Give me info of sapphire hamsters?

Question

best person with most info wins

Answer 1

Sapphire Winter White Russian dwarf hamsters - or Phodopus sungorus in latin- are a breed of the Russian dwarf hamster and then a breed of the winter whites.

These hamsters have a grey blue coat with white underneath, they also turn whiter in the winter - hense the name winter whites. They can make excellent pets and they are one of the friendlist breeds. But i would not recommened them to young children because the hamsters are so small and fast. They are very sociable creatures and like to be kept in small groups. If you keep one on it's own, make sure you give it lots of love and attention.

Answer 2

The answer above may be a bit confusing in it's defintion of dwarf hamsters. Let me clarify to make it easier for you if you're looking in pet stores for a sapphire.

There are three species of dwarf hamsters: Campbells Russian Dwarf, Winter White Russina Dwarf and Roborovski Dwarf. (There are also Chinese hamsters that are small but are not dwarves). Roborovski dwarf hamsters are the smallest and quite different in appearance from the Campbells and Winter White. Now the Campbells and the Winter White are both considered to be Russian Dwarves. Most pet stores will sell dwarf hamsters and have them labeled as "Russian Dwarf" but this doesn't tell you which one it is, a Campbells or a Winter White. Lots of pet stores will also call them "Siberian Dwarves" which is incorrect and still doesn't tell you which species it is. When the pet stores are selling the "Russians Dwarves" and the "Siberian Dwarves" they are most likely selling Campbells but there's no way for a novice to know this.

How can you tell the difference between a Winter White and a Campbells? Well that's extremely hard given the current breeding practices of the commercial breeders. If the animals are pure, then it's easy to tell the differences of the two if you've studied some photos. The problem is that most of the Campbells and Winter Whites (especially the Winter Whites) in the pet stores are hybrids- a cross-breed between a Campbells and a Winter White. How can you tell which is a hybrid? Some are obvious, a "Winter White" that has a color only known to the Campbells, a "Campbells" that begins turning white in the winter. Some have the physical traits of both species, some you just can't tell. The only pure Winter White hamsters that we can be sure of in the United States are the ones that Linda Price of AAA Hamsters, and president of the California Hamster Association, brought back with her when she was in the Soviet Union. If you live in Southern California then you may consider contacting her. She really won't ship unless you've established yourself as a dedicated and responsible breeder.

I'm not saying there aren't pure lines in the commercial pet market, there is just no way to tell. We know that the commercial breeders aren't concerned with maintaining the purity of the animals. Winter Whites will not breed if they are in their winter coat so it would benefit the commercial breeders to create hybrids so as not to be without "product" over the winter months (the hybrids should be sterile though it is being observed that some of them aren't). If you can't trace the lineage of the hamster back to when it's ancestors entered the US, then there's no way to know for sure and I know that the commercial breeders do not supply any kind of pedigree with their animals.

What's the difference if it's a hybrid if it's the color you want? Two things, first, temperament and health issues are being seen in many of the hybrids. Secondly, if you want to breed, you shouldn't be using a hybrid and adding to the problem. If you want them to bred, then you need to contact a breeder that can prove their lines are pure. This is really true of either Campbells or Winter Whites. (It's been observed that 30-50% of Campbells in the commercial market have several hereditary medical problems but since your question was about Winter Whites, I won't go into the Campbells illnesses and diseases).

If you happen to see what you think is a sapphire Winter White in the store, it is most likely a hybrid. If you're set on a sapphire Winter White, you need to begin looking for breeders. There are a few forums that list breeders. I've put the links below.

Linda Price of AAA Hamsters was breeding sapphire Winter Whites until she began seeing diabetes in the line. Once she witnessed how many of the sapphires developed diabetes, she retired her lines. The same is true of her pearl Winter Whites.

Pearl Winter Whites will be extremely hard to find since a Platinum Campbells crossed with a Winter White can produce a hybrid that can look like a pearl Winter White. I've seen about a dozen of these in the last week at the Petsmarts in my area. I can tell that they're hybrids based on some physical features I observed of their bodies (they had a Campbells' "build"). To my horror some of these stores had obvious Campbells housed in with the Winter Whites and were selling them as Winter Whites! I made them aware of it though they didn't care. This is just an example of how prevalent the hybridization problem is.

There are physical differences between a Campbells and a Winter White. One of the obvious is the size of their heads, a Winter Whites is smaller, more narrow. Breeding a male Campbells to a female Winter White will produce babies that have larger heads than the female Winter White can deliver. If she does manage to deliver them, the babies have a good chance of being injured in the process. If she can't deliver them, she will die.

The hybridization problem isn't limited to just the US but is being seen by the hamster clubs at their shows all across Europe.

So, if you're looking for a sapphire Winter White- good luck. I have no idea where you'd find one. If you'd like some more information on them or have some questions you'd like to ask the top breeders in the US, I suggest you join the Hamsters In Focus Yahoo group. It is a group focusing on breeding strategies and techniques, genetics, exhibition standards, and ethics as they relate to the purposeful, goal-directed breeding of both Dwarf and Syrian hamsters.

-Janice
http://www.holmdenhillhaven.com

Answer 3

never heard of a saphire hamster.