Syrian Hamster

1 Species Overview

The Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), also called the golden hamster or ‘pearl bear’, is a hamster native to Asia. Because it breeds quickly and adapts well, it can be kept almost anywhere, and with good care lives 2 to 3 years.

The Syrian hamster only became an official pet category after being introduced to the United States in 1938; it belongs to the rodents. Shaped like a small bear, the adult weighs about 0.2 kg, and it was introduced and bred in places like Jiande, Zhejiang, China in the 1990s. Docile in temperament, it was the first hamster to become a human pet.

Taxonomy: Chinese name Jin Si Xiong; aliases pearl bear (Zhen Zhu Xiong), golden hamster; English name Syrian Hamster, Golden Hamster; kingdom Animalia; phylum Chordata; class Mammalia; order Rodentia; family Cricetidae (hamsters); species Mesocricetus auratus. Lifespan 2 to 3 years.

2 Physical Characteristics

The young and adult Syrian hamster differ clearly in coat color, which improves with age. Besides a cute, charming look, its temperament is quite active; it was the first hamster kept as a pet. The female is 15 to 20 cm long and 90 to 150 g; the male 15 to 18 cm and 80 to 130 g, about 0.2 kg; tail 1.53 cm. Its most original (wild) color is golden-brown back fur with a grey-white belly; after years of breeding there are now over 40 color varieties, the yellow-coated being most common.

3 Habitat and Environment

Many are won over by the Syrian hamster’s looks; it is cheap and easy to keep, active at night and quick in movement. How should you set up its environment?

The ideal temperature is 20 to 28 degrees C; avoid direct sun and strong wind but keep it ventilated. Keep it away from TV, speakers and computers, as hamsters hear sounds humans cannot and should be shielded from radiation and noise. In summer, avoid air conditioning, because on-off cycling causes large temperature swings and the hamster, sensitive to temperature, easily catches cold. In winter do not keep it outdoors, or it may enter torpor (pseudo-hibernation), which can be fatal if it does not wake in time. Lay ample wood shavings and provide a wooden or grass hut for warmth, or give cotton for nest-building; use degreased cotton or natural cotton. The simplest method is to place the whole cage inside a carton or plastic box, but keep it breathable. Do not give fabric or knitted items as bedding: hamsters love to burrow and will chew them, and loose threads can wrap around a limb or neck and strangle the hamster, so provide no woven items at all.

Cage: in summer use a well-ventilated wire cage or a half-wire half-plastic one; in winter a fully plastic cage suits better (do not use a wire-mesh floor base, as the Syrian hamster easily fractures a leg on it).

Food dish: most cages include one; if buying, any small, tip-proof container with a low rim works, glass ashtrays, soy-sauce dishes, small bowls or microwave boxes. Water bottle: most cages include one because the hamster needs water; the spout has a stainless steel ball, test for leaks. Never use an open bowl of water, as the hamster will wet its fur or even swim and catch cold. Toilet: a plastic box with wood pellets is a simple litter; clean daily, because some hamsters eat cat litter, whose clumping agent can be fatal if swallowed. Wheel: wild hamsters run about 20 km a day and up to 3000 wheel turns a night, so exercise is vital; without it they stress and chew the bars. Choose a solid (gap-free) wheel at least 17 cm in diameter for the larger Syrian body. Chew stone/stick: teeth grow continuously and must be worn down. Hut: ceramic, wood, grass or plastic huts are all loved, as hamsters are burrowing animals and should have one. Bedding: short-haired bears can use wood shavings; long-haired bears do best with corn cob plus hay. Use paper bedding cautiously and never printed paper, whose ink is toxic.

4 Feeding Highlights

All rodents like to gnaw, and the Syrian hamster is no exception; sunflower seeds, weed seeds or grains serve as gnawing food. Do not overfeed sunflower seeds or high-calorie foods, or the hamster gets fat and nutritionally unbalanced; an overweight hamster easily suffers heatstroke in summer and sheds from thick skin fat. Do not feed too many vegetables or fruit at once, which can cause diarrhea and death.

The staple is various weed seeds and grains, with occasional insect hunting; it hoards food and does not truly hibernate but can pseudo-hibernate, so it stores food for winter. In captivity feed a hamster-specific mix, dried fruit and moderate vegetables, mainly the mix but also some mealworms and dried small fish. The Syrian hamster stores food in its cheek pouches.

5 Temperament and Care

The Syrian hamster is famously good-tempered; when threatened it is not very fierce, only rolling over to resist with all four feet. It likes to groom its own fur and enjoy its scent. Most are very timid, especially when sleeping, so never startle them; they hear what we cannot. When annoyed, scared or just woken, the ears droop. Coming out of the cage, it curls up, lies on the ground and sniffs around, showing tension at a new place as it reads its surroundings.