syrian hamster changing color

[Hooya]

Oreo is just a little younger than one year old and he's a "black bear" hamster. When we got him several months ago his coat was very black. I changed his food about two months ago because he wasn't eating a lot of the things that were in the hamster food that I was feeding him, and instead only picking out a few things to eat and leaving the rest unless I didn't add more food for 2 days. He was on Nutriphase hamster formula, now I'm feeding him the formula for mice and rats. I also occasionally feed him a small piece of lettuce or something else out of my salad (not the dressing!)

Anyway, lately I've noticed his color is getting lighter. He's now primarliy a dark brown, but there are patches (well, stripes across large areas) that are still very black, but those areas are shrinking.

Is this a normal thing for black bear hamsters? Is this maybe a winter coat sort of thing? Is it just the change in his diet showing up? Is it something I should be concerned about? He's not showing any signs of ill health.

[Chaos]

My black hamster is still young so I can't tell you from experience, but I know I've read somewhere that black hamsters lighten to grey or brown with age. I know this is also true for dogs and expecially wolves, so I'm sure it'd be the same for a hamster. The diet probably has nothing to do with it.

[Mistertron]

A friend of mine has a white dwarf hamster (Minty)and a few months after she got him he developed a black 'Zorro' style band around his eyes! he looks like a bandit now! lol :p

Sorry i couldn't help with your query but i thought id just throw that story in there!

[Tumbledown]

They can change colour as they get older.One of our hamsters as a baby was white with a Grey head.Over the months stronger pigmentation appeared and the white became a pale grey.Our present hamster is a brown and white banded Syrian,his brown markings were really dark as a baby.He's now one and a half yrs old,and the dark brown round his tail and head has a lighter tone now,with some white hairs amongst the brown.

[HammysRme]

When i first got my hamster Ashes, she used to be all dark grey. (Where the name comes from). Shes probable 6 to 8 months old now and her color has changed ALOT.. she is dark brown now with an orange butt..haha she kinda looks like a baboon now. It's perfectly normal.

[TiaMaria]

Im not saying this to creep u out, but at the petstore i worked in they dyed the hamsters fur a certain color, to sell more syrians hamsters as black bear hamsters..it was quite ridiculous, the reason why i quit..mistreated animals..poor things..

[Ann Vole]

Sometimes colour changess are connected to things like certain things in diet, type of litter, time of year, genetics (some animals are born one colour and change as they reach a certain age), time of moulting/sheading, sunlight fading the fur, levels of certain nutrients, and the fur being dirty. Some things you can do to darken fur:

less light especially incadescenct (normal light bulbs and halogen), direct sunlight and "full spectrum" flourecents (hamsters are night critters whose bodies can make vitamin D)

more foods with "long chain fatty acids" like uncooked oily seeds like flax, buckwheat, sunflower seeds, peanuts (blanched is best or raw) or olive oil (some will lick it off your fingers)

Use a litter with a neutral pH (pH 7) so aviod wood chips (acidic) and some recycled paper (basic).

Try giving the hammy a bath and use cat or ferret shampoo and see if that makes a difference. If it does you may need to keep the hamster cleaner by changing the litter more often or changing the type of litter or spraying the hammy regularily with water with some vanilla extract ("artificial" is best) and the hammy will clean it's fur each time.

[HammysRme]

Wouldnt that be kinda like animal cruelty tia maria? wouldnt dying a hamster cause some skin problems or something?

[yodelinghamster]

That is just horrible, tia!!!!

[TiaMaria]

No, this was actually pet hair dye u can buy in canada...go figure..:|