which species are more aggressive?

[janis]

hi all,

I was told by a petshop owner that campbells are more aggressive (less easy to tame) than winter white. And he say the easiest to tame are the ww sapphire and roborovski. Is it true ?

[Yinx]

Hi Janis,

Someone has asked a similar qn abt the temperament of various hamster species in this forum before. I'll paste my reply to it here :

'Here's a lowdown on the general behaviour of the various hamster species. All r based on my own experiences in handling them, & may not hold true for all hamsters :

Syrians : Very easy to tame. Easy to handle due to their size. Suitable as pets for children.

Winter Whites : Easy to tame (in fact, they do not require much taming). Rarely nip, unless severely provoked/annoyed. Rather easy to handle, but as they're much smaller than Syrians & r also more nimble, they're not really suitable as pets for young children.

Campbells : Generally, the campbells sold in S'pore petshops r aggressive & nippy. It would be better to get a campbell fr a good breeder who has handled/tamed the campbell fr young (abt 2 wks old). If tamed fr young, they can be as tame as winter whites. As for handling, same as above for winter whites.

Roborovskis : As tame as winter whites. However, being the smallest of dwarf hamsters, they r also *very* fast on their feet & tend to be jumpy. Hence, this makes handling very difficult. Strongly not advised to be kept as a pet for children.'

I don't agree with what the petshop owner told u - that ww sapphires are easiest to tame. The colour doesn't matter, really. Ww pearls & normal greys r just as easy to tame.

As for Campbells, even if it is tame, it will still attack u if u have the scent of other hamsters on ur hands. So when handling Campbells, always remember to wash ur hands clean *b4* handling it!

IMHO, ww r the best of the dwarf hamster species. They're just the right size, & very mild-mannered. Oh, my fave colour for ww is ww pearls - reminds me of Tarepanda http://petshub.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[susany]

Hello janis,

I think the normal campbells are really fierce. I was once bitten by one and it refused to let go of my finger, and was still biting my finger even when i shook it really hard, when it bite me.

And yes, it really really hurts! It hurts so bad that i had difficult holding a pen for a couple of days. My finger swell and was quite blueish. It was totally numb to everything i touched.

Ever since, i never really carried a normal campbell, during to this bad incident.

By i do have friends whose campbells are really tame and very intelligent. But i only stand by to watch them. Never dared to touch them again. Hum... perhaps another time... http://petshub.com/ubb/smile.gif

[miachan]

Ouch!! Susany, that must surely hurt like hell!! Oh well, I'm used to getting niped, i am... grrr... happens everytime! geezzz.. oh well, with one of me dwarf hamsters... Naughty Potato!! But my Red Tomato is really tame and friendly... never nips!! :P