AY Honors/Small Mammal Pets/Answer Key

• Phodopus sungorus
• Phodopus sungorus sungorus

(see text) Template:Taxobox end Winter White Russian hamsters are a species of hamster in the genus Phodopus. They are typically half the size of the better-known Syrian hamster, and therefore called dwarf hamsters along with all Phodopus species. Features include a typically dark grey dorsal stripe and furry feet. The tail is so short that it hardly shows if the hamster is sitting. In the winter, Winter Whites can turn almost completely white, hence the name Winter White. This is due to a reduction of sunlight, in Winter, there is less light, this causes the hamsters coat to change completely white, this is to help them evade predators in the snow covered Steppes of winter.

Up until recently, it was debated wether the Winter White hamster was a sub-species of the Campbells (Phodopus campbelli) or not, however, it has now been proven that the Winter whites are of their own species Phodopus sungorus.

Winter White Russian hamsters as pets

They are often found on the pet market, in Europe and Asia more so than in the US. Care is similar to that of the Campbells hamster. Winter White hamsters generally make excellent pets, however, a larger Syrian hamster would be more suitable for younger childeren as they can be handled more clumsily. Winter White hamsters should not be fed food containing sources of simple sugar because of the risk of developing diabetes mellitus.

Winter White's, like their close relatives the Campbell's, can be housed together in pairs or trio's, or perhaps more. They enjoy each others company and are possibly the most communal hamsters in terms of living arrangements.

In general, dwarf hamsters typically have more of a family structure than the Syrian hamster. Dwarf hamsters will happily live in mated pairs, with both male and female caring for the young, but some report that same-sex pairs and larger groups will rarely get along well, as they wouldn't live together like that in nature. Frequent fighting may occur and be a great distress for them, or even lead to deadly incidents. This is in contrast to the Campbell's species and remains an item of dispute among hamster owners.

Winter White hamsters used to be only available in their typical Brown/black "Normal" color, but they are now available in a variety of colors. Colors include at least normal (dark grey/brown), pearl normal, sapphire and pearl sapphire variations. However, these colors may be difficult to find, and the number of available colors is much smaller than in the dwarf Campell's hamster.

External links

• PetWebSite pages on Winter Whites