There are five main species of Hamsters in the pet trade and their requirements can differ quite greatly. Hamsters are short-tailed rodents with large cheek pouches, used to store food; the name Hamster is believed to derive from the German for 'to store' or 'to hoard'. Hamsters are part of the order Rodentia.
Hamsters are perhaps the most widespread, and readily available as pets and consequently are amongst the most neglected. Rodent Rescue Centres frequently are full of hamsters that have been abandoned or neglected either through poor research or as a child or adult gets bored. Please consider getting a rescue rodent or approach an ethical breeder for your pet.
Hamsters are crepuscular, which means that they are most active at dawn and dusk. They have large incisor teeth that will continue to grow throughout their lifetime so should be provided with plenty of chewing material. Hamsters are colour-blind and near-sighted, however they do have a wide angle of vision and very keen senses of smell and hearing.
The largest available hamster is the Syrian hamster. Syrians are extremely territorial rodents and cannot be housed together with other Syrians; sadly many pet shops house Syrian hamsters together when they are young which can be extremely misleading.
The smaller hamsters include the genus Phodopus or short-tailed dwarf hamsters Campbell's Russian dwarf hamster, Roborovski hamster and the Siberian or Winter White hamster.
Other dwarf hamsters in the pet trade include the Chinese Hamster from the Cricetulus genus.
Hamsters are naturally omnivorous and are native to areas of Europe and Asia. In captivity they require a large enough cage to allow them to exhibit a wide range of their natural behaviours; modular systems are not suitable for any rodents. They also should never be kept on sawdust due to the high risk of respiratory infection.
The most notable thing about hamsters is their expandable cheek pouches, which they use to store and transport food. It is therefore important to check their cage for any stashes of food, particular after feeding fresh, to avoid stores of rotten food.
Some hamsters are more suitable, or tamer as pets than others and they do have different care requirements. See the individual pages for details.
Of the five pet hamster species, only the Campbells and the Winter Whites can interbreed but this is strongly discouraged. See the hybrid hamster page for details.
Further reading
- Hamster Central - friendly, hamster forum.