Fur colour and behaviour

[mamahammy]

If I'm not looking for a certain fur color, will their color add to behavior, or just pick which ever seems to come up to me?

[AprilPearl]

Recently, I heard that certain colours do have a tendency to exhibit specific traits. For example, cinnamon and yellow hamsters tend to be more active and cream hamsters are generally the most placid. Can’t say that I have noticed this with my hamsters, but that could be because they were from pet shops and therefore have a number of different colours in their ancestory contributing to their personality.

[Jennie F]

Sounds like the human equivalent of blondes have more fun haha. I personally doubt colouring would affect behaviour, its like saying people with a certain eye colour show more psycotic tendancies. Id assume its more to do with breeding and individual personalities. My cream ham is an absolute nut job haha which is, as Aprilpearl said, more a combination of pet shop bred traits

[Hekomi]

I think it varies more on their lines; a lot of people claim torts are naughty and silly, but I've had torts and yellows on all ends of the spectrum! Some are super sweet and laid back, while others are high maintenance and want my attention all the time.

[CMB]

I have been told by unite a few people that have kept a number of different colour dwarf hybrid hamsters that black dwarf hamsters are often more nervous, harder to tame and bite more.

Not sure it it is true or not as I haven't had a black dwarf hamster. I have had the normal colour and my current hamster, who I don't know what her colour is.

[Mooboo]

Originally Posted by CMB

I have been told by unite a few people that have kept a number of different colour dwarf hybrid hamsters that black dwarf hamsters are often more nervous, harder to tame and bite more.

Not sure it it is true or not as I haven't had a black dwarf hamster. I have had the normal colour and my current hamster, who I don't know what her colour is.

I have a black dwarf hamster and it is definitely more nervous than it's litter mate. But I thought this might have been due to her small size as I suspect she was the runt of the litter and got bullied.

[Drago]

I personally think it has more to do with the parents of hams passing on certain traits. Though it's always fun to think a fur color (and a set of traits that come with it) control behavior, I doubt it's really so general. If it was true, I think we'd see a much higher incidence of hams and other animals fitting these stereotypes nearly perfectly. I think it's a thing that orange tabbies are supposed to be much more spunky and high energy than other cats. However, my childhood cat was an orange tabby and he was just the calmest and laziest little guy ever. I personally don't think enough research has gone into this for it to be considered true