Types Of Hamsters
A Quick Guide to the Different Types of Hamsters
While there are only five types of hamsters that are kept as pets, you can find thirteen more hamsters that live in the wild. Hamsters belong to the rodent family, and to the subfamily Cricetinae. This subfamily contains eighteen different types of hamsters.
The types of hamsters that are kept as pets are the most well-known. These include the Syrian Hamster (Teddy Bear, Black Bear, Golden, Fancy), the Dwarf Campbell’s Russian Hamster, Dwarf Winter White Russian Hamster, Roborovski Hamster (also a dwarf), and the Chinese Hamster. Interestingly enough, the Chinese Hamster cannot be kept as a pet in the State of California. Hamsters are the third most used research animal, next to mice and rats. Of these, 90% are Syrian hamsters, with European, Armenian and Chinese making up the final ten percent.
Wild hamsters exist in Central Europe and their northern habitat continues through Siberia, Mongolia, and China to Korea. In the south, they live from Syria to Pakistan. These types of wild hamsters live in all kinds of habitat, including mountain steppes, desert borders, river valleys, sand dunes with vegetation, and in shrubby and rock-covered foothills and plateaus. They also live among cultivated crops.
The Syrian Hamster was the first hamster to be domesticated. In 1930, a litter along with its mother were found and brought to Israel. This is the family from which all pet Syrian Hamsters originated. The first of these hamsters was brought to the United States in 1938.
In the wild, hamsters are nocturnal and they live in burrows deep underground. They are omnivorous, eating a variety of seeds, vegetables, fruits, grain and meat. The meat part of their diet often consists of worms, frogs, grasshoppers and other insects.
Among the wild hamsters that have not been bred as pets are the Armenian Hamster, Chinese Striped Hamster, Ciscaucasian Hamster, European Hamster, Eversmann’s Hamster, Ladak Hamster, Mongolian Hamster, Lesser Longtailed Hamster, Greater Longtailed Hamster, Mouse-like Hamster, Rumanian Hamster, Tibetan Hamster and Turkish Hamster.
The European Hamster is an interesting rodent, also known as the common hamster--native to Central and Eastern Europe. They are used for laboratory research but not as pets. In the wild, they live near riverbanks, on steppes or farmland. European hamsters are light brown and have white sides and paws with a black stomach. They live up to eight years, much longer than pet hamsters.
Europeans are very aggressive toward other hamsters. They live alone, digging deep below ground to make their homes. In the fall, the European Hamster seals its burrow and hibernates from October to March. Although in a deep sleep, they awaken every four to seven days and eat and drink for periods of up to eight hours. In the spring, they awake, unseal the burrow and once again go about living a normal hamster life.