The most common species of hamster that is kept as a pet hamster is the Syrian Hamster, also called Golden Hamster. Its latin name is Mesocricetus auratus.
This is a photo of my first and only syrian hamster - Poppy -
so I don't know much about them, except that they
come in many colours and coats (like satin and long hair)
and that they are nocturnal, needs much space and may
eat almost anything. And of course that they are
solitary animals - always one hamster per cage!
A photo of Poppy. On January the 26th of 1999 he was given to me.
I got him from a young girl who bought him as a female
in a pet shop. She was dubious about the sex but they insisted
that Poppy was a female... But Poppy was
certainly a male! Poppy had the colour silver grey.
Poppy was extremely tame and loved walking about
on the floor. He did have a bad habit of hiding behind the cavy cages, though...
Copyright Eva Johansson.
Last update: 2nd of April 2007.