The change to the winter coat can be triggered in the summer by the short day lengths. Day length must be less than fourteen hours to initiate the change to winter coat. The pigmentation of hair is controlled by the hormone prolactin and colour genetics. The hairs grow longer in the summer, to about ten millimetres long. Moulting both run jobs on the head and the back of the spine to the sides, the legs and the underside. The moulting in the winter fur starts in October or November and is completed in December, while the summer coat begins in January or February and is completed in March or early April. In the second winter, only a few change into the winter coat and winter colour is less pronounced. More than ten percent of the hamsters kept in the first winter develop the summer coat. They sometimes have a grey tint on their head. Some of these colorations are mandarin, blue, argente, yellow blue fawn, camel, brown, cream, merle and umbrous. Other colorations are available, but these are strongly suspected to appear only in hybrid crossings with Campbell Dwarf hamsters. Īpart from the typical colouration, Djungarian hamsters can also be coloured pearl, sapphire, sapphire pearl and marbled. It is distinguished from the darker fur on the top of the existing black-brown hair, three curved line. The bright coat the bottom extends to the shoulders, flanks and hips in three arches upward. The hairs on the underside are completely white. The ears are grey with a pinkish tint with scattered black hairs. The throat, belly, tail and limbs are white. From the head to the tail runs a black-brown dorsal stripe. The rest of the head is dark brown or black. The outer ears and the eyes have black edges. The face changes to grey or brown, while the mouth area, the whisker area and the ears are slightly brighter. In summer, the fur of the Djungarian hamster on the back changes from ash-grey to dark brown, or sometimes pale brown with a tint. In the wild, they are known to live as little as one year. The average lifespan of the Djungarian hamster is one to three years of age in captivity, though they can live longer. In human care, they are slightly heavier. In males, the body weight ranges from 19 grams (0.67 oz) to 45 grams (1.6 oz), and in females, 19 grams (0.67 oz) to 36 grams (1.3 oz). The body weight changes dramatically throughout the year. The head length of the Djungarian hamster is 70 to 90 millimetres in length, the length of the tail is five to 15 millimetres, and the hind legs are 11 to 15 millimetres. Normal colouration Pearl colouration Sapphire colourationThe coat of the Djungarian hamster is less woolly than that of the Campbell's dwarf hamster, and apart from the normal colouring, they can be coloured sapphire, sapphire pearl, or normal pearl. Young pups will act aggressively to one another whilst breeding females may show similar aggression to males. They reproduce often-more so than Syrian hamsters and, as they have no fixed breeding season, can continue to produce large amounts of offspring all year round. In the wild, they originate from Dzungaria, the wheat fields of Kazakhstan, the meadows of Mongolia, Siberia, and the birch stands of Manchuria.ĭjungarian hamsters are common as pets in Europe and North America, and exhibit greater variance in their coats than those found in the wild.
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In captivity, this does not always happen. As winter approaches and the days shorten, the Djungarian hamster's dark fur is just about entirely replaced with white fur. Features of the Djungarian hamster include a typically thick, dark grey dorsal stripe and furry feet. It is ball-shaped and typically half the size of the Syrian hamster, and therefore called a dwarf hamster along with all Phodopus species. The Djungarian hamster ( Phodopus sungorus), also known as the Siberian hamster or Russian winter white dwarf hamster, is a species of hamster in the genus Phodopus.