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Hamsters are
rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...
s (order Rodentia) belonging to the
subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...
Cricetinae, which contains 19
species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
classified in seven
genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...
. They have become established as popular small pets. The best-known species of hamster is the golden or Syrian hamster (''Mesocricetus auratus''), which is the type most commonly kept as a pet. Other hamster species commonly kept as pets are the three species of dwarf hamster, Campbell's dwarf hamster (''Phodopus campbelli''), the winter white dwarf hamster (''Phodopus sungorus'') and the Roborovski hamster (''Phodopus roborovskii''), and the less common Chinese hamster (''Cricetulus griseus''). Hamsters feed primarily on seeds, fruits, vegetation, and occasionally burrowing insects. In the wild, they are
crepuscular In zoology, a crepuscular animal is one that is active primarily during the twilight period, being matutinal (active during dawn), vespertine (biology), vespertine/vespertinal (active during dusk), or both. This is distinguished from diurnalit ...
: they forage during the twilight hours. In captivity, however, they are known to live a conventionally
nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...
lifestyle, waking around sundown to feed and exercise. Physically, they are stout-bodied with distinguishing features that include elongated cheek pouches extending to their shoulders, which they use to carry food back to their
burrow file:Chipmunk-burrow (exits).jpg, An eastern chipmunk at the entrance of its burrow A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to construct a space suitable for habitation or temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of Animal lo ...
s, as well as a short tail and fur-covered feet.


Classification

Taxonomists generally disagree about the most appropriate placement of the subfamily Cricetinae within the superfamily
Muroidea The Muroidea are a large Taxonomic rank, superfamily of rodents, including mice, rats, voles, hamsters, lemmings, Gerbillinae, gerbils, and many other relatives. Although the Muroidea originated in Eurasia, they occupy a vast variety of habitat ...
. Some place it in a family
Cricetidae The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, muskrats, and New World rats and mice. At over 870 species, it is either the largest or second-largest family ...
that also includes
vole Voles are small rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller eyes and ears; and differently formed molars (high-crowned with angular cusps instead of lo ...
s,
lemming A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also inclu ...
s, and
New World rats and mice The New World rats and mice are a group of related rodents found in North and South America. They are extremely diverse in appearance and ecology, ranging from the tiny '' Baiomys'' to the large '' Kunsia''. They represent one of the few example ...
; others group all these into a large family called
Muridae The Muridae, or murids, are either the largest or second-largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 870 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. ...
. Their evolutionary history is recorded by 15 extinct fossil genera and extends back 11.2 million to 16.4 million years to the Middle
Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
Epoch in Europe and North Africa; in Asia it extends 6 million to 11 million years. Four of the seven living genera include extinct species. One extinct hamster of '' Cricetus'', for example, lived in North Africa during the Middle Miocene, but the only extant member of that genus is the European or common hamster of Eurasia. *Subfamily Cricetinae **Genus '' Allocricetulus'' ***Species ''A. curtatus''—Mongolian hamster ***Species ''A. eversmanni''—Eversmann's or Kazakh hamster **Genus '' Cansumys'' ***Species ''C. canus''—Gansu hamster **Genus '' Cricetulus'' ***Species ''C. barabensis'', including "''C. pseudogriseus''" and "''C. obscurus''"—Chinese striped hamster, also called Chinese hamster; striped dwarf hamster ***Species ''C. griseus''—Chinese (dwarf) hamster, also called rat hamster, sometimes considered a
synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...
of ''C. barabensis'' ***Species ''C. longicaudatus''—long-tailed dwarf hamster ***Species ''C. sokolovi''—Sokolov's dwarf hamster **Genus '' Cricetus'' ***Species ''C. cricetus''—European hamster, also called common hamster or black-bellied field hamster **Genus '' Mesocricetus''—golden hamsters ***Species ''M. auratus''—golden or Syrian hamster ***Species ''M. brandti''—Turkish hamster, also called Brandt's hamster; Azerbaijani hamster ***Species ''M. newtoni''—Romanian hamster ***Species ''M. raddei''—Ciscaucasian hamster **Genus '' Nothocricetulus'' - grey dwarf hamster ***Species ''N. migratorius''—grey dwarf hamster, Armenian hamster, migratory grey hamster; grey hamster; migratory hamster **Genus '' Phodopus''—dwarf hamsters ***Species ''P. campbelli''—Campbell's dwarf hamster ***Species ''P. roborovskii''—Roborovski hamster ***Species ''P. sungorus''—Djungarian hamster or winter-white Russian dwarf hamster **Genus '' Tscherskia'' ***Species ''T. triton''—greater long-tailed hamster, also called Korean hamster **Genus '' Urocricetus'' ***Species '' U. alticola'' - Ladakh dwarf hamster ***Species '' U. kamensis'' - Kam dwarf hamster


