is
aggressive towards other Syrian Hamsters when mature.
hoards
food in an area of the cage which it designates as a food store.
feels
at home in an area that resembles a dark tunnel or burrow such as
a tube, nestling house and so on.
builds
a cozy nest in which to sleep from any suitable material.
designates
one area of the cage as a toilet area in which it will urinate.
scent
marks its territory using its hip glands.
sleeps
during the day, becoming active in the evening or at night.
uses
its cheek pouches to carry food and bedding.
is
alert to danger; it scurries away quickly and hides if danger is
nearby.
is
agile and a good climber.
breeds
quickly and has many babies.
The
Syrian hamster originates from the desert areas of Syria and was first
recorded by George Waterhouse, Curator of the London Zoological Society, when
he presented the 'new' species to the society in 1839. It is known to have
been kept in the UK from 1880 until 1910. Syrian hamsters were not seen in the
wild for some time and were thought to be extinct until a female Syrian
hamster and her young were captured at Aleppo, Syria, in 1930 by Dr Israel Aaron,
a zoologist, and taken to the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
Some of
these were bred and their descendants were later imported into the UK and the
USA and used in laboratories. Staff working in the laboratories realized what
wonderful pets these hamsters would make, and the Syrian hamster was
introduced to the pet market in 1945. Since this time, many coat and color
mutations have occurred and the Syrian hamster now exists in a variety of colors.
Wild captures have been made since 1930 in the Aleppo area of Syria, but it is
not clear whether any of these hamsters were bred from. The Syrian hamster is
now widely kept in captivity but is rare, if not extinct, in the wild.
Syrian
hamsters are usually about 6-8 inches long and weigh 3-5 ounces. They are color
blind and see their surroundings in black and white. Hamsters are most active
in the darker hours, between 7-11 pm.
SYRIAN HAMSTER BREEDS
Breed
Appearance
Characteristics
Syrian
Golden Hamster
Size:
about 15 cm. Golden-red color, white on belly
Robust,
vital; male especially aggressive toward other member of species.
Checkered
Golden Hamster
Usually
asymmetrical checkered marking in wild color, beige, brown, gray and
black
Nervous,
fearful, difficult to tame; susceptible to infectious diseases;
keeping pairs hardly impossible
Russian
Hamster
White
fur with darker markings on nose, ears, tail and feet; dark-red eyes,
daintier than the Golden Hamster
Quickly
becomes tame; gets along peacefully with other members of species;
decreased visual ability
Beige
Golden Hamster
Uniformly
beige, underside somewhat lighter
Vital,
quickly becomes trusting, steady temperament; gets along peacefully
with other members of species
Teddy
Hamster (Satin Hamster)
Shorthaired
and longhaired versions; plushy fur; smaller than Golden Hamster
Quickly
becomes trusting; possible to keep with other good-natured hamster
species; better not mixed together
is happy in
colonies with other hamsters of its own kind.
establishes
an order of dominance within a pair or group.
is
aggressive towards unfamiliar hamsters once mature.
hoards food.
feels at
home in an area that resembles a dark tunnel or burrow such as a
tube, nesting house and so on.
builds a cozy
nest in which to sleep from any suitable material.
has a toilet
area in which it will urinate.
sleeps for
the majority of the day, becoming active in the evening.
uses its cheek pouches
to carry food and bedding.
plays with
others in the group.
is lively
and agile.
is alert to
danger and move quickly away from it.
warns other
hamsters in the colony of approaching danger.
breeds
rapidly.
CAMPBELL'S
RUSSIAN DWARF HAMSTER
This
dwarf hamster is the one most commonly kept as a pet, and is usually available
from any good pet shop. The Campbell's Russian Dwarf is the largest of the
dwarf hamsters, measuring approximately 8-10 cm, sometimes slightly more, and
males are usually larger than females. The hamster is plump and round. Its
head is short and blunt with tiny ears and large eyes. The legs are very
short, and the feet (including their undersides), are completely covered with
fur. The tail is very short and is covered in fur. The fur on the body is
dense and soft. In the original variety, as found in the wild, the color on
the body is a pale brown- gray, with a dark slate- gray undercoat. Along the
spine runs a darker stripe, starting on the hamster's forehead extending all
the way to the base of the tail. The hamster's belly and underside are nearly
white.
Other color
varieties are available, and more are being developed by breeders. These
include the Albino Campbell which, as the name suggests, is pure white with
pink eyes, showing a complete lack of pigment; the Argent Campbell, white is a
diluted version of the normal gray color- the hamster is orange/ ginger in color
with a gray spinal stripe and pink eyes; the Mottled Campbell, which produces
a variety of patterns, including spotted, collared, barred, patched and white
with very little colored spotting; and the Satin Campbell, which can be any color
and has a characteristic shiny coat which at first glance almost looks wet.
Some of the newer color verities are the Platinum where the fur on the back is
heavily ticked in white, giving the hamster a 'silvered' appearance, and the
Dilute Platinum which looks like a white hamster with black eyes and flesh colored
ears. The Black is a new mutation which is being developed in Europe, and in
the United States the Opal and Sandy/ Black Eyed Argent are becoming
increasingly popular.
