Small, social with amusingly quick movements, dwarf hamsters are quickly gaining popularity. The attraction in dwarf hamsters lies partly in their sociable nature and unlike their larger cousin the Syrian hamster, you can indeed keep more than one to a cage! It is not uncommon to keep two, three and even four dwarf hamsters in the same cage. But of course you need to be sure they are the same sex or you could wind up with hundreds of hamsters in a very short time span!
Comical antics and genuine excitement at seeing you at the cage door is what makes these tiny gems all the more endearing.
Dwarfs can be very vocal too! You’ll hear them ‘chirp’ or ‘chitter’ with glee at the thought of coming out of the cage to play or you can hear them ‘hollering’ at each other over one thing or another in their homes.
There are 4 species of dwarf hamsters commonly kept as pets, and each are unique in their own way. Dwarf hamsters have all the same charming qualities of their larger Syrian cousins - stuffing the cheeks, washing their faces, climbing and zooming around only in ‘miniature’ form!
Below is a description of the different varieties of dwarf hamster and what they look like, articles and safety information.
Come join the free forums and talk to other who keep these tiny gems! My carefully picked team of moderators are well versed in hamster care! ©
Dwarf Campbells Russian Hamster (Djungarian):
This little, stocky, compact hamster originates from Southern Siberia, Northern China, Central Asia and Mongolia. He can be found in a variety of colours with a white belly and a thin dark stripe down his back almost to the tail. He is a good natured little fellow and like his fellow hamsters is nocturnal with constantly growing teeth.
Lifespan: 18 months to 2 years.
Siberian (Russian Winter White):
Originates from Siberia, Manchuria and Mongolia.
A robust, pretty little fellow compact and more `rounded` than the Campbells. His head is longer and deeper than the Campbells’ with large eyes set closer to the ears than the nose, whereas the Campbells` eyes/ears are set at an equal distance.
He has a thick black stripe down his back from head to tail and the contours of colouring are very clearly defined.
As with the others, he is nocturnal with constantly growing teeth and good natured.
His grey summer coat turns into white for winter in the wild , hence his name.
Keep the same housing considerations in mind as you would for the Campbell’s Dwarf.
Lifespan: 18 months to 2 years
ROBOROVSKII (Desert Hamster)
Originates from China, Mongolia and Russia, smallest of all the hamsters and very quick and agile. “Robos” differ in that they have no stripe down the back and come in a sandy beige colour with very distinctive `eyebrows` which makes them very appealing and pretty .
Nocturnal with constantly growing teeth, he has a longer lifespan than the others. They are probably the least suitable for a childrens` pet as they are very small and quick. They are good natured as with most hamsters.
Lifespan: 3 to 3 1/2 years.
All the Dwarf varieties can live in same sex pairs or groups but if fighting does occur, they must be separated immediately.
CHINESE HAMSTER (C.griseus)
The Chinese Hamster is longer in appearance than the Dwarf Hamster and sometimes described as `ratlike. He is grey in colour with a dark stripe down his back and dark patch on his head. He has a little, short tail which the other Hamsters do not and sometimes they have white spots which make them appear lighter in colour.
Their life span is 2 to 3 years.
They make great pets but if kept in same sex pairs or groups they may fight. They can be very territorial especially the females who will fight with each other and be very aggressive towards the male in the breeding season. Males fight too but they are not as aggressive as the females.
If they do fight and blood is drawn...They MUST be separated at once.
They are very agile and love to tunnel rather than climb. In my experience with both sexes I have found them to be very sweet natured with humans.
Dwarf starter kits cage/toys & cage accessories
Cages - Dwarf hamsters all require more space than you would think. They need room to run and zip around at their fast speeds without too many obstacles in the way! Dwarfs also like to tunnel and dig so you might want to consider a cage like a very large aquarium or making a cage yourself from storage bins. I’ve always used bins because I found the store made plastic cages are entirely wrong for keeping dwarf hamsters.
Dwarf hamsters have furry feet which make climbing difficult and using tubes even more so.