Relationships among hamster species

Neumann ''et al.'' (2006) conducted a
molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...
analysis of 12 of the above 17 species using
DNA sequence A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases within the nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. This succession is denoted by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of the nu ...
from three
gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...
s: 12S rRNA, cytochrome b, and von Willebrand factor. They uncovered the following relationships:


''Phodopus'' group

The genus ''Phodopus'' was found to represent the earliest split among hamsters. Their analysis included both species. The results of another study suggest ''Urocricetus kamensis'' and the related ''U. alticola'' belong to either this ''Phodopus'' group or hold a similar basal position.


''Mesocricetus'' group

The genus ''Mesocricetus'' also forms a
clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...
. Their analysis included all four species, with ''M. auratus'' and ''M. raddei'' forming one subclade and ''M. brandti'' and ''M. newtoni'' another.


Remaining genera

The remaining genera of hamsters formed a third major clade. Two of the three sampled species within ''Cricetulus'' represent the earliest split. This clade contains ''C. barabensis'' (and presumably the related ''C. sokolovi'') and ''C. longicaudatus''.


Miscellaneous

The remaining clade contains members of ''Allocricetulus'', ''Tscherskia'', ''Cricetus'', and ''C. migratorius''. ''Allocricetulus'' and ''Cricetus'' were sister taxa. ''Cricetulus migratorius'' was their next closest relative, and ''Tscherskia'' was basal.


History

Although the Syrian hamster or
golden hamster The golden hamster or Syrian hamster (''Mesocricetus auratus'') is a rodent belonging to the hamster subfamily, Cricetinae. Their natural geographical range is in an Arid, arid region of northern Syria and southern Turkey. Their numbers have be ...
(''Mesocricetus auratus'') was first described scientifically by
George Robert Waterhouse George Robert Waterhouse (6 March 1810 – 21 January 1888) was an English natural history, naturalist. He was a keeper at the department of geology and later curator of the Zoological Society of London's museum. Early life George was born ...
in 1839, researchers were not able to successfully breed and domesticate hamsters until 1939.Barrie, Anmarie. 1995. Hamsters as a New Pet. T.F.H. Publications Inc., NJ . The entire laboratory and pet populations of Syrian hamsters appear to be descendants of a single brother–sister pairing. These littermates were captured and imported in 1930 from Aleppo in Syria by Israel Aharoni, a zoologist of the University of Jerusalem.Fritzsche, Peter. 2008. Hamsters: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual. Barron's Educational Series Inc., NY . In Jerusalem, the hamsters bred very successfully. Years later, animals of this original breeding colony were exported to the United States, where Syrian hamsters became a common pet and laboratory animal. Comparative studies of domestic and wild Syrian hamsters have shown reduced genetic variability in the domestic strain. However, the differences in behavioral, chronobiological, morphometrical, hematological, and biochemical parameters are relatively small and fall into the expected range of interstrain variations in other laboratory animals.Kuhnen, G. (2002). Comfortable quarters for hamsters in research institutions. In "Comfortable Quarters for Laboratory Animals" Eds V. Reinhardt and A. Reinhardt. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington DC. pp.33-37


Etymology

The name "hamster" is a
loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...
from the German, which itself derives from earlier
Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...
. It is possibly related to
Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...
, which is either a blend of the root of Russian () "hamster" and a Baltic word (cf. "hamster"); or of Persian origin (cf.
Avestan Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...
: "oppressor"). The collective noun for a group of hamsters is "horde". In German, the verb is derived from . It means " to hoard".


