The Generic Dwarf Ham...

[SnuggleHam]

Yup Generic.. Whenever I go into the pet stores they have either Generic names or "special" names in the name of making more money.



The Dwarf hamster in particular has the generic name of simply "dwarf hamster" or "Siberian" hamster. I went to both petco and petsmart today interested in looking at the dwarf hamsters. In petco they had a couple but all the label said was "dwarf hamster" Nobody new what kind of dwarf it was.



So when we stopped at Petsmart I asked about the "Siberian" hamster that they had wondering what kind of dwarf is really was. They didn’t have a clue what I was talking about and had to go and check. I explained to them that there are two kinds commonly called "Siberian" hamsters but they aren’t the same, Explaining one was the Russian Campbell’s and another similar looking ham was the winter whites who’s coats changes to white in the winter.



Maybe it’s my fault for still being new with the dwarf breeds, but a winter white and a Campbell’s in the summer look the same to me. How do I know what I am buying then.. Unless I go to a breeder.



On the way home we found another smaller family owned pet store. They hade these mini dwarf white hamsters, I couldn’t tell if they were winter whites or Campbell’s so I asked, and they didn’t have the foggiest, so I explained the same thing to them.



One of the white dwarf had red eyes making me believe it was a camp bells coat mutation and not a winter white, but then there was another all white ham that had dark eyes.. so who knows!



One neat thing though is that at petsmart they had a hairless hamster and a chinese hamster! I couldn’t believe it. Just as I become interested I start seeing all these hard to find hams pop up! Im glad I found my robos though!