Water bottles - Dwarfs like their larger cousins are chewers too, so you might want to consider keeping your water bottles on the outside of the cage. Make sure you check that the bedding isn’t interfering with the spout because like gerbils, they will pile up bedding under bottles and cause it to ‘wick’ the water out and make the whole cage wet.
Bowl - heavy ceramic or even metal bowls that cannot be tipped over are fine. Again, hamsters like to chew plastic so avoid those if possible. Ingesting plastic bits can cause great harm.
Some like to scatter the food on the cage floor simulating the need to forage for their food. Just keep fresh fruits and veggies in a separate bowl you can monitor for rot and mold.
Bedding - All bedding should be UNSCENTED. Pine or cedar might smell lovely to you but its too strong a scent for the tiny hamster. Scented bedding can cause irritation to skin and lungs. Use a paper based bedding like CareFresh or Megazorb. Kiln dried Aspen shavings are good if you must use wood shavings. I find keeping the bedding fairly deep - as much as 4 inches - and plenty of fresh clean sand for a potty, you will find your dwarf cage needs cleaning much less often than if you kept less bedding and no sand toilet.
Food - there are loads of commercially prepared available in all pet supplies. Lab blocks made for hamsters are also a good choice. Hamsters will also need a nice variety of treats of fruits, nuts and veggies from your kitchen. Check the hamster food safety chart to see what is safe to give your hamster.
Wheels - Dwarf hamsters will often share a wheel and run about together on one at the same time! Getting a wheel is not only for your entertainment but to simulate his natural instinct to roam. The wheel should have a solid surface for the flooring and no holes to trap tiny legs. Wodent Wheel brand is an excellent choice and there are so many more to choose from. Avoid all wheels with rungs on the running surface, axels across the center and ‘side braces’ on the wheel walls where they enter. All of these pose dangers of broken limbs, hair getting caught in the axel and broken necks. Replace chewed plastic wheels often as plastic bits can cause harm to your little hamster!
Hamster Exercise Balls - These are debatable in my opinion. Many people use these for their hamsters ‘out time’. This ball provides safety for your hamster so he can exercise in a safe area where there is no danger of him ‘rolling’ down stairs or behind furniture. Other options are pens (see dwarf hamster pens) but you will have to carefully supervise them in an open pen as they can and do escape! Never leave a loose hamster unsupervised and never let your hamster loose among other pets such as dogs or cats!
Houses - The sky and your imagination are your only limits when it comes to houses for your hamster! There are plenty of commercially made hamster homes but any home made house will do as well! Hamsters tend to chew everything to bits so if your hamster is a voracious chewer, you might want to avoid plastic stuff and use wood or cardboard instead. These are easily replaced and give your hamster its need to chew
Toys - Dwarf hamsters will amuse themselves for hours with the right toys! They love to climb and crawl through things and more. So again, you are only limited by your imagination here. Use safe toys as [again] they will chew them to bits! Ingesting plastic can cause great harm to your new friend.
Hamster “litterbox” - A very good way of keeping the cage fresher longer is to provide a small toilet with chinchilla sand or sterilized play sand for your hamster. Hamsters instinctively choose one place to toilet so it is not difficult to get them to use a “litterbox” There are many commercial made hamster size litter boxes available, or simply a plastic bowl or box the right size works very well.
Chew toys - All rodents need something to chew to keep their teeth worked down. There are many types of wooden chews you can buy - the bark bites, or natural apple twigs, are usually better received than the colored, fruit-flavored ones. Dog biscuits and hard bread are also good to provide for your hamster to help maintain his teeth.
Sand Baths - Dwarf hamsters require a sand bath to keep their coats clean and free from oils. Hamsters of any kind should NEVER, EVER be given a bath with soap and water. Dwarf’s will roll in a bath of sand so the best and easiest thing to do is make one out of a disposable food storage container at least 5 inches across. Put the lid onto it and cut a hole in the side about half way in the middle so the little ones can climb in and roll about without spilling the sand all over the cage.