Generally,
Campbell's Russian Dwarf hamsters are placid and easy to handle. Occasionally,
however, you do find a highly-strung animal which can prove difficult to
handle and may have the tendency to nip. Therefore, it is always a good idea
to handle the parents of any dwarf hamster that you intend to buy to get an
idea of what their offspring will be like as an adult, as temperament is
largely an inherited trait. If this is not possible, which often is the case
with hamsters bought from pet shops, try to handle as many different hamsters
as possible before making your final choice, carefully selecting the ones that
are easiest to handle and show no aggression.
This
hamster, although similar, is a different sub-species to the Campbell's and is
not seen as a pet as frequent as the Campbell's. As the name suggests, the
Winter White Russian has the ability to change color during cold winter
months. All Winter White Russian dwarfs have this ability, regardless of their
color, but it may not happen to your Winter Whites every winter. If the
hamsters are kept in cool conditions, such as in a garden shed, they will
change color when the weather gets colder and return to their normal color as
it warms up again. If they are kept in a centrally- heated house, they will
remain the same color all year round.
The
Winter White Russian dwarf hamster typically reaches 7- 8cm and the standard
for show animals is 8 -10cm. The body of the Winter White is less rounded than
that of the Campbell's, being bullet- shaped with a raised spine. It is still
a round and compact looking animal, with the same short legs, minute tail and
furry feet. The eyes are more prominent that that of the Campbell's and the
face generally is somewhat longer. In its original form, the color of the
Winter White is more gray than brown, but with the same dark slate undercoat
and a jet black dorsal stripe. The belly and underside are white.
The
original gray color is the one most commonly seen in Winter White Russians,
but new color varieties are proving popular. The Sapphire is a beautiful blue-
gray hamster, with a blue- gray dorsal stripe. The Pearl Winter White is
undoubtedly the most beautiful of dwarf hamsters, as this is a white hamster
with black ticking evenly spread all over the hamster's back. In darker
specimens, there is a black spinal stripe, but some light- colored Pearls lack
this. The eyes are jet black. It is important to know that most male Pearl- colored
Winter Whites are sterile and so cannot be bred from. To produce Pearl
offspring, breeders mate a Pearl female to a normal colored or Sapphire male,
which will produce babies of both colors.
The
Winter White Russian dwarf hamster usually has an excellent, gentle
temperament, making it extremely suitable as a pet.
It is
the smallest hamster available, with adults not reaching more than
approximately 5 cm in length. Unlike all the other dwarf hamsters, the Roborovski
does not have a dark spinal stripe. In its natural form, the color is
sandy-gold with darker intercooler and a nearly white belly underside. Its
distinctive features are its white eyebrows. It is similar in appearance to
the Russian varieties, being a rounded and compact hamster with furry feet and
a very short tail. Perhaps the cutest of all hamsters, looking like a
miniature hamster or a perpetual baby, the Roborovski is not the most suitable
of hamsters as a pet, simply because its small size and very lively
temperament make it difficult to handle. These hamsters are usually fairly
even tempered, and make suitable pets for the older child or adult who is
content to study the hamsters in their cage rather than handle them regularly.
Chinese
hamsters are not scientifically classified as dwarf hamsters, but are known as
'rat-like' hamsters. They are of dwarf size, and are generally regarded as
dwarf hamsters. The Chinese hamster was the first of the dwarf species to be
kept as a pet. In appearance, it is very different to the other species of
dwarf hamster. The body may be as long as 10 cm and is thin and long, totally
lacking the roundness of the Russian hamsters. The face is longer and more
mouse-like and the tail, which is virtually hairless, is long in comparison to
the body, measuring about 2- 3 cm. The legs and feet, although not bald, are
covered with very sparse, fine fur and, unlike the Russian varieties, the
Chinese hamster has no fur covering the underside of the feet. The fur on the
body is slightly shorter than on the Russian varieties, making it more
smooth-looking and less fluffy. The ears on a Chinese hamster look larger than
on a Russian dwarf because the shorter coat length makes them more prominent,
and the eyes are slightly smaller.
The color
of the original Chinese hamster is brown, with a dark slate intercooler. There
is a dark spinal stripe, mad the belly and underside are near white. The only
other variety of the Chinese hamster is the Dominant Spot, which has a varying
amount of white spotting on the colored background. Very rarely, a Dominant
Spot animal may show so much white that it looks as though it is entirely
white with black eyes.
When
Chinese hamsters were first kept, it was feared that they were very aggressive
to each other, especially the females to the males. There were many stories of
the females attacking, or even killing, the males. However, after a while, 2
things were discovered. First, some females would eat the bodies of males that
dies of natural causes and, second, when the hamsters were mated to unrelated
hamsters, the aggression seemed to be much reduced.
Chinese
hamsters can be tamed down to become pleasant, friendly pets, but this is a
more difficult process than with the Russian varieties. As with any animal, if
your pet does not want to be tamed, then leave it alone and get your pleasure
from simply observing it.
