The Hamsters.

First off, we'll start with the largest species of the five domestic species of hamster - the Syrian.

Pearl, an 18 month old female sable dominant spot. A retired breeder of mine.


Bimmy, a 6 month old male black banded dominant spot. Pearl's son I kept from her last litter.


I also take in hamsters with congenital defects from PetSmart. They always have smushy faces to varying degrees and have tooth problems (or no teeth) to varying degrees. Most of them lack testosterone and also don't grow very large. Right now I have five, two or three of which will be going to a new home when I get a chance to meet their new mom. I keep these guys together because they lack teeth to hurt each other. I do not ever recommend keeping Syrians together. Just a disclaimer!

Koopa, a 12.5 month old male black banded.


Zim, a 6 month old male black-eyed cream.


Dib, a 6 month old male black.


Keef, a 4 month old male longhaired red-eyed cream banded.


Scooge, a 4 month old male satin black-eyed cream.



Next up, we have the Chinese hamsters.

Chiyo, a 13 month old female dominant spot. One of my retired breeders.


Kishou, a 9 month old male black-eyed white. Kishou is my pride and joy...you cannot breed for BEW's in this particular species, so he was quite the little miracle - especially special to me because I love white animals with black eyes.


Ashi, a 7.5 month old normal. Currently she is Kishou's mate. Pairing them always ends up with dominant spots because Kishou's coloration, a black-eyed white, is actually a double dose of the gene.


Bella, a 9 month old dominant spot. Kishou's sister that was returned to me after her owner could no longer care for her.



Now we move on to the Phodopus genus. Here are the Roborovski dwarf hamsters.

Bo, a 12.5 month old male normal. He was obtained for breeding but only attacks Peep.


Peep, an 11.5 month old female white-faced. She's a darling. Even though I will never get to see her little husky-faced babies, I'm still glad I have her.



The winter white dwarfs.

Cupcake, a 29 month old male sapphire. He's my old man. First winter white I've ever had, and first dwarf I got when I got back into owning hamsters after a 1-2 year hiatus.


Pancake, a 14.5 month old male sapphire pearl. Pancake is a mush. Was my first breeder, but I retired him after I realized that he's probably a hybrid. Poor Pancake.


Tiramisu, a 13 month old female normal. One of my retired breeders. I just discovered today that she got into one of my male Campbell's cages. We may, as a result, have a litter of hybrids on the way. /headdesk


Topt, a 13 month old female normal pearl. She's Tiramisu's sister, but was never interested in boys.


[unnamed], a 6 month old male agouti pearl. He is Pancake and Tiramisu's son that was returned to me after his owner could no longer care for him.



Hybrid dwarfs. These three are from an accidental litter and were the first litter of dwarfs "I" raised. They were the entire litter, just three boys. I would not trade them for anything.

Turtle, a 20 month old male normal.


Truffle, a 20 month old male normal.


Coconut, a 20 month old male normal.



Last but not least, the Campbell's dwarfs. These are the ones you typically see in the stores, and likewise, I usually have the most of them.

Olivine, a 16 month old female black. One of my retired breeders.


Diamond, a 13 month old female mottled opal. Both parents are deceased, and she is also a retired breeder.


Windsor, an 11.5 month old male blue fawn. He is Diamond's nephew and half brother, lol. Both parents are deceased. He was returned to me and traded for a different hamster due to him developing aggression.


Cobalt, a 10.5 month old male blue. One of my retired breeders.


Beryl, an 8 month old female black. Olivine's daughter and one of my retired breeders.


Sandy, a 6.5 month old female mottled black. Olivine's daughter. Was going to breed her but she never got big enough or calmed down enough.


[unnamed], a 3.5 month old female blue. Beryl and Cobalt's daughter. Kept her because she's tiny and sweet, and I wanted to retire the line.


[unnamed], a 4 month old female red-eyed lilac. Bought her pregnant from Petco a little over a week ago, and she exploded with eight babies, one being stillborn. Instead of wasting the stillborn pup...it became a suggie treat. The other seven are doing great.


Here they are; one mottled opal male, two chocolate? males, one chocolate? female, and three opal females. I am unsure of what color those three are, they could be doves even. I'll have to see when they get their full coats and open their eyes. Maybe I'll do a Punnett square of the parents tonight. Anyway, I will most likely be keeping the mottled and possibly one or two of the chocolates/doves.

WOW - you have 29 hamsters?! my goodness gracious - I cant imagine how many cages you must have with all of them plus your suggies!! - Have you ever had a suggie meet a hamster before? (an adult hamster - not a still born baby)

I think you win the award for most pets in one home - how many sugar gliders do you have besides all of these hamsters?

I had no idea there were so many breeds of hamsters or so many color combinations - I learned something today

so nice of you to rescue the abnormal hamsters - they need love too!! Are the majority of them people friendly? or do they prefer to be left alone? If you get an aggressive hamster does he or she need to be in its own cage all by itself?
lol- I am just imagining all the wheels that must be going in your home at night - probably sounds like an airport over there - ha ha

Lol, I usually have anywhere from 20-50 hamsters at any given time. XD

My hamster cages are as follows:

Four 31" x 12.5" plastic storage bins.
Two 23" x 13" plastic storage bins.
Eleven 18.5" x 12" plastic storage bins.
Four 20" x 10" (10 gallon) tanks.

