Campbell's Dwarf Hamster

Coat and looks how to spot one

Short, silky fur; furred feet

A compact, round little hamster with a very short tail and hair-covered soles. Wild-coloured animals are a woody brown on top with a thin charcoal stripe running down the back from the head to the tail, a pale buff or light grey belly, and slate-grey underfur. Compared with the closely related winter white, it has smaller ears, no dark patch on the crown, and it keeps the same colouring all year round instead of turning white in winter. Large cheek pouches reach back towards the hips.213

Personality what they are like

Lively and inquisitive, most active around dusk and dawn. Tame individuals can be handled, though a startled one may give a quick nip, which rarely breaks the skin. Captive animals tend to be more tolerant of each other than wild ones.21

Daily activity how busy a day looks

Very active and quick on its feet, scuttling at up to about 6.5 km/h. It stays active all year and prefers to keep moving rather than rest when it is cold. Give a solid-surface exercise wheel, tunnels and plenty of digging and foraging opportunities.214

Grooming and care the hands-on bits

Self-grooming; no routine brushing needed. Keep the enclosure clean and dry, refresh bedding regularly and check food and water daily.56

Home where they are happiest

In the wild it digs burrows with several horizontal and vertical tunnels lined with dry, insulating material, so a pet enclosure should have a solid floor and bedding deep enough to dig and tunnel in (MSD suggests a base at least 15 cm high, ideally 20 cm or more). Use dust-free paper or wood-based bedding and plain paper or hay for nesting, and avoid fluffy cotton-wool bedding. Provide hiding places, keep the home indoors, dry and draught-free at roughly 18-26 C, and keep the light pattern predictable.254

Food basics what goes in the bowl

An omnivore that naturally eats seeds, nuts and plants with some insects, and caches food near its nest. Feed a hamster pellet or seed mix as the base, small amounts of fresh greens and vegetables, and an occasional protein treat such as mealworms or cooked egg white. Fresh water must always be available, ideally from a bottle. Grapes and rhubarb should be avoided.1264

Company who they like around

Sources differ. The RSPCA notes that dwarf species such as Campbell's can live together given the right care and conditions, but warns that hamsters quickly set up a pecking order and one may become dominant and aggressive. Wild Campbell's are described as solitary, while captive ones are more tolerant of companions. Many owners keep them singly; any group needs space, duplicates of key items, and close watching.723

The story where it all began

The species takes its name from Charles William Campbell, a British consular official who collected the first specimen on 1 July 1902 near the village of Shaborte in Inner Mongolia. Oldfield Thomas of the British Museum formally described it in 1905. Scientists later set up a breeding colony at the Zoological Institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Leningrad, which became the seed stock for European laboratory colonies. Dwarf hamsters reached the pet trade in the 1970s, and Campbell's hamsters became widely available in the American pet trade in the mid-1990s, sold simply as dwarf hamsters. Its exact relationship to the winter white (Phodopus sungorus) is still debated: some researchers treat it as a subspecies, while hybridisation studies point to separate species.132

Recognised by the official bits

IUCN Red List

Wild species assessed as Least Concern2