This may sound silly but I'm not qute sure about it:
Are Siberian dwarf hamsters the same as plain Siberian hamsters? The same question goes for Russians. What is the difference between Russians and Siberians? thanks anyone. :lol:

they are the same things, why?

Oh! No wonder. They look so similar I thought. I never knew that they are the same species, whoops. Thanks Tommy!! Just wondering. :lol:

im not 100% sure but im confident enough to say they are.

Okay thanks. :D

do you have the siberian hamsters?

i think there is a difference. im not sure what exactly, i just know all the dwarf hamsters i have dealt with were very aggressive.

really? the ones i have handled were really nice, very coopertive. i think it may be a diffence in color or something.

I will summarize the species for you from my dwarf hamster book.

"There are at least 24 different species or subspecies of hamster....basically four species or subspecies, which are known collectively as the Dwarf Hamsters." There are two groups of dwarf hamsters.

1. "Rat-like hamsters" group - the Chinese hamster (rarely sold) - Cricetulus griseus (looks like a mouse to me)
2. "True" dwarf hamsters group - 3 species of Russian hamster

The three species of Russian hamster:
1. Campbell's dwarf Russian hamster - Phodopus sungoris campbelli
2. Winter white dwarf Russian hamster - Phodopus sungoris sungoris, similiar to the previous one but the coat changes color to white in the winter
3. Raborovski's dwarf Russian hamster - Phodopus raborovski

It is the first one that comprises the majority of Dwarf Siberian hamsters one might find in a US pet store. They now come in a variety of color coat patterns. Note that I use Siberian as a synonym for Russian.


Also, the Syrian hamster is the most commonly sold species of hamster. Also called the golden hamster, they now come in a number of varieties: Golden, teddy, black, etc. These guys are much bigger and solitary in comparison to the gregarious dwarf hamsters.

golden hamsters are very aggresive. my friend had a male with a female short hair and they would always fight. the female had 1 baby but the male killed it. i really like the short hair, long hair, and dwarf. can the dwarf speceies interbreed?

If you see the scientific names for the four species of dwarf hamster (one Chinese, three Russian/Siberian), you will see that two of the Russian dwarf hamsters are sub-species and probably can interbreed. Otherwise, presumably the other species cannot interbreed.

i ask this because someone i know breed them and they looked kind of different.

i see. Thanks for the information, everyone. :D