Hamsters

We made a trip to the Northern Hamster Club’s Hoyland show and bought Butterbean whilst there.

When we bought her we were told that she was a male red eyed cream long haired hamster. He was very fast and though quite friendly was nervous about being handled. Butterbean was 12 weeks old when we bought him which is older than other hamsters we have bought, the ideal age being about 5 to 6 weeks.

When we got ‘him’ home, we placed him in a tub rather than a cage to allow for easy access as we have found this is a good way of dealing with nervous hamsters and starting the taming process.

When Butterbean started to get used to being handled we could get a better look at him. At this stage we started to wonder whether in fact he was male. It was quite hard to tell because of the long hair, but when grooming ‘him’ one night ‘he’ stood totally still and raised ‘his’ tail in a classic female mating pose. We had a female hamster! Luckily we had at least given her a name that could be used by both sexes.

Butterbean has really calmed down and has a lovely nature. Even at her most nervous in the early days, she never showed any inclination to bite, she just wanted to get away as soon as possible. Now she has learned that, each time she is picked up, something nice happens and she usually ends up with a treat. This has made her much more willing to be handled and each day she becomes tamer and tamer.

She is a really good size with beautiful fur, and we recently mated her to Spud, our resident ‘Big Daddy’. See more about Butterbean's pup raising diary here . Butterbean went on to raise 8 beautiful short haired mink pups one of whom, Chip, has become a permanent fixture in our hamstery.

Butterbean has continued to grow and her colour has developed beautifully. She has won a third and a second place in her classes at recent hamster shows.

Butterbean Statistics

Type: Syrian Hamster - Long Haired Red Eyed Cream
Sex: Female
Born: 13 March 2007
Hamstery: Flattop Hamstery

Click the thumbnails below for full sized images

	Sleepy hamster
Butterbean enjoying tofu
	Butterbean enjoying a hamster treat
	Butterbean in a hamster play pen