Talk:Hamster

Hamster does not derive from German, apparently

According to the article on Golden Hamster, hamster to not derive from German. Rather has the German word been derived from the animal's name.

"Golden hamsters originate from Syria and were found in 1839 by British zoologist George Robert Waterhouse. Their natural condition is a dry, hot desert climate. The widespread notion that the name 'Hamster' derives from the German for 'hoarding (food)' is wrong: rather, the German verb hamstern derives from the name of the animal, owing to their respective behavior. 'Hamster' probably derives from the proto-slavic chomẽstar (compare also with Russian 'хомячок', 'hohmyachok' or Polish 'chomik').[2]" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.48.35.29 (talk) 05:10, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Both statements have sources. Interesting.

That ,hamster' derives from Russian is unlikely as well, given its occurrence in spanish, portugese and even basque. So where does it really come from? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 171.67.128.21 (talk) 23:45, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

Prehensile

Prehensile tails are used for grasping. Not the same as simply having a long tail. If this word is used to describe hamster tails it needs to be sourced. 24.21.10.30 (talk) 20:22, 11 February 2010 (UTC) I ain't never seen two pretty best friends always one got to be ugly <3

Cannibalize

From the article, it said It should also be noted that if a captive hamster is left for extended periods (3–4 weeks and more) with her litter, there is a high possibility that she will cannibalize the litter. It is therefore imperative that the litter be split up by the time the young can collect their own food and water.Dont think this is true or for my winter white(normal) at least. For my litter when it give birth, I noticed the young hamster are still chasing around the mother for nipples when it was 2 months old(male) and larger than the mother.. until I separate them that time. The mother does nothing aggressive except appearing to be in discomfort and tries to runs away. Dsdsasds (talk) 09:35, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

In the wild?

If they were domesticated only 80 years ago, what is their range? natural habitat... --Chris (クリス • フィッチュ) (talk) 18:05, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

hamsters

I believe the fact that hamsters have small pockets in theic cheekcs to store food should also be added by someone. Someone should add this because it is important to their biological nature and it is their classic "noticability" and people recignize "hamster" by it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.255.10.26 (talk) 15:15, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

That fact is already there - in the second paragraph. – jaksmata 20:30, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

It doesn't actually mention that the German word "hamstern" means "hoarder", and that this is one of their most notable features. BTW, they also use them as flotation devices when swimming, at which they are quite adept. They inflate these with air. (I found this out when I had to routinely wash a three legged, deformed, incontinent hamster in a plastic basin.) 85.158.139.99 (talk) 08:28, 30 June 2010 (UTC)Lance Tyrell

cricetus nehringi

In the taxo-list, the species Cricetus nehringi is added as the second species of the genus Cricetus. However, scholar.google and google itself seem hardly to mention it. What's more, the original articles (1901, 1934) seem to designate it as a subspecies (Cricetus cricetus nehringi). I see nowhere any evidence of this now being regarded as separate species (or ever having been a species) and am tempted to remove it. But I am certainly no expert on the subject, so feel free to show what the present morphological status is of the taxon! L.tak (talk) 19:20, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

We normally follow MSW3, which lists C nehringi, Matschie, 1901, as a synonym of C cricetus, and states that there is only one living species in the genus, with no subspecies (Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.; also [1]). Richard New Forest (talk) 22:26, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

thanks for clarifying that. I will remove it! L.tak (talk) 22:48, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

Crepuscular or nocturnal or both?

The intro here claims that (all) hamsters are crepuscular. If I understand correctly — though I do not have a source on hand to confirm this — hamsters are only crepuscular in the wild; they are nocturnal when kept in captivity. If someone can confirm this, then I would highly suggest that a note of this be made in the article, because it is a source of confusion. For one, just about every pet store lists them as nocturnal. It is certainly possible that this is because the general public does not know the term "crepuscular", but anecdotally, my hamsters are definitely not crepuscular; they run constantly all night long. Perhaps, some species (I own Robos.) are nocturnal while the most are crepuscular. Even if this is so, since this is an article on hamsters in general, the line needs to read "most hamsters are crepuscular."

This problem is not unique to this article. I have browsed the pages of a large number of hamster species articles, and there seems to be a mix of claims: some articles say a given hamster genus or species is crepuscular; others say they are nocturnal.

Thoughts?

Lhynard (talk) 17:07, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

hamters are not harmful they love to eat play and are a good pet for your famiy — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.88.148.14 (talk) 15:42, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Pictures of Hamster Species????????

I clicked on the links and many of the Hamster species lacks pictures of the amimal. It would be nice if people would supply pictures of these different species. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.81.134.236 (talk) 02:45, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

Please can I add to the page Hamsters (Vineheart (talk) 16:31, 18 June 2012 (UTC))

Winter white hamster Jiamin hamster (talk) 11:02, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Please place

Dwarf hamsters running

Anna Frodesiak (talk) 10:39, 6 October 2012 (UTC)

i agree! it's too cute to resist! Valehd (talk) 15:18, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

Section "Depictions in the Media" should be removed

The section "Depictions in the Media" consists of the following sentence:

A television-obsessed character "Rhino" who is inspired by the main character Bolt in the movie of the same name was played by a hamster.

