| Syrian Hamster Types and Colors A Guided Photo Tour |
| This tour is meant to present accurate and detailed descriptions and photos of all the hamster varieties I am currently working with. Although this is a large variety, it is missing a portion of all existing hamster varieties. For a summary of all existing mutations and the effects of combined mutations in Syrians, see my Syrian Hamster Mutations page. |
| Hamster genetics is fairly straightforward, but before jumping into the tour, there are a few notes that should be addressed. Important Note: All known mutations in Syrian hamters are on different loci. This means that every single mutation could occur in a single individual. Not all these would show because some mutations cover others. (There is one exception, extreme dilute and acromelanic white are on the same locus. To learn more about this, see the River Road Hamstery.) Some of the mutations are genetically linked (see mutations), but this is only important for inheritance calculations. Syrian Hamster Coat Types: there are only a few mutations that fall into this category. These mutations effect the length, texture and presence of hair. Therefore in terms of hair type a hamster may be long hair or short hair; regular, satin or double satin; regular or rex, and may be furred or hairless. Based on the above note a hamster could be a long hair-double satin-rex-hairless and breed true for all of these, but it would only look like any other normal hairless. I am only working with LH/SH and Satin/Regular hamsters. Jump to the types photos Syrian Hamster Coat Patterns: patterning mutations cause presence of white patches in the coat. In terms of patterning, a hamster may be solid (devoid of mutation), spotted, banded, dappled, piebald, or roan/imperial. Again, any pair or all mutations could be found in any single individual. Each mutation reacts differently with the color mutations (most notably cream and yellow). I am working with solid, spotted, banded and roan/imperial. Dappled and piebald are very rare. Jump to the patterns photos Syrian Hamster Coat Colors: coat color mutations generally cause a change in the over-all appearance of the hamster by diluting all or part of each hair. They are more accurately thought of as coat color modifers. Thinking of them in this way allows a person to make pretty good predictions as to what combinations of these mutations will create. See the Hamster Mutations page for a listing of all the mutations and their effects. Jump to the colors photos |