Siberian Hamster or Winter White Hamster: Phodopus sungorus
The Siberian Hamster or Winter White as they are also known are a Dwarf species that originated from Kazakhstan & Siberia hence the name. Their other name Winter Whites come from their wild brethren often moulting to a white coat in winter. This is because they live in Snow-covered terrain which helps camouflage them from predators. They normally live in family groups and in captivity, they are best kept in pairs or small groups (best keep to single-sex groups unless you want a lot of babies). However, they should not be mixed with other species of hamster or rodent.
Image Credit Rigoni Barbara/Shutterstock
Colour Variations
Traditional Siberian Hamsters are a black & grey shade with bright black eyes and lighter underparts. They also often have some form of black dorsal stripe, although this is more pronounced in some than others. Selective breeding has produced a couple of other shades:
Sapphires: which are a smoky blue-grey colour & Pearls:- white hamsters with light tinges of colour, most obvious towards the ends of the fur. Both have traditional black eyes. Patterned mutations exist for the traditional and Sapphire variations which have white patches or marbling.
Hybrids
Other colour mutations are sometimes offered by the pet trade but these are not purebred Siberians, but hybrids with Russian Dwarf Campbell’s. These may look attractive but they are often plagued with health problems. This is less of an issue if you are keeping them as a family pet (apart from the ethical issue of producing an animal with genetic weaknesses), however, if you decide at some stage to breed them then please ensure you keep the species pure.
Siberian Hamsters are available in Pearl – which is a white shade. Victor FlowerFly/Shutterstock
Siberian Hamsters as Pets:
A pair or small group of Siberian Hamsters are great pets – especially for younger children as their care and maintenance are somewhat less than that required for a larger pet such as a Cat, dog or pony! However, they are sentient animals and thus deserve proper loving care. If looked after well they can live to be between 2 and 21/2 years old and will provide much entertainment as they are lively little creatures.
Housing Your Siberian Hamster
Siberian Hamsters are easy enough to home, but just because they are small doesn’t mean they don’t like space to roam so buy as big a cage as you can afford and house. The following guidelines will ensure they are happy and healthy.
Cage Type
Adults can live in standard hamster cages of sufficient size. Each dwarf hamster should ideally have 120 square inches (750 square centimetres) of floor space so if you have a small group you will need at least a 24″ X 18″ cage and ideally no lower than 7″ (18cm). Young and even and small adult ones can squeeze through the bars of a standard Syrian Hamster cage, therefore it is usually best to use either a narrow bared cage if you can find a suitable size one or a plastic enclosed cage; alternatively, glass tanks can be used. The cage should be big enough to ensure that your Hamster(s) can separate their enclosure into separate zones for sleeping, eating and toileting, and as they can get into nasty squabbles from time to time – somewhere the victim of the fight can take refuge. When squabbling they are pretty vocal so you will know when to intervene.
Bedding & Floor Covering
Dwarf Hamsters get on best with shredded paper nesting material which is readily available in most pet shops or via mail order. Don’t use “cotton wool” type beddings as these will be chewed and swallowed potentially causing stomach problems and similarly, straw or hay is too sharp and may damage their mouth pouches when inevitably nibbled upon.
Cleaning
Hamsters are quite clean animals and when housed correctly will use a designated area of their cage as a toilet. Ideally, this area of the cage should be cleaned regularly (every few days) by removing the affected substrate. Overall changing of the bedding and cleaning of the cage shouldn’t be done more than once every week or so as it can stress the hamsters. Always remember to use pet-safe cleaning products.
Choose the Right Size Hamster Ball if deciding to use one.
Jackal photography/Shutterstock
Exercise & Entertainment:
All species of Hamsters need exercise and the easiest way of providing this is via the traditional wheel, which will keep them entertained for hours during the night for many hours each night. Try and find a wheel that is enclosed or at the very least solid floored as a bars type can occasionally lead to leg injuries. If you have a few hamsters in the group consider adding two wheels. Having plenty of bars to climb up and tubes and boxes to explore will also help keep them entertained and fit, and you can always let them have a run around in a Hamster Ball too, but bear in mind that these need to be the appropriate size for a dwarf species
Choose the Right Size Hamster Ball if deciding to use one.
Jackal photography/Shutterstock
Hamster Toys:
Dwarf hamsters very much enjoy having places to hide and explore in their cages. A number of plastic toys are available in pet shops, but you can also provide many “free” toys, for example, toilet roll tubes make good tunnels and tissue boxes or “cup a soup” boxes make good hiding places and can also be used as a sleeping box.
Feed Me – Feed Me Now.
A well-fed Hamster is a healthy Hamster, and they thrive on a staple diet comprising a dry hamster mix consisting of a wide variety of seeds, grains and nuts. You can add things like millets and plain canary seed to this as well as offering composite hamster pellets, which help ensure they don’t become too picky in their eating. In the wild, they are omnivores and therefore enjoy a varied diet so supplement this with small portions of fruit & vegetables at least twice a week. cGood choices are carrots, cucumber, sweetcorn, apple & broccoli all of which are fairly firm and compact making removing any leftovers easy. Bad choices are citrus and soft fruits as well as root vegetables such as onions or leeks.
Hamsters enjoy small amounts of animal protein and this can be via mealworms or meat such as cooked chicken. A hard dog biscuit is a welcome treat, and the knawing required to consume it will help keep their teeth in trim. Hamsters also enjoy more typical human food such as pasta, boiled or unseasoned scrambled egg, and cooked potato & rice. Again offer in moderation and make sure they don’t squirrel it away in their food stashes as it will go mouldy quickly. Additionally, some enjoy “milky” foods, like porridge made with milk or unsweetened rice pudding. Milky foods are especially useful when you have nursing mothers, and is good for young weaning ones who need extra calcium. Similarly, older hamsters can benefit from the extra nutrients milky foods offer. Although tempting under no circumstances offer your hamster sticky foods like chocolate or toffee and avoid anything with added sugar or salt.
How To Tame Your Hamster
Handling: Hamsters purchased from a private breeder should be accustomed to some form of handling when you purchase them, however, they may be a little nervous at first due to the upheaval of moving to their new home. Petshop bought Siberian Hamsters will often have received little or no handling and will take longer to become confident. The following tips should help speed up the bonding process:
Start off by hand feeding them tasty treats, they will soon associate you with snack time.
Don’twake them up to handle them, wait until they are fully awake and alert.
Dont grab them, cup your hands underneath them or let them climb onto your open hand.
Keeping Them Healthy
The basics of good animal husbandry apply to Siberian Hamsters just as much as any other pet. Feed them a varied diet, ensure they always have plenty of freshwater, keep their cage clean and don’t stress them and you will have happy hamsters. Don’t and you will have dead ones quite quickly.
Health: Hamsters can suffer from many of the health conditions including colds and general tummy upsets. Watch out for wet tail which is a nasty disease usually arising from bacterial infection & stress. A good diet, careful considerate handling, as well as good hygiene, will minimise the risks. Older Hamsters can suffer from strokes & tumours and if your hamster looks to be suffering from either a trip to the Vet is a must. Siberian Hamsters like as all rodent species have continually growing teeth, and these should be checked on a regular basis to make sure they don’t become overgrown. Providing plenty of hard things to gnaw on will help with this, plus hamster’s nails grow very fast and will need trimming on a regular basis.
To Summarise
Siberian or Winter White Hamsters are great relatively low maintenance pets, who will become tame and quite attached to their main carer. If cared for properly they will be with you for two years plus and will provide hours of entertainment. There are also shows for hamsters for those who want to take the next step in the hobby.
Before you go why not check out some of our other pet articles
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