THE DWARF RUSSIAN HAMSTER

A dwarf Russian hamster can refer to several different types of dwarf hamsters such as the Roborovski’s hamster, the Campbell’s Russian dwarf hamster, and the Winter White Dwarf Russian hamster. The Campbell’s dwarf hamster and the Winter White Russian hamsters are similar in size of about 4 inches in length and have some of the same colorings. The smallest of the species is the Roborovski and it only grows to about 2 inches.

You will find that the Campbell’s dwarf hamsters are commonly found in pet stores and the Winter White Russian hamster is harder to find. The Campbells are a friendly dwarf hamster and are mostly sold in pairs of the same sex. An amazing feature of the Winter White Dwarf Russian hamster is their ability to change color in the wintertime. The Winter Whites in their homelands in the winter change from a dark gray color to white so that they can camouflage themselves to hide in the snow from predators. Even in captivity they still are able to do this. The shorter amount of daylight hours they receive will make them change to white and the more natural sunlight they receive will help them to stay their natural color. When they are exposed to mostly artificial light the Winter White’s will most likely not change color either.   

Djungaria hamsters are known as the Campbell’s Russian dwarf hamster they came from Djungaria a region in Mongolia. These are the dwarf hamsters that are mostly found in your pet stores. When these little hamsters became popular, then along came creative breeding and increase of all types of different color combinations and markings. Along with their natural colors you can find them with spots or mottled or even colors like black or cinnamon or even shades of lilac and blue.

In the desert dunes of Western and Eastern Mongolia and parts of Northern China you can find Roborovski dwarf hamsters this is their natural home. They are smaller than the Winter White and Campbell dwarf hamsters their cousins but their legs are longer. The color of their natural coat is a sandy brown with a undercoat of slate gray. They have a very high activity level. Because they are so small they are hard to keep as pets because they can get through the bars of the wire cages, they can squeeze themselves right through the bars. These Roborovski dwarf hamsters are very clean animals they spend most of their time just grooming themselves.

With all the different types of dwarf Russian hamsters out there they all need about the same amount of taking care of. To give your dwarf hamster exercise outside the cage get a hamster ball, because they are very fast about escaping their cages just to run. The hamster ball is specifically made for them to run around the room and not get lost. Make sure they are not near the stairs when they are in the ball so they do not fall down the stairs.