LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Hamster: Golden Hamster
built 230 days ago
The Golden or Syrian Hamster is the most commonly kept Hamster and was originally imported for use as a laboratory research animal. Selective breeding has produced a broad range of color and coat variations of the Syrian Hamster such as the Teddy Bear Hamster.More recently Dwarf Hamsters have been imported from China, Russia, and Siberia. These Dwarf Hamsters are quite different in size, shape, coloration, and temperament than the Syrians.
Source:
The most common pet hamster is the Syrian hamster. If you have one of these hammies, you should know that he's a descendant of the first hamsters captured from the wild in 1930. Syrians are sometimes called golden hamsters, because of their honey-colored fur, which can be long or short, silky or fluffy. Syrian hamstersmust live alone and need some turf to call their own. If you put two in one cage, very soon they will begin to chatter their teeth at each other and start to fight. Battles can be fierce!
Source:
Until 1930, it was assumed that the golden hamster was extinct as a species. Then, in 1930, near the ancient town of Aleppo in Syria, a Jewish archaeologist by the name of Aaron Abrahams, came across a nest containing a small rodent with twelve babies that he could not identify. He carefully placed the family into a container and had them taken to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. There they were identified as golden hamsters and, under laboratory conditions, encouraged to breed. As a result, all the golden hamsters kept as pets in the world today are descended from the mother and babies found by accident in Syria back in 1930. It has never again been found in the wild.
Source:
The modern day pet hamster was first discovered in Syria in 1830. An Israeli Zoologist working in the Syrian desert brought the hamster back to his lab and was successful in breeding them. Later, in 1839 a British zoologist named George Waterhouse gave them their modern day name – the Golden Hamster. All common household pet hamsters are descendents of the Syrian desert hamsters.
Source:
The gestation period of the common hamster is 19-20 days and is 15 days for the Golden. They will have 4-12 babies at a time. A mother hamster is very maternal, and, if danger threatens, she will carry her babies away, either by putting them into her cheek pouches or laying them across the toothless area of her jaws. By the time they are two weeks old their eyes are open and they have a thick coat of fur. Mother hamsters wean their babies at about 3-4 weeks of age and the babies should be separated from the mother shortly after that. A female hamster is capable of having 2-3 litters a year.
Source:
Description: common hamster:- guinea-pig size, reddish-brown above, black below, white bands on shoulders; very short tail. Golden hamster:- light reddish-brown above, white underneath. The seven species of grey hamster have mousey or reddish coloured fur and longer tails. The dwarf hamster is the smallest, with greyish or buff upperparts, white underparts and a short tail. The golden hamster is the most well-known hamster, having been kept as a popular pet for many years. However, there are about 14 species of hamster, ranging from the guinea-pig sized common hamster to the tiny dwarf hamster, 5 - 10cm in length.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Golden Hamster