Sand can be obtained in two forms, Chinchilla sand (NOT DUST!) from any pet shop or you can go to any hardware store that sells clean children’s play sand and sterilize that.
To sterilize sand place it in an old metal pan and bake it in your oven (in small batches of course) for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. This is also very good if you purchase sand that has gotten wet to sterilize and dry it at the same time!
You can store all your sterilized and cooled sand in a 5 gallon plastic bucket with a lid.
The use of children’s play sand is far more economical than the chinchilla sand.
Chinchilla sand = (approximately) $7.00 per 5 ounce packet - 5 packets to a box
Children’s play sand = $4.00 per 50 pound bag.
Considering you need to change the sand bath and the potty daily, I recommend the play sand!
* Keep in mind that any items that are chewable will be chewed so choosing your items carefully is a must. It has been known that some animals have had problems with plastic and ingesting the small chewed off bits. If you see your hamster or any other small caged animal chewing too aggressively and it concerns you, take the plastic out, especially the chewed off bits and either replace these things often or find wood or safer items like paper or cardboard to give them.
~ by Joan A Walker ©
Dwarf hamsters can be allot different than handling their larger cousins, the Syrian hamster. They tend to be a bit more hyperactive and will not want to snuggle in your hand like the Syrians so we need to adapt to their way of wanting to socialize with us.
First we need to understand that the dwarf hamster is much more protective of their cages and home surroundings and will more often than not bite your hand if you try to simply dig in and grab one. The best thing to do is open the cage door and let the little one come to you. You can also stick a tube from paper towels, toilet paper rolls or an unused one from the store bought cages that have tubes, inside the cage. Make sure to cover up one end with your hand! Most hamsters will be very curious of the tube and crawl right in.
Once inside the tube, close the cage door so any cage mates can’t come out and then you can put your hamster into a play pen area or one of those mini zoomer balls made especially for the smaller rodents.
Dwarf hamsters tend to become friendly toward humans a bit faster than the Syrians and it’s so easy to do! Simply talk to them, give treats through the cage bars and always be calm, even if they bite you. Treating them gently will also help gain their trust toward you. Picking them up the proper way is also important.
Never grab at your little hamster, or your big Syrian for that matter. The proper way to pick up your hamster is by scooping it up with both hands from underneath. Similar to scooping up sand. They tend to get upset from a hand coming at them from above and grabbing them. Put yourself in their place and think of what this would look like to them! Scooping from the side is not so frightening.
Now I like to use a play pen with lots of things to explore and play in, treats to find and room enough for me to sit in there with them. They are very fun to observe running and playing in the pen!
What usually happens is if I go in there with them, they will run around for about 15 minutes and then start to become interested in me. They’ll climb on my legs, up my shirt (with a bit of help from me!) and all over me. It got to the point that they will actually listen to me to do certain ‘tricks’ in regard to climbing. They learned to recognize certain words, like ‘come on’, ‘climb up, and even ‘want to go play’!
I would ask ‘want to go play’? and they would wake up and all come to the cage door to come out in the pen! When it was time to end play time, I would go out of the pen, stand there and put my hands into the pen and say ‘come on’ and three little ones would climb onto my hand to go home!
This was very easy to do simply by repeating the words and never varying them for what you want them to learn, much like training dogs. Remember, they are NOT like dogs in any way and will NEVER understand many of the words you would use to teach another animal. They don’t understand reprimand and NO.
But with patience and careful handling your little ones will be anxious to hang out in a pen with you like mine did!
This is my little play area set up for my dwarfs.
I found this pen in the pet store and was able to hook two together to make a larger pen. This pen is pretty safe for dwarfs as they can’t climb out but the bigger Syrians will climb out as fast as you can blink! Never leave your hamster unsupervised and never ever allow other pets in the room with a loose hamster!
Below are some images of how to properly hold and pick up a hamster.
From left to right: Basil, Cool Hand Luke, Pinky
Dwarf Hamster Varieties
~ by Jill Barker ©
~ by Joan A Walker ©
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