I had hamster called the Black-eyed Bitch, because she was a black-eyed cream- -just like the hamster in the photo above.
And she would bite, even when she was “tamed” she would bite.
Golden hamsters bite. I’ve never known one not to try it.
But I’m being told that there are hamster strains now that have been rigorously selected for benign temperament.
I could have used those back when I decided to become a hamster farmer.
It was one of those childhood flights of fancy.
***
I break with convention here and still call Mesocricetus auratus “the golden hamster.” The trend is to call them Syrian hamsters.
However, the scientific name actually means “Golden mid-sized hamster.”
So I’m going to call them golden hamsters, even if the vast majority of captive hamsters in that species come in lots of different colors.
The wild-type coloration lovely golden brown:
***
I know lots about the behavior of this species.
One thing that always fascinated me was the little scent glands on the hips of a male hamster.
Right above the hips there are these little glands that produce a secretion that he rubs against his cage (or, in the wild, his burrow) to leave a scent.
On a wild-type hamster, he actually bleaches out the fur that grows above those glands.
If he smells a female hamster in season, he goes into marking with those glands big time.
Hamsters communicate by scent. That’s because they live solitary lives in the wild, and their home ranges tend to be quite large for such a small species. If a male and female meet and she’s not in season, they will fight. The female is usually much larger than the male, and she can kill him.
So when the female hamster comes in season, she produces an odor that even humans can detect. (I know I can.)
When the male hamster smells that odor, he will travel several miles to meet her.
Using such strong chemical communication is quite useful for this unusually solitary species.
The signal acts as a kind of green light for the male. Otherwise, he’d be risking a lot to come into a female’s range when she’s not receptive.
Captive hamster breeders don’t have to recognize the smell. Just putting your hand on the female is enough to make her assume the position.
And because the female cycles every four days, it is easy to figure out when to put the female in the male’s cage.
The gestation period is only 16 days– the shortest of all placental mammals.
The females tend to have rather large litters, and it’s also not unusual for a female to eat a few of her babies. Even ensuring that the female has enough protein in her normal diet isn’t enough to stop all cannibalism.
These animals are very different from dogs. If they weren’t so cute, I seriously doubt that anyone would have considered them as children’s pets.
They were originally domesticated from a single litter that was captured near Aleppo. A zoologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem named Israel Aharoni captured this litter in 1930. It is from this litter that all domestic hamsters in the US descend.
They were bred to be laboratory animals.
That’s all they were meant to be.
A colony was established in Britain in the 1930’s. These all were then put in the hands of private breeders, who began producing them as pets.
A cute hamster is something that can be easily be marketed to children.
However, keep in mind that these animals are nocturnal. I have seen a few that have been conditioned to be diurnal. You can actually buy them at Harrods.
However, as nocturnal animals, you really don’t get much opportunity to interact with them.
And they really don’t have social behavior.
I don’t believe for a second that a hamster can actually bond to you.
They may associate your scent with food, and that’s about it.
I had one that escaped that actually came out from behind the wall to me. I thought this was very cool, but I now realize that it was only because I gave him hamster yogurt treats that he came calling from his hiding place.
Hamsters are bad about escaping. Very bad. You have to check the locks and hatches on their cages every time you put them back. Or they’ll flee captivity.
Good names for golden hamsters are Papillon (Henri Charrière) and Houdini. I had about four named Houdini.
I would hardly call them ideal children’s pets.
But they are an interesting animal to get to know.
I think they might be better marketed to busy adults who really want a much more independent animal.
They really don’t require that much care.
And because they are so emotionally different from us, they are kind of like sharing space with an alien life form– one with an entirely different set of instincts, drives, and perceptions.
I didn’t appreciate those differences when I had them as child.
I don’t think many children can.
But if you really want to be with an animal very different from humans, I can’t think of a better choice.
They are just different.
And that makes them fascinating.
This is why I prefer rats. Social, friendly, not prone to biting or escaping (though I had one female who was).
