot. A dark eyed cinnacot has about 50% of apricot and cinnamon banded quills.

A Champaign has less cinnamon quills than the Cinnacots normally it has around 75% apricot and 35% cinnamon. So technically a Champaign does fall into the cinnacot range.

Apricots have all one coloured quills, no cinnamon all orange banded by pale orange-beige. If you hog has a few cinnamon colour quills it is a Champaign.

I have found cinnamon can come in a few varied shades. Some can look almost pale grey to a redish colour. Apricot on the other hand is always pale orange-beige.

Snowflakes
Snowflakes are when a hog has over 30% white quills and the remainder banded. Snowflakes can come in any colour.

Whites
The White category comprises those animals that possess almost 100% solid white spines ,The few banded spines that these hedgehogs have are localized to the forehead area, with a few possible across the remainder of the back. These few banded spines on the back, however, should count no more than 10. Any more than this and it is categorized as a Snowflake.

Pinto
Pinto is a pattern rather than an actual colour and it can appear on any coloured hedgehog. The pinto pattern can be distinguished by total lack of skin colour under the white quills. The rest of the skin will have normal colouration apart from the pinto patch that will be pink.

White Bellied

Snp	SALT & PEPPER The spines are white, banded with black. No more than 5% of the quills are to be solid white. The face is white with a black mask, ears and nose. The underbody hair is white black mottling of the underbelly is extensive. Skin on the shoulders is jet-black. The nose is black.
Dark grey	DARK GREY Spines are white, banded by black with very narrow rusty-brown outer edges. All other features are the same as Salt & Pepper except that the skin on the shoulders is dark grey, almost black.The nose is black
Grey	GREY Spines are white, banded by black with rusty-brown outer edges. There is some mottling of the underbelly and the face is masked by black. The skin over the shoulders is grey.The nose is black.
Chocolate	Chocolate Spines are white, banded by dark brown. The face is masked by light brown, there may be pale mottling of the underbelly and the skin on the shoulder is light grey. The nose is dark liver, almost black.
Brown	BROWN Spines are white, banded by light oak-brown. No more than 5% of the spines are to be solid white. A light mask is acceptable. The eyes have a light blue ring around the outer edges (the sclera). Mottling of the skin is not preferred and the skin on the shoulders is pink with a small amount of grey pigmentation. The nose is liver, mottled with black.
Cinnamon	CINNAMON Spines are white, banded by light cinnamon brown. No more than 5% of the spines are to be solid white. The face is not masked. The underbelly is white and mottling of the skin is not preferred. Skin on the shoulders is pink. The nose is liver.
Black eyed cinnacot	BLACK-EYED CINNICOT Spines are white, with 50% banded by cinnamon and the remainder by pale orange-beige. The skin over the shoulders is pink. the face is not masked. The nose is pink and liver mottled. The eyes are black.
Ruby eyed cinnacot	RUBY-EYED CINNICOT Spines are white, with 50% banded by cinnamon and the remainder by pale orange-beige. The skin over the shoulders is pink. The face is not masked and the nose is pink and liver mottled. The eyes are dark ruby-red.
	CHAMPAGNE Spines are white, with 75% banded by pale orange-beige, with the remainder banded by cinnamon. The skin over the shoulders is pink. The face is not masked. The nose is pink with a liver outer rim. The eyes are ruby-red
Apricot	APRICOT Spines are white, banded by pale orange-beige. They do not have any cinnamon quills.The underbody is white.The face is not masked. The eyes are ruby-red. The nose is pink.
Albino	Albino Albinos are unique due to the total lack of pigmentation. The spines are all white with no banding. The face and fur are white. The skin is pink and the eyes are red. The nose is pink.
Hedgehog Colours (Algerian)	Algerian colours are not that different from white bellied range. They can appear to be more darker and have cream quills rather than white as do white bellied hogs. Also the Algerian does have cheek or eye patches. Another big difference of the two categories is the Algerian hedgehogs have dark eyes no matter what the colour. Example* an apricot white bellied hedgehog will have red eyes but an Algerian apricot will have dark eyes.

for a full indepth guide to colour check out that great site www.hedgehogcentral.com