All are inhabited by one hamster except the largest bins. There are two connected that have the five hamtards, one has a group of three male dwarf hamsters, and the other has a group of four female dwarf hamsters.

My mouse and gerbil each have a 10 gallon tank, my two rats have a 22" x 19" x 30" bird cage (with levels), my suggies have a 30" x 18" x 54" cage, my birds share a 34" x 28" x 65" cage, and my rabbit and pigs inhabit two 60" x 30" cube cages.

All of the above are in my pet room. In my livingroom I have a 55 gallon tank for my frogs and a 10 gallon tank for my cockroaches. In my kitchen I have a 10, 29, and 55 gallon fish tank for my fish!

You know, I've had suggies escape, and I know they've definitely met my birds, but I've never found one in a hamster cage, so I'm not sure if they've met or not. I'm not really into interspecies introductions, especially between predator and prey animals, lol. They share the same room but don't have to deal with each other.

I just have my three gliders, like I said. I don't think I'll be getting any more anytime soon.

Actually, there technically are no "breeds" of hamster as of yet. Right now they are classified by species and coat type. :3

The hamtards are just like any other Syrian when it comes to temperament. You'll have ones that are scared and try to nip you at first, then tame down right away; you'll have ones that will launch themselves across the cage (or off of your hand) the moment you enter the room, and they take forever to tame; and then there are others that just seem born tame.

Sometimes you will get a hamster that is cage aggressive towards you but is perfectly peaceful towards its cagemates, and, alternatively, you will also get hamsters that are not aggressive at all towards you but detest other hamsters. This is generally the case with Campbell's dwarfs; most other species prefer to live alone and you run a much higher risk of them fighting. I've found, though, that usually a cage aggressive hamster doesn't like other hamsters either, and usually hamsters that are either scared of you or just docile towards you will usually be docile towards cagemates. Campbell's are pretty unpredictable, which doesn't make them a good pet for beginners. Even if you get a baby that you think is the sweetest thing, they can turn into a monster by the time they reach 3-5 months old, which happened in the case of Windsor. I will never willingly sell someone an aggressive hamster, lol.

Bahaha, wheels. Sadly, I find those squeaky, rattly wheels soothing. Although, they do have their own room, and I can easily oil them, so I don't really notice them much to be honest.

I must say I laughed at the airport comment, bahaha. XD

that is cool you have so many pets - I would be afraid of the gliders eating the birds - lol they probably would if given the chance! Probably pretty smart not to let the different species get too aquainted - ha ha - Sprocket met my two cats accidently one day - I had him in a hamster ball so he could run around and dispell some of that energy - well I hadn't seen him in a couple minutes so of course I went to check on him and there he was - he had gotten out of the ball and was square on the couch in the glider room - my two cats were literally not even a foot away just watching him - I FREAKED out and snatched him up!! I would have been so upset had the cats decided to attack him - needless to say I dont use the hamster ball anymore - instead we play it safe by going in the safe room - aka the bathroom - I put everything hazerdous away inside the closet and just let them roam around for a bit every night - they love it

I had a rabbit but had to re-home hiim when I moved in with my mom and step-dad cause my 10 year old brother is VERY allergic to rabbits and he couldn't be int he house - I was sad! he was such a good bunny! and so cute! but I found him a good home with a woman and her two kids - he had never been a biter and let me handle him ok so I felt confident it was a good fit - the kids were older - like almost teens somewhere in there

Yes, I was afraid of that, I'm also afraid of them eating the rodents since they are more easily accessible and easier to catch...

But so far they haven't and I've thwarted their escape methods. X3

Ick, I hate hamster balls with a passion: they make good in-the-cage toys but I never close anything up in them. I've heard that they're especially dangerous for gliders, something about them getting their toes caught or something. Either way, I just think they're cruel. =(

Aww, that's sad. I'm very against rehoming any of my pets unless for a very good reason, that's for sure. My brother is allergic to rabbits too, and I lived with him temporarily once, but the rabbits didn't seem to bother him as long as I kept them in my bedroom (I had two bunnies at the time). Guess I lucked out!

Hm, never heard of a rabbit that was a biter, really, except in the case of some overly aggressive unaltered ones I suppose. I've always gotten lucky and had nice bunnies. My current one is as sweet as can be. He's not neutered and has never shown a single sign of aggression. Lucked out again! XD

well that is really awesome - yeah I wish I could have kept Reggie - my rabbit - but my brother had trouble breathing even if he was in the same house as the bunny - it was pretty bad - he is really allergic to horses too - and I love horses as well

yeah the hamster ball was kind of nice cause it let my little guy run around the house without fear of him getting eaten by the cats or dog - he actually seemed to like it but after his little escape I threw it away didnt want to take the chance that he'd get out and be gone forever!