Hamsters are a tad cuter, but that and their cheek pouches are their only redeeming qualities.
They also live longer and are far more intelligent.
Great dog substitutes.
I’m really not sure why people want hamsters as pets anyway… I had a Russian Dwarf Hamster that was SO MEAN i was only a teensy bit sad when he died (after 3 long years).
I wanted to be a hamster farmer.
I had many, many hamsters.
All different colors.
All golden hamsters.
My favorite color is the cinnamon color, which is like wild-type without an agouti or sabling. They are totally golden red with the white cheek markings.
http://www.hamsters.co.uk/cinnamon_syrian_hamster.htm
I didn’t get into winter white or Campbell’s dwarf hamsters.
I wanted a Chinese hamster:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_hamster
The pet store I used to frequent as a child had Chinese, winter white, and Campbell’s all in one cage.
Winter whites and Campbell’s can interbreed and produce fertile offspring.
A lot of the dwarf hamsters here are primarily Campbell’s, but you run into winter whites and Campbell’s that have winter white heritage.
Winter whites are so named because in their wild-type pelt they turn white in the winter.
i agree – hamsters * look * cute, but that’s just a pose.
;–) they are lousy pets for kids – not easily handled,
bite often, scare easy, night-active, PHOOEY…
get a nice rat – or a Guinea-pig; Guineas are not bright,
like rats, but they are nice + handleable.
still… ratties are the best, too bad they get terrible press.
– terry
terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*dogs R dogs, wolves R wolves, primates R us.*
— tmp, sept-2004
I had hamsters when I was a kid, too, though I don’t remember them being bitey. Maybe I’ve just blocked that out.
I had one accidental litter. Fred wasn’t a boy after all (hey I said I was a kid!). Mom’s coworkers all said don’t worry, the babies won’t live. Hamsters eat their young. Fred was a good mama who didn’t cannibalize a single pup. Go figure.
good catfish bait
Heh, I happened to obtain for my nephew a Syrian hamster selectively bred for temperament. So far, no biting.
The hamster is also a dark grey as a bonus. There’s only a handful of those in North America.
I noticed that the hamster in the first photo was golden retriever colored – creamish gold with black eyes.
I also noticed that the you mentioned the orignial GOLDEN hamster.
Given that things we want to be when we grow up, tend to influence us in some way, I was curious why the breed of dog you chose was the golden retriever.
Is there any connection between cream colored golden hamsters and golden retrievers – a kid’s heart sees things differently than adults, but we adults very very often are greatly influenced by the events of childhood?
I grew up with a great golden retriever, so I really didn’t choose the breed because of color. However, I prefer the darker shades.
As for hamsters, when I was a child, the cheapest hamsters available were golden hamsters.
And my first hamster was this black-eyed cream.
I went into a pet store and the only hamster available that had this smooth hair was this nasty black-eyed cream.
my golden brown syrian hamster , nibbles is 2 and a half and hasnt bitten me since he was about 5 months old.
Hes so tame that he begs to come ouut of his cage to play, even though i do take him out atleast oncece a day which may be why hes so tame! :)
Hamsters come in different sizes, shapes, colours and temperaments: i’ve had several hamsters over the years and only encountered one biter.
Sadly he developed wet tail as well and died young. I have a black eyed cream male now who’s very shy but would never consider biting. I think hamsters tend to be either fight or flight/freeze and this latest hamster falls into the latter category. Despite being terrified when first brought home, he has never bitten, bless.
I know, not as intelligent as rats but cuter to look at! :)
When I was in hamsters many years ago, you couldn’t find one that had a docile temperament. They were all exclusively color-bred and coat-type-bred.
short gestation, short breeding cycle, large litters, not much basis for empathy with humans . . . sounds like the ideal throw-away pet to be marketed by greedy breeders and pet shops . . . or a good food crop for snake farmers.
One vote for rats as dog-substitute.