This page is linked to the Hamster Tunnel, a site devoted to promoting and encouraging the humane and ethical way of raising and caring for healthy and happy captive hamsters!
What is a hamster? What are some kinds of hamsters?
A hamster is a small, virtually tailless, velvet-fured rodent with gigantic cheek pouches.
They are cute, lovable, and cuddley, and make wonderful pets! The hamster originated in the Middle East and Southeastern Europe.
The most common and popular, is the golden or Syrian hamster. Color and hair type
variaties of the golden hamster include: cinnamon, cream, white, and “teddy-bear” (the long-haired variety). Most of the hamsters used in research or sold as pets are the descendants of 3 littermates domesticated in 1930!!!!!!
Cheek Pouches:
The cheek pouches are a relatively unique feature of hamsters. They are actually a cavernous outpouching of the oral oral cavity on both sides, etending alongside the head and neck to the shoulders. They are used to store food and allow the hamster to transport food from where it is fathered to the hamster’s den or nest. The food can then be eaten later, at the the hamster’s leisure. Hamster owners not familiar with these cheek pouches often panic when seeing them fully diestended for the first time, thinking they represent
tumors or abscesses, or, if they saw the hamster in the process of stuffing, assume they have a hamster with an extremelly abnormally large apetite!
Hamster Stats:
Scientific name = "mesocricetus auratus"
Potential life span = 2-3 years (but I once heard of a hamster named "Bubba" ( a dwarf hammy) who made it to 8 years and was still going strong!
Desirable environmental temperature range = 65-75 F
Desirable relative humidity range = 30-70%
Average litter size = 5-10 hammy pups!
Age of weaning = 3 weeks
The picture above is of a pair of 3 week old hamsters, that I downloaded off of "Caleb's" Hamster wheel site. (You can locate his link from the South of England Hamster Club, World Wide Wheel site, which you will find the link to at the Hamster Tunnel Homepage)
Links
Back to The Hamster Tunnel Homepage
The South of England Hamster Club World Wide Wheel Page
Please come back again soon for future updates!
© 1997 bluetabby@hotmail.com