Description

Hamsters are typically stout-bodied, with tails shorter than body length, and have small, furry ears, short, stocky legs, and wide feet. They have thick, silky fur, which can be long or short, colored black, grey, honey, white, brown, yellow, red, or a mix, depending on the species. Two species of hamster belonging to the genus '' Phodopus'', Campbell's dwarf hamster (''P. campbelli'') and the Djungarian hamster (''P. sungorus''), and two of the genus '' Cricetulus'', the Chinese striped hamster (''C. barabensis'') and the Chinese hamster (''C. griseus'') have a dark stripe down their heads to their tails. The species of genus ''Phodopus'' are the smallest, with bodies long; the largest is the European hamster (''Cricetus cricetus''), measuring up to long, not including a short tail of up to . The hamster tail can be difficult to see, as it is usually not very long (about the length of the body), with the exception of the Chinese hamster, which has a tail the same length as the body. One rodent characteristic that can be highly visible in hamsters is their sharp
incisors Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, wher ...
; they have an upper pair and lower pair which grow continuously throughout life, so must be regularly worn down. Hamsters are very flexible, but their bones are somewhat fragile. They are extremely susceptible to rapid temperature changes and drafts, as well as extreme heat or cold.


Senses

Hamsters have poor eyesight; they are nearsighted and colorblind. Their eyesight leads to them not having a good sense of distance or knowing where they are, but that does not stop them from climbing in (and sometimes out of) their cages or from being adventurous. Hamsters can sense movement around at all times, which helps protect them from harm in the wild. In a household, this sense helps them know when their owner is near. Hamsters have
scent glands Scent gland are exocrine glands found in most mammals. They produce semi-viscous secretions which contain pheromones and other semiochemical compounds. These odor-messengers indicate information such as status, territorial marking, mood, and ...
on their flanks (and abdomens in Chinese and dwarf hamsters) which they rub against the surface beneath them, leaving a scent trail. Hamsters also use their sense of smell to distinguish between the sexes and to locate food. Mother hamsters can also use their sense of smell to find their own babies and identify which ones are not theirs. Their scent glands can also be used to mark their territories, their babies, or their mate. Hamsters catch sounds by having their ears upright. They tend to learn similar noises and begin to know the sound of their food and even their owner's voice. They are also particularly sensitive to high-pitched noises and can hear and communicate in the ultrasonic range.


Diet

Hamsters are omnivores, which means they can eat meat and plant matter. Hamsters that live in the wild eat seeds, grass, and even insects. Although pet hamsters can survive on a diet of exclusively commercial hamster food, other items, such as vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts, can be given. Although store-bought food is good for hamsters, it is best if fruits and vegetables are also in their diet because it keeps them healthier. Hamsters in the Middle East have been known to hunt in packs to find insects for food."hamster."
Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
. Standard Edition. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.
Hamsters are hindgut fermenters and often eat their own feces ( coprophagy) to recover nutrients digested in the hind-gut, but not absorbed.


Behavior


Feeding

A behavioral characteristic of hamsters is food hoarding. They carry food in their spacious cheek pouches to their underground storage chambers. When full, the cheeks can make their heads double, or even triple in size. Hamsters lose weight during the autumn months in anticipation of winter. This occurs even when hamsters are kept as pets and is related to an increase in exercise.


Social behavior

Most hamsters are strictly solitary. If housed together, acute and chronic stress might occur, and they might fight fiercely, sometimes fatally. Dwarf hamster species might tolerate siblings or same-gender unrelated hamsters if introduced at an early enough age, but this cannot be guaranteed. Hamsters communicate through body language to one another and even to their owner. They communicate by sending a specific scent using their scent glands and also show body language to express how they are feeling.