Yeah I have noticed that hamsters do NOT like the hamster balls - we had one years ago and when we would put the hamster in it he would just sit there like - ok excuse me please take me out of here now!! so we never used it with him

They also make really big balls for rats and chinchillas - my rat never liked the ball so I let him run around outside of it - I obviously didnt have a cat at the time - this was years ago - I had a chinchilla for several years too, but I swear he really liked the big ball though - he rolled around like crazy in that thing - it didn't hold him back from exploring at all - ha ha although once in a great while he would get caught under a chair or something and would have to be rescued - but then he just went on his merry way hopping all around the house - I had my cat back when I had the chinchilla and he actually got really brave and started chasing the cat around -it was hilarious - it was like he felt invincible in his little bubble sheild! ha ha

So my overall veiw of the ball is some animals like it some dont - and I agree if they look like they dont enjoy it then it is cruel to use, but I swear my chinchilla LOVED getting into his ball - when I got him out of the cage he would dive bomb into it - it was so funny! maybe he associated the ball with relative freedom or something - but I did try to let him loose in my bedroom on my bed and without his ball he just stayed completely still - he seemed almost afraid or something - who knows maybe he was just wierd that way - lol - he definately was a character - I was so sad when he got really old and died!! - he was my baby - I swear he even came up to me to say goodbye

I think animals know when they are going to die - the same was true of my pet rat Mr Montgomery Burns - or Monty for short - I had him for a little over 2 1/2 years (that is really old by rat standards plus he was at least a few months old when I got him at the pet store -he was the biggest one in the bunch) and I got VERY attached to hiim I cried for days and even had to miss work when he passed! Animals can have such an impact on your life - the only other pet besides my chinchilla and rat that ever died was my pet dog when I was really young - he was super old and had to be put down! He was the best dog ever - I still miss him over 17 years later - I get very attached to my pets they are like my babies for sure now I still have my cat Dragon and my gliders - I am so glad they live so long - like 15 years - I wont have to worry about them dyeing for a really really long time yet - yay! many happy years ahead!

I don't think it's cruel because the animal might not "like" the ball, and I can really only speak for hamsters since they're the only animals I've used a ball with besides mice, plus, well, I know tons about hamsters...

But this is my rant on hamster balls, lol.

Waste of time, possible torture.

Why put a hamster in a ball when they can do the same thing in the wheel in their cage? And in the cage they can at least get out of the wheel when they want to, which they will do quite frequently. Well, and you're not interacting with them when they're in the ball, so there goes the whole point to taking them out of the cage. You might as well sit by a playpen with them while they play; it'll be more rewarding for both hamster and owner.

You might think that a hamster can "explore" the house in a ball, but this is far from true. A hamster cannot scurry around and sniff things like normal; they have to ram their nose through a crack to smell anything. They also can't hear as well in the ball...with it's shape, sound waves are going to bounce off of it anyway. So there goes a hamster's two main senses. A hamster actually runs quite blindly in a ball. They have very bad eyesight, and the ball just adds to that. The world to them, through a ball, probably just looks like a huge blur of light. So no, they cannot see where they are going, that's why they run into things!

Which brings me to a point - can anyone say trauma? That's like car crash after car crash when a hamster runs into things like that.

I've heard stories of people leaving their hamsters in hamster balls when it's too hot or in the sun, and the hamster quickly died of heatstroke. Those balls don't have very good ventilation at all. And what happens when a hamster pees in one? They have to live with that until their owner comes to get them, and they roll around and get pee on your carpet. Yay.

Think the hamster "loves" the ball? Not likely. A hamster will jump into a ball when you hold it up to the cage because it sees it as a way out or something interesting. A hamster is not going to think far enough ahead to think "Oh there's my ball, yay! *hop*" And the reason hamsters run in their balls...what else are they going to do? They try to climb up the side and the darn thing keeps rolling!

So yeah, I don't like hamster balls. If you insist on using them and think it's fun for your hamster, at least don't make them be in there for more than 5 minutes at a time. Preferrably, it would be okay to let them go for a few minutes, take them out for a break, then go for a few more minutes.



However, they make wonderful in the cage toys. I like to take the smallest size ones and leave them open in the cages for my dwarf hamsters as a toy. They actually never roll in them but would rather store their food in them, use them for a potty, or just hang out/sleep in them. I've used the largest size ones for a hanging bed for my rats - they loved that!

I never thought of all of that before - I dont have hamsters now, but if I did I think I would take your argument to heart - I have already decided not to use it with gliders anymore due to the escape that one time - instead I just take them out and let them crawl all over me! lol I am thier human jungle gym - tee hee

In fact I think when they see me coming they think - oh hey here comes that tree we like to climb on that gives us mealworms - ha ha

Awwww! Those are some beautiful hamsters!

^ Thank you!

Lol @ the human jungle gym thing - mine use me as one as well! I'll be walking around with suggies attached to my butt!

You have some really nice hamsters! All the hamsters I've known have been biters. It makes me sad when they look so cuddly.

What do you know of Robo Hamsters?

Thanks! I have a few cage aggressive Campbell's, and my oldest hamster is really grumpy, but other than that I rarely get bitten. :3

What would you like to know about the Roborovski dwarfs?