Hamster breeds?

[SourRoses]

I'm curios!

Are there any really unique hamster breeds? I have a dwarf hamster right now.. really cute and sweet... but I was wondering if there were any long haired varieties or others that might be interesting too?

Thanks!

 

[flnatv]

we have teddy bear hamsters that are long haired.... ohhhh so sweet.
There are LOTS of breeds of hamsters.... from big, small, etc... all colors.
This is snickers (brown) and popcorn (orange)

 

[SourRoses]

OH! They're so adorable!!

Where do you get Teddy bear hamsters?

Certainly not a pet store, right?

 

[flnatv]

Actually, yes... we got ours at a local pet store at 4 weeks old (they are about 3 months now)
I believe you have PetSmart in Florida (at least in the panhandle where I am originally from)... I have seen them there... actually had one growing up.

Call and ask

You can also search online and they have HAMSTER shows

 

[bagendhens]

"teddy bears" are actually syrian hamsters...
PLEASE do your reserch before purchasing one as petstores always sell them to whoever can buy them...

for example Syrians are SOLITARY and most will, once they hit sexual maturity kill their cage mates... (so flnatv be prepared to seperate them) syrians are highly territorial and in the wild would ONLY come around other syrians to breed. while SOME folks can keep them together without problems, most syrians are incredibly nasty towards other hamsters and will fight, often to the death!

teddy bears are the "long haired" version of the syrian, but theres aldo the black bear, golden ect, they are all just different coloration of the wild type syrian.

"Syrian hamsters are solitary animals and should not be kept together when housing, the result would likely be aggression and conflicts that could result in serious injuries and possibly even the death of one of the hamsters."
http://www.hamsterific.com/SyrianHamsters.cfm

dwarf hamsters however are relitivly social...

the russian dwarf (campbells) are adorable,
winter whites remind me of the russians but are better known as siberian dwarf hamsters, very similar in looks but usually lighter coat colors
and the chinese, they remind me more of a short tailed mouse though, they have a slightly longer face, i think their cute.

but i have to say of all the hammies my favorite is the tiny tiny Roborovski (aka robo hamsters) their tiny, their cute and their funny lol


but in terms fo lots of "breeds" thats it, there arnt lots of breeds, theres the syrian...which comes in lots of verieties, they are not seperate breeds, just different hair type and color, (like having a long haired dachshund vs a shorthaired dachsuhnd, a red dachsund vs a black and tan dachsund, there all dachshunds though.
then theres the 4 dwarf breeds.

dwarf breeds are the only hamsters that can safely be kept in social groups.

i will add, while i do think mahsters are cute, i thing rats and often mice, make much nicer PETS, being that they are social animals who bond well with humans...
syrian hamsters being solitary animals dont crave companionship so arnt as social as companions..

 

[flnatv]

Quote:
Just an FYI... I am VERY aware of this... I have had hamsters all my life and am pretty versed in what is out there and how to take care of them... thank you.

 

[babyblue]

dh is a manager at a petsmart and the teddy bears are always kept separate with big signs saying they are solitary. the dwarfs have signs that say they can be kept in small groups only if raised together and need large amounts of space for privacy if wanted. meaning they do not recommend buying 4 and cramming them in a ten gallon tank. they sell the most dwarfs, they are the most pleasant, sell some of the teddy bears for the cuteness factor and some mice and rats. the mice and rats they get in are never as socialized as the hamsters and are sometimes nasty. not all pet stores are terrible, most petsmarts we have found really do put the animals first. but as always do your own research and the space requirements are minimums.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

there are 5 species of hamster in the US pet trade, that i'm aware of.

there's the Syrian hamster (golden hamster, teddy bear hamster, black bear hamster, panda bear hamster, etc). These are the larger, solitary hamsters. Color variations are just that, color variations. There is some speculation that the black hamsters come from a European line and are a little more friendly than the other colors, but its just speculation, and the more they are bred here, and interbred with our hamsters, that starts meaning less and less. They come in colors ranging from white, light tan, golden brown, brown, grey and black, and come in long and short hair varieties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_hamster

Then there are the russian campbell dwarfs. They also come in different colors. They can be social, especially when raised together.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell's_dwarf_hamster

Roborovski hamsters are another smaller species of hamsters. They are about the size of RCDs, but they look a little more like cartoon characters (bigger eyes, cuter faces IMO). They are supposedly more friendly than RCDs, but are a lot more active too. I like to think of them as hamsters on crack. They are supposed to be less likely to bite, but harder to handle due to their high activity level.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roborovski

Djungarian hamsters (also known as Winter White) are similar to RCDs, but their coats turn white in the wintertime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djungarian_hamster

The fifth species that I'm aware of is the chinese dwarf hamster. These are illegal in California (though if you want to get technical and actually read the legislature, the only hamster specifically listed as LEGAL in California is the "golden hamster", Mesocricetus auratus), so my knowledge of them is next to nothing. I know they exist, but that's about it. I'm not sure where they're legal. Pretty much all I know of them is that they have prehensile tails, while other hamsters do not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_hamster

 

[Matthew3590]

I had a german/nigrian/somename dwarf hamster from petsmart. I liked it and cried when it died 3 years later. You get close to them and then they die

 

[bagendhens]

im glad petsmart is better about educating their customers, we dont have a petsmart around here, just a petco, choice pet supply and pet supply plus and all of them are clueless about the upkeep on syrians, they cram as many into tiny 1ft square spaces as humanly possible and sell as many as poeple want to buy without so much as a word about them being solitary...
they sell quick as babies, but once they start getting a little older, its so disturbing to walk in there to see one munching on his cage mate...*shudder* and when you point it out to them, they just shrug and go "oh...it happens sometimes" well duh, its because they are solitary...

good to see theres more educated hamster folks here on this forum...

i used to work in a petstore while in my early highschool years and the only small aniamls to ever try and bite were the hammies lol.
i had russian dwarfs growing up, but once i got my first pet rat...the hamsters just didnt do it for me anymore lol