Chronobiology

Hamsters can be described as
nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...
or
crepuscular In zoology, a crepuscular animal is one that is active primarily during the twilight period, being matutinal (active during dawn), vespertine (biology), vespertine/vespertinal (active during dusk), or both. This is distinguished from diurnalit ...
(active mostly at dawn and dusk). Khunen writes, "Hamsters are nocturnal rodents who are active during the night", but others have written that because hamsters live underground during most of the day, only leaving their burrows for about an hour before sundown and then returning when it gets dark, their behavior is primarily crepuscular. Fritzsche indicated although some species have been observed to show more nocturnal activity than others, they are all primarily crepuscular. In the wild Syrian hamsters can hibernate and allow their body temperature to fall close to ambient temperature. This kind of
thermoregulation Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperature ...
diminishes the metabolic rate to about 5% and helps the animal to considerably reduce the need for food during the winter. Hibernation can last up to one week but more commonly last 2–3 days. When kept as house pets the Syrian hamster does not hibernate.


Burrowing behavior

All hamsters are excellent diggers, constructing burrows with one or more entrances, with galleries connected to chambers for nesting, food storage, and other activities. They use their fore- and hindlegs, as well as their snouts and teeth, for digging. In the wild, the burrow buffers extreme ambient temperatures, offers relatively stable climatic conditions, and protects against predators. Syrian hamsters dig their burrows generally at a depth of . A burrow includes a steep entrance pipe ( in diameter), a nesting and a hoarding chamber and a blind-ending branch for urination. Laboratory hamsters have not lost their ability to dig burrows; in fact, they will do this with great vigor and skill if they are provided with the appropriate substrate. Wild hamsters will also appropriate tunnels made by other mammals; the Djungarian hamster, for instance, uses paths and burrows of the pika.


Reproduction


Fertility

Hamsters become fertile at different ages depending on their species. Both Syrian and Russian hamsters mature quickly and can begin reproducing at a young age (4–5 weeks), whereas Chinese hamsters will usually begin reproducing at two to three months of age, and Roborovskis at three to four months of age. The female's reproductive life lasts about 18 months, but male hamsters remain fertile much longer. Females are in
estrus The estrous cycle (, originally ) is a set of recurring physiological changes induced by reproductive hormones in females of mammalian subclass Theria. Estrous cycles start after sexual maturity in females and are interrupted by anestrous phas ...
about every four days, which is indicated by a reddening of genital areas, a musky smell, and a hissing, squeaking vocalisation she will emit if she believes a male is nearby. When seen from above, a sexually mature female hamster has a trim tail line; a male's tail line bulges on both sides. This might not be very visible in all species. Male hamsters typically have very large testes in relation to their body size. Before sexual maturity occurs, it is more difficult to determine a young hamster's sex. When examined, female hamsters have their anal and genital openings close together, whereas males have these two holes farther apart (the penis is usually withdrawn into the coat and thus appears as a hole or pink pimple).


Gestation and fecundity

Syrian hamsters are seasonal breeders and will produce several litters a year with several pups in each litter. The breeding season is from April to October in the Northern Hemisphere, with two to five litters of one to 13 young being born after a gestation period of 16 to 23 days. Dwarf hamsters breed all through the year. Gestation lasts 16 to 18 days for Syrian hamsters, 18 to 21 days for Russian hamsters, 21 to 23 days for Chinese hamsters and 23 to 30 for Roborovski hamsters. The average litter size for Syrian hamsters is about seven pups, but can be as great as 24, which is the maximum number of pups that can be contained in the uterus. Campbell's dwarf hamsters tend to have four to eight pups in a litter, but can have up to 13. Winter white hamsters tend to have slightly smaller litters, as do Chinese and Roborovski hamsters.


Intersexual aggression and cannibalism

Female Chinese and Syrian hamsters are known for being aggressive toward males if kept together for too long after mating. In some cases, male hamsters can die after being attacked by a female. If breeding hamsters, separation of the pair after mating is recommended, or they will attack each other. Female hamsters are also particularly sensitive to disturbances while giving birth, and may even eat their own young if they think they are in danger, although sometimes they are just carrying the pups in their cheek pouches. If captive female hamsters are left for extended periods (three weeks or more) with their litter, they may cannibalize the litter, so the litter must be removed by the time the young can feed and drink independently.


Weaning

Hamsters are born hairless and blind in a nest the mother will have prepared in advance. After one week, they begin to explore outside the nest. Hamsters are capable of producing litters every month. Hamsters can be bred after they are three weeks old. It may be hard for the babies to not rely on their mother for nursing during this time, so it is important that they are supplied with food to make the transition from nursing to eating on their own easier. After the hamsters reach three weeks of age they are considered mature.


