Long Haired Syrian

[Bryony]

HI there!

I am rescuing a Syrian hamster soon and am wondering whether to rescue a long or short haired hamster. I am hoping to get a boy and I have heard that their coats are a lot longer then a females. I was just wondering if anyone has a long haired Syrian they could post a picture of? Its hard to tell which are female an male on the internet.

Also do they need a lot of brushing and do they get dirty due to the long fur?

Thanks for any help!

[Ria P]

My reply disappeared so try again.

Long haired Syrian boys wear skirts!

The fur around their rump is quite long. Hopefully someone who has one will post a photo and tell you more about them. Mine is a grey short haired one.

I'd go for the one you feel a connection with or comes to you.

[souffle]

Long haired males do need a little extra care with the long coat however there is no reason why you can't just trim the skirt short. It is just like having a little hair cut. We keep them on fitch bedding or you could use carefresh as shaving do tend to tangle quite badly. Choose the one you feel you like best and if it;s a long coat be prepared for brushing and also maybe a little more expense on bedding. Some males have less skirt than others. This pic is quite a long coat

[AprilPearl]

A short haired male and a short haired female will have coats of about the same length but long haired males’ fur tends to be a lot longer than that of long haired females. Long haired females are fluffy but usually just have two small tufts of longer hair on either side of the tail, rather than a ‘skirt’ of long hair all the way around. Most long haired males will have a skirt, but not all.

My last hamster was a long haired boy (though not especially long haired). His coat length varied an awful lot! Sometimes it would be just fluffy with no skirt at all, other times he had a (thin) skirt.

Brushing varies - it depends on how long the coat is. If it’s really long then you will probably have to brush it or trim it.

I wouldn’t say they get dirty as, just like all hamsters, they clean themselves well. Your only issue is with tangling so you need to find an appropriate substrate.

I’ll try and find some pictures of my last LH boy with a skirt to attach.

[LunaTheHamster1]

My female long haired.
She has a few tufts around her ears and on either side of her tail.
Long haired Males tend to be more fluffy around the tail area than the females.

[sarahbutterflies]

I have a female long haired and there’s not much maintenance with her (other than the usual like cleaning the cage, etc). With long haired males, if they are bred well will have a very luscious and long skirt/coat. You may have to be careful on what type of wheel you get just because their hair can get stuck in the axel with males I think and you may possibly have to groom them with a small brush. My hamster only have some longer tufts of fur on either side of her tail and some longer strands throughout her body. With the short haired ones they simply just have short hair too and they are very cute as well so whichever one you get I think you will be happy

Oh I just wanted to mentioned that female Syrians typically tend to be harder to please, but not all. And in general you will need much more space for a Syrian which I wasn’t fully aware of before I got mine.

[AprilPearl]

Originally Posted by sarahbutterflies

I have a female long haired and there’s not much maintenance with her (other than the usual like cleaning the cage, etc). With long haired males, if they are bred well will have a very luscious and long skirt/coat. You may have to be careful on what type of wheel you get just because their hair can get stuck in the axel with males I think and you may possibly have to groom them with a small brush. My hamster only have some longer tufts of fur on either side of her tail and some longer strands throughout her body. With the short haired ones they simply just have short hair too and they are very cute as well so whichever one you get I think you will be happy

Oh I just wanted to mentioned that female Syrians typically tend to be harder to please, but not all. And in general you will need much more space for a Syrian which I wasn’t fully aware of before I got mine.

Not necessarily. I got my Quigley (LH male ham, see pics above of him with a skirt) from a show breeder and he never had a very thick coat. When he did have a skirt it was a bit sparse and most of the time he had no skirt at all!

[Bryony]

Thanks so much for all the pictures, Its so difficult online to get pictures labelled male and female!

There all so adorable! The rescue has baby long haired Syrians at the moment and I was hesitant to choose one but I feel better after hearing your advice and seeing how cute the long hair can be!

Thanks to this forum i'm so much more prepared then I was when I first thought about getting a hamster! S0 great to have so many friendly knowledgeable people in one place! I bought a 81cm x 62cm (750sq inch) storage bin that I've made into a cage so hopefully the hammie likes it!

[Bryony]

AprilPearl, what a handsome hamster! Ive never seen a coat color like that!

[AprilPearl]

Originally Posted by Bryony

AprilPearl, what a handsome hamster! Ive never seen a coat color like that!

Thank you haha he was just a ‘common or garden’ golden hamster, though!