Totally Lost and Confused.. (blackberry hamsters)?????

SnuggleHam · 05-29-2005, 07:08 AM

Alas, yet another bad pet store that I came across the other night.. My Husband and I took the in laws out for dinner in this nice mall at a fancy kind of restaurant, they had a pet store and I wanted to look for a new silent spinner for Gerald. of course I went over to look at the hamsters and I found something I have never in my life heard of, or in all my hamster research for that matter

In this one small tank were about 4 of these strange looking rodents that to me looked more like some kind of mouse. They were labeled "blackberry hamsters" they didn’t look anything like hamsters at all.

I went over looking for someone that worked in the store and when I found this one person that was working there at the time I asked if I could look at the hamsters and said I wanted to see the "blackberry hamsters" she just looked at me smiling and said "ok" so I started walking but she didn’t fallow? I asked her again if I could see them and she said

"Ok" and I said

"Aren’t you coming?" to which she replied

"You can see them" So confused I simply stated out loud,

"You mean I can just go over there by myself and handle the hamsters as I please?" and she said yes!! What kind of store policy is that!???????

Anyway these "blackberry hamster: were kind of a bluish-gray with black flecks or color points to the tips if their fur. They were about the size and shape of a Chinese hamster but they didn’t look like Chinese hamsters to me at all. Something about their body shapes that didn’t look right. How many color mutations does the Chinese hamster come in?

Even if these were Chinese hamster (wish I could find a picture) they weren’t called Chinese simply "blackberry hamsters) Does anyone know what I’m talking about? Anybody that might have a picture they know of that I’m talking about.. Please someone fill me in here, were those Chinese hamsters that I saw?

Anyway, to further anger me there were these two albino type Campbell’s hamsters both had very red eyes, In fact I think both that that problem with the budging eye problem where they both eventually explode. One of the dwarfs was in its own cage, and the other poor dwarf, which looked horrible and has cuts on its head, was caged with these mysterious (blackberry hamsters!")

I went back over the person that worked there about ready to give her a piece of my mind and told her about the two Campbell’s and she said "we don’t have camp bells" so I asked..

"Well what are they then?" of course expecting a very disappointing answer.

"Siberian dwarfs" she says... I then tried to explain to her the difference of a Campbell’s and a winter white and told her how there is no such thing these days as a "Siberian hamster" that’s its misleading and generic. She kept nodding her head and saying "yes, yes yes" and when I asked

"what is that Campbell’s doing with those blackberry hamsters" she tells me

"oh I’m not in charge of the rodents" ..

"well who is then!!??" I ask..

She tells me its someone else and that’s she’s just in charge of the dogs (they had a full wall of pure bred puppies in there for sale"

Anyway.. Makes me upset.. Stupid ignorant people, I curse them and spit on them!!

She told me that she’s tell the “hamster person” and tell her manager.. ya right this girl was total flake head!

05-29-2005, 07:32 AM

Might this be what it looked like?

It is listed as a dwarf.

amnerisryn · 05-29-2005, 07:35 AM

Chinese have only been bred in a few colors (that I've heard of anyway): Normal (grey), Dominant Spot , and White. I Googled 'blackberry hamster' and found the Blackberry Hamster shown in the post above. Does it look anything like the one you saw? I wish you had a picture of them. There was also a post about them on another forum I visited recently and someone said if it had a dorsal stripe, it was a Campbells. I'm definately intrigued.

SnuggleHam · 05-29-2005, 07:40 AM

No it wasn’t anything like that, they looked like mice, if anything they were more colored in resemblance to Chinese amsters. I did a Google search myself and couldn't find anything like what I saw.

05-29-2005, 08:41 PM

I found this elsewhere:

Pet Shop/ Book Names What It Really Means

Teddy Bear Hamster = Long haired Syrian Hamster

Black Bear Hamster = Black Syrian Hamster

Polar Bear Hamster =White Syrian Hamster

Honey Bear/ Yellow Bear = Yellow or Honey Syrian Hamster

Dalmatian Hamster = Black Dominant Spot Syrian Hamster

Panda Bear Hamster = Black Banded Syrian Hamster

Fancy Hamster = Short haired Syrian Hamster

Djungarian Hamster = Winter White Dwarf Hamster

Siberian Hamster = Campbells Russian Dwarf Hamster

Blackberry/ Blueberry Hamster = Blue or Black Campbells Russian Dwarf Hamster

Checkered Hamster =Dominant Spot Syrian Hamster (any color)