Longevity

Syrian hamsters typically live no more than two to three years in captivity, and less in the wild. Russian hamsters (Campbell's and Djungarian) live about two to four years in captivity, and Chinese hamsters –3 years. The smaller Roborovski hamster often lives to three years in captivity.


Society and culture


Hamsters as pets

The best-known species of hamster is the golden or Syrian hamster (''Mesocricetus auratus''), which is the type most commonly kept as pets. There are numerous Syrian hamster variations including long-haired varieties and different colors. British zoologist Leonard Goodwin claimed most hamsters kept in the United Kingdom were descended from the colony he introduced for medical research purposes during the Second World War. Hamsters were domesticated and kept as pets in the United States at least as early as 1942. Other hamsters commonly kept as pets are the three species in the genus Phodopus. Campbell's dwarf hamster (''Phodopus campbelli'') is the most common—they are also sometimes called "Russian dwarfs"; however, many hamsters are from Russia, so this ambiguous name does not distinguish them from other species appropriately. The coat of the winter white dwarf hamster (''Phodopus sungorus'') turns almost white during winter (when the hours of daylight decrease). The Roborovski hamster (''Phodopus roborovskii'') is extremely small and fast, making it difficult to keep as a pet.


Hamster shows

A hamster show is an event in which people gather hamsters to judge them against each other. Hamster shows are also places where people share their enthusiasm for hamsters among attendees. Hamster shows feature an exhibition of the hamsters participating in the judging. The judging of hamsters usually includes a goal of promoting hamsters which conform to natural or established varieties of hamsters. By awarding hamsters which match standard hamster types, hamster shows encourage planned and careful hamster breeding.


Owner activism

When the first reported case of animal-to-human transmission of
SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the Novel coronavirus, provisional nam ...
in
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
took place via imported pet hamsters, researchers expressed difficulty in identifying some of the viral mutations within a global genomic data bank, leading city authorities to announce a mass cull of all hamsters purchased after December 22, 2021, which would affect roughly 2,000 animals. After the government 'strongly encouraged' citizens to turn in their pets, approximately 3,000 people joined underground activities to promote the adoption of abandoned hamsters throughout the city and to maintain pet ownership via methods such as the forgery of pet store purchase receipts. Some activists attempted to intercept owners who were on their way to turn in pet hamsters and encourage them to choose adoption instead, which the government subsequently warned would be subject to police action.


Hamsters as lab animals

The extracted cells of babies' kidneys and adults' ovaries are used to study cholesterol synthesis.


Similar animals

Some similar rodents sometimes called "hamsters" are not currently classified in the hamster subfamily Cricetinae. These include the maned hamster, or crested hamster, which is really the maned rat (''Lophiomys imhausi''). Others are the mouse-like hamsters (''Calomyscus'' spp.), and the white-tailed rat (''Mystromys albicaudatus'').


See also

* Hamster cage *
Hamster show A hamster show is an event in which people gather hamsters to judge them against each other. Hamster shows are also places where people share their enthusiasm for hamsters among attendees. Hamster shows feature an exhibition of the hamsters parti ...
*
Hamster wheel A hamster wheel or running wheel is an exercise device used primarily by hamsters and other rodents, but also by other Cursorial, cursorial animals when given the opportunity. Most of these devices consist of a runged or ridged wheel held on a ...
* Hamster ball *
Chinchilla Chinchilla refers to either of two species ('' Chinchilla chinchilla'' and '' Chinchilla lanigera'') of crepuscular rodents of the parvorder Caviomorpha, and are native to the Andes mountains in South America. They live in colonies called "her ...
* '' Ebichu'' * Gerbil *
Guinea pig The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy ( ), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'', family Caviidae. Animal fancy, Breeders tend to use the name "cavy" for the ani ...
* Hampster Dance * Hamster racing * '' Hamtaro'' *
Rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...
* Wet-tail


References


External links


National Hamster Council of the UK
{{Authority control Cricetidae Articles containing video clips Extant Miocene first appearances Taxa named by Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim