Dwarf Hamster Questions

[Pete145rugby]

Hi everyone,

We have a beautiful, sable roan Syrian hamster. Our second hamster (bought him in December after our son's previous Syrian sadly died). He's nicely tamed and is a happy healthy little guy, just the cutest thing.

When we bought our first hamster three years ago, we made the mistake of buying the largest hamster home from the pet store, which happened to be an Habitrail Ovo Loft. Within a few weeks we realised it was way too small for a Syrian, did our research and traded up to the Hamster Heaven, which both of our Syrians seem to have been very happy in (although they both preferred very different set-ups).

We still have the Habitrail Ovo Loft, we use to pop our little guy into for half an hour or so when we clean his HH. Rather than throw it away (or sell it to someone else who owns a Syrian), we're wondering if it's suitable for Dwarf hamsters.

If it is, we're pretty much set up and ready to add to our hamster family!

We've done a lot of research over the years regarding Syrians and, after making a few early mistakes, I think we'd say that we're good, responsible, knowledgeable owners. However, we're less knowledgeable about other breeds, so I have a few questions:

1 - Which breed is more friendly/easier to tame and handle between the Robo, Winter White, Campbell or Chinese?

2 - Do they have to live in pairs? I know they can, but will they live happily on their own?

3 - Is the Ovo Loft even big enough for a Dwarf breed?

4 - Any other advice on the differences between owning Dwarfs and Syrians?

Thanks in advance everyone.

Pete

[SecretlyDying]

Originally Posted by Pete145rugby

However, we're less knowledgeable about other breeds, so I have a few questions:

1 - Which breed is more friendly/easier to tame and handle between the Robo, Winter White, Campbell or Chinese?

2 - Do they have to live in pairs? I know they can, but will they live happily on their own?

3 - Is the Ovo Loft even big enough for a Dwarf breed?

4 - Any other advice on the differences between owning Dwarfs and Syrians?

Thanks in advance everyone.

Pete

Hi, your Syrian sounds delightful and the hamster heaven is an amazing cage. To answer your questions though:

1 - Most people find winter whites and Campbells to be the friendliest/easiest to tame however it is really dependent on the individual hamster. Chinese hamsters are known for being quite timid and shy to begin with but once tame can be amazing pets and robo's are generally seen as a watch but dont handle pet since they're so small and tend to be very skittish/scared of humans. Another thing to note here is that unless you get a campbells or winter white from a well known reputable breeder they will be hybrids as these two species can breed together. Hybrids are just a mix of the two and can look more like one or the other or have a mix of both, they're prone to diabetes just like Campbell's are.

2 - they absoultely do not need to live in pairs and tbh most pairs don't really work out - they usually need separating at some point due to fighting, bullying etc. Having one is perfectly okay and they wont get lonely as long as they have some form of human interaction and lots of toys in their cage

3 - the ovo loft isn't suitable even for dwarfs, its measurements are 33 x 50.8 x 27.9 cm which is too small really, ideally they need the same size cage as a syrian so around 80cm x 50cm or bigger

4 - the only other advice/differences is that you can get away with having smaller accessories i.e. houses, tunnels, toys etc

They do make amazing pets though so if you have the space and money for another large cage and the time for 2 hamsters id definitely get one

[cypher]

Your ham does sound like a lovely guy & I agree that the hamster heaven is a nice cage but that's (or a similar size & style of cage) is what I keep my Russian & Chinese hamsters in, the ovo most definitely isn't suitable for any hamster in my opinion, it does seem a shame having bought it not to use it but dwarf hamsters need a similar space to syrians just slightly different toys, layout etc.

Of all the dwarf species I would say the Russians, either WW, Campbell's or hybrids, are the easiest to handle, although fast they aren't as fast as Chinese or Robos, they are generally easy to tame too, Chinese can take a little longer often being a bit skittish & shy to begin with although they do tame well & make lovely pets. Robos being super small & super fast are probably the hardest to handle, how easy they are to tame seems to vary quite a lot but not the easiest.

No species needs to live in pairs & it is really quite unnatural for them, most pairs end up falling out as they mature & need to be separated, all species will live alone very happily.

General care isn't very different really, with some species, Campbell's, Russian hybrids & Chinese you do need to be aware of the potential for diabetes & take extra care with diet.
They can have smaller houses & wheels, not too small though (mine have 9" wheels) & smaller toys, they generally like lots of small hideouts & a sand bath is much more of an essential with dwarf hams than with syrians but otherwise care is very similar.