Albu Cristian
Winter dwarf hamster was discovered in 1773 by the famous German scientist and naturalist Peter Simon Pallas. He named his hamster "the Sungorus mouse".
Habitat
Phodopus sungorus is found in Kazakh grain fields, meadows of Mongolia, south-western Siberia and Manchuria. Because of the occupied habitat, it's known as the Russian Dwarf Hamster or Siberian hamster.
Description and color
The hamster has a compact body with rounded shape and is two times smaller than the Syrian hamster. It can reach 8-10cm long and weighing 40-50g. It has small ears, almost no tail and short legs with furry paws.
Dwarf Hamsters are often mistaken for winter hamsters Campbell - Campbell Phodopus. The difference between the two species is that Campbell hamsters have a single dorsal stripe of darker hair while winter white hamsters have three stripes (one dorsal and one on side of body), winter white hamsters have bigger eyes, less obvious ears and their fur is darker than the Campbell.
In nature as winter approaches and days get shorter the dark fur turns white. In captivity, this doesn't happen. Instead of this, grown in captivity as pets, some other varieties of color appeared: pearl, sapphire, mandarin, blue, silver, brown, camel, brown, cream, etc..
Life lenght
Winter dwarf hamsters have an average lifespan in captivity of 1.5 to 2 years. Hamsters become sexually mature at only five weeks.
Breeding
Winter Dwarf Hamsters breed better than their Syrian counterparts because they can breed all year round. Young chicks are aggressive with each other trying to establish a hierarchy between them.
Care
Similar to Russian dwarf hamster care (Phodopus Campbell). But you must take great care in arranging their cage; because of the very small size, winter dwarf hamsters "escape" very easy. Ideally, choose an aquarium instead of a cage with bars.
Winter Russian hamsters are sweet and cute creatures that have a very active lifestyle.
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