Rust-Red Hamster = Cinnamon Syrian Hamster

Spotted Dwarf Hamster = Mottled Campbells Russian Dwarf Hamster

05-29-2005, 08:50 PM

And a bit more hunting, found this:

Dwarf Campbells Russian hamsters -- these are the little guys that

are 2.5-4" long and weigh 1-3 oz. on average. They have stubby little

furry tails and fur on both the tops and bottoms of their feet. There

are many different colors and patterns. They're sometimes called

"Siberian dwarfs," but this is a common pet-store misnomer. They're

also called things like "fancy dwarf hamsters," "blueberry hamsters,"

"blackberry hamsters" and other cutesy, inaccurate names.

SnuggleHam · 05-29-2005, 09:14 PM

I already know about WW and Campbells being called Siberian hamsters, but trust me I know a campbells and WW when I see one, Im telling you, these looked very mice like, more like a chinese hamster. They appeared to be all males as their testicles were sticking out like the chinese hamsters will, But they werent as elongated as a adult chinese, so many they were younger? But I never saw a color mutation like they had. Like I said, they were a gray/blue color and had flecks of black in ther fur.

**babyboos** · 05-30-2005, 04:14 AM

Blackberry "Dwarf" Hamsters is a term I have heard more from USA than anywhere else in the world and usually refers to Black Campbell's Dwarf Hamsters. The only other hamster species currently kept in captivity (apart from Syrian, Chinese, Campbell's and Winter White Russian Dwarf, and Roborovski) is the Mouselike Hamster and sorry but the colour described is not suitable for this species and they are extremely rare in the UK, plus I have never, ever heard of them in USA, and especially in a mall petstore, AND you don't mention a long tail which I would have thought you would have

Chinese hamsters also have a bit of a tail which is obvious in the young ...

Extract from PWS:

Mouselike Hamster (Calomyscus bailwardi)

The Mouselike Hamster inhabits stony mountainous areas of Iran, Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan although it is rarely seen in the wild today.

It has a body length of approximately 7-8 cm and is grey in colour when young maturing to a sandy colour with white belly and feet. It has a tail of 8-10cm which is finely covered in fur with more fur at the end so that it resembles a paintbrush!

The Mouselike Hamster is one of the few hamsters that do not have cheekpouches. Their diet consists mainly of seeds.

The Mouselike Hamster usually breeds between March and June and only has one or two litters of an average of 3-4 young each year.

The Mouselike Hamster was used in Russian Laboratories but it is not known if this is still the case. It has recently been imported into the UK by Zoos.

I can only imagine they are Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamsters but if you could obtain a picture Candace then we will be able to hopefully ascertain what exactly they are.

The fact that they are in with Albinos - again a colour only found in Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamsters helps to reinforce the opinion that this is what they are. Albino Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamsters do have quite striking red eyes - and I am not a huge fan of this colouration I am sad to say because of the quite evil looking eyes

I far prefer the Black-Eyed White

Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamsters can be quite elongated sometimes and actually reflect poor type for this species so are to be discouraged for breeding purposes.

The cuts you describe on the Albino sound quite conscerning and I would therefore encourage you to contact the ASPCA at your earliest convenience, if you haven't done so already.

SnuggleHam · 05-30-2005, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babyboos

The fact that they are in with Albinos - again a colour only found in Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamsters helps to reinforce the opinion that this is what they are. Albino Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamsters do have quite striking red eyes - and I am not a huge fan of this colouration I am sad to say because of the quite evil looking eyes

I far prefer the Black-Eyed White

Trust me, these were not Campbell’s hamsters, they were another species entirely. There was a Campbell’s in there with them, but the rest were not the same species. I have finally decided that they must have been Chinese hamsters, they were probably a bit younger which made them not look as elongates, but they were males and had the distinct long rounded rear end and had longer tails then a dwarf hamster but shorter then a mouse. They were just odd looking because their color was something I had never seen before and as far as I knew I thought Chinese came in one common like color or brownish or gray, but from google searching I can see that’s not true.

I wish I could have taken picture, this place was just over an hour away and we don’t go there to often.

Coco1 · 05-31-2005, 04:45 PM

Candace, take a look at the photos on this page - is it like any of these?

http://images.google.com/images?ie=U...e-like+hamster