Syrain (Golden) Hamsters
The natural colour of these Hamsters is a rich Golden brown above, with a white underside. The face is marked with white crescents beneath dark cheek flashes. Since their introduction to Britain in 1931, Golden Hamsters have been bred so skilfully and extensively that they now occur in over 100 colour varieties.
Self colours
Single-coloured Hamsters are known as ‘selfs’, and the self colours include white, cream, fawn, honey, cinnamon grey, silver blue, sepia, chocolate and various shades of the natural golden colour. Each shade, it recognised by the Hamster Fancy breeders’ organisation, is referred to as a separate breed, the name of which may include the eye or ear colour, as in the Red-Eyed Cream, Black-Eyed White, Dark-Eared Albino and Flesh-Eared Albino. Perhaps surprisingly, there are no black hamsters, despite the optimistic claims of enthusiasts. There are many dark-coated Hamsters, but on examination they are found to have lighter bellies, frequently a lighter ring around the eyes, and they do not ‘breed true’.
Marked varieties
The marked varieties are multi-coloured or patterned Hamsters. The most commonly seen is the banded variety, which has a broad white band across the Hamster’s back, dividing the self colour into two sections. Banded Hamsters are named according to their self colour, as for example, in the Golden Band, Honey Band and the Ruby-Eyed Fawn Band Hamsters.
Other marked varieties of multi-coloured or patterned Hamsters include the Piebald, which is broken-coloured with some white-spotting; the Mosaic, which has one or more dark markings on a pail coat; and the Tortoiseshell and White Hamster, which has three colours, including yellow, in the coat.
Varying coat-types
Golden Hamsters have been successfully bred with varying coats, which may be both longer and shorter than the natural form. The longhaired varieties have an appealing, fluffy look and they are bred in the whole range of colour varieties. The short-haired form is the satinized Hamster with hair that looks and feels like velvet. These, Hamsters, too, are bred in the compleat range of available colours.
Social Hamsters
There has long been a demand from pet keepers for a social Hamster which will live peaceably in a colony. Breeders have sought to meet this demand by offering two species of hamster that are known to live in groups in the wild. Both are small animals, less than half the size of the Golden Hamster, and the colour varieties are limited.
Chinese Hamsters
Cricetulus griseus, despite its common name, occurs throughout much of Eurasia from the Siberia to Tibet and westwards into eastern Europe. This species is now available to pet keepers, and they may kept in pairs of males or females but should be introduced under the age of six weeks. Colony rearing in the close confines of captivity has not always been very successful. Some of the females are highly aggressive and, particularly when they become pregnant, are very liable to attack the males unmercifully, making it imperative to house them separately.
Russian Hamsters
Phodopus sungorus occurs throughout Russia, China and Mongolia. These little dwarf Hamsters seem to be much more amenable to family life than a Chinese Hamster, and are becoming increasingly popular as pets. Their natural colour is brownish grey with contrasting white underneath and a distinctive black dorsal stripe, but they are now available in a satinized form and also a wide range of coat colours, which include Cinnamon, Chocolate, Opal, Copper and Black.
~ Theo ~