It should be removed because

1. It has no place in an encyclopedic article about hamsters.
2. I have no idea what it's even trying to say.

217.230.12.172 (talk) 02:47, 13 April 2013 (UTC)

I strongly agree that it should be removed. I think it's talking about a fictional hamster from a movie who looked up to the movie's main character. Not only does it not have a place in this factual article, but there are many more hamsters in the media and to list them all would be listcruft. --Le Solace (talk) 14:57, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

I added a link. Apparently there is hamster with an article named Super Rhino. There are probably other bits of popular culture about hamsters. Maybe the section should be named just that, and people will add content. Hampster Dance is another example of what could go into such a section.

See also: Category:Fictional hamsters

And there's the Justin Bieber hamster fiasco that was all over the media. [2] [3] Plenty of sources to merit a sentence. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 15:15, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

No Tales of the Riverbank?? That's an under appreciated TV hamster if there ever was one GhostJackal (talk) 20:52, 16 August 2017 (UTC)

Can we also remove the Popular Media section? Some person from Top Gear having the nickname Hamster is trivia for IMDb, not a common domestic pet.2601:199:680:7FCC:9959:A0CE:4E1C:9E16 (talk) 03:52, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

Intro

The intro states that "Hamsters [...] may be irritating to some people because of their cage-biting and wheel-running." To someone who was learning about hamsters for the first time, this would sound like a complete non-sequitur; the idea of the hamster as a pet is introduced in a later paragraph. (And in fact, that particular paragraph otherwise discusses hamsters in the wild.)

Since hamsters are probably most generally notable in their role as a pet, that should be mentioned in the first or second sentence of the article. --74.138.127.52 (talk) 20:58, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Good suggestions. How is it now? Anna Frodesiak (talk) 00:13, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

Hamsters as Food

In the 1900's hamsters were bread for food for dogs,cats,snakes,and other animals.

Discrepancy in numbers

The lead claims 25 species of hamster, but the text claims 19 species of hamster. Mattximus (talk) 02:37, 29 October 2015 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 6 April 2016

Please add a comma before the reference in the third sentence, so it says "They have become established as popular small house pets,[2]" 66.213.111.239 (talk) 17:41, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

Done - Thank you for your contribution to Wikipedia. fredgandt 03:25, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Hamsters Are Tough

Hamsters have to be tough in and out of their habitat. When taken out of their habitat, they do not know who is handling them or if there are predators around. This can lead to the hamster biting the holder due to not feeling safe. A hamster bite is minor and painful, but it can draw blood. When taking the hamster out of its habitat for the first few times, make sure to let it smell the holders hand before grabbing it, this will let the hamster get familiar with the holders smell. These little guys have always been known as prey, they do not want to take a risk and if they feel like they are in danger, be prepared for a little bite from a anxious hamster. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.5.246.227 (talk) 18:38, 22 February 2017

Picture of a disected hamster

So hamsters are usually pets for kids so maybe don't have an picture of a dead disected hamster on the website that will probably be the first place they look to learn about said pet. Surely there's a better image to go with the section on cheek pouches? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.78.87.45 (talk) 00:28, 26 May 2017 (UTC)

Etymology section

Could the section on etymology be improved by pointing out that "hamster" comes from the German "hamstern" meaning "to hoard", referring to the way in which hamsters store food in the pouches of their cheeks?Vorbee (talk) 15:53, 24 July 2017 (UTC)

Edit "golden or Syrian hamster"

Change 3rd sentence from "golden or Syrian hamster" to just "golden hamster" (the name of the page) or else link the whole thing like this: Syrian or golden hamster. 2601:647:CB02:5034:5C8:5612:6657:22AE (talk) 01:40, 2 March 2019 (UTC)

 Done I've implemented the latter of your suggested wording. Thanks, NiciVampireHeart 01:49, 4 March 2019 (UTC)

Hunting in Packs?

Under "Diet" there is this sentence: "Hamsters in the Middle East have been known to hunt in packs to find insects for food.", which cites a print encyclopedia, unavailable for direct reference online. The online version makes no reference to this behavior, (https://www.britannica.com/animal/hamster https://www.britannica.com/animal/golden-hamster), and all other reliable, well-cited sources indicate that hamsters are both solitary and highly territorial. On top of this, the studies of wild hamsters in the 90's found only a handful of specimens, casting much doubt on the "have been known" part of the sentence. Who exactly knows them to do this if it takes a scientific expedition to capture less than 20 hamsters. The "pack hunting" sentence should be removed as it has no reliable, available citation and contradicts the otherwise well known behavior of hamsters.

Agreed. The only other information corroborating this was a hamster fansite that seemed to copy it from this page. 174.254.70.5 (talk) 07:08, 17 May 2020 (UTC)

Dwarf hamsters of the genus phodopus are semi-social,meaning they may also tolerate other hamsters,these hamsters are usually more insectivorous as seen by their higher cusps in their molars and longer snout (and i dont think you will find a lot of fruits or vegetables in deserts),so i dont really think it contradicts the other information. Rapha689Pro (talk) 15:14, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

Etymology

When this article talks about the etymology of the word "hamster", it could mention that it comes from a word meaning "to hoard". This refers to a hamster's hoarding of food in pouches in its cheeks. Vorbee (talk) 08:10, 1 June 2019 (UTC)

Pictures in the Classification are mismatched

The pictures of the Campbell’s dwarf hamster and the Winter white dwarf hamster might be reversed. That is, the picture with the Campbell’s says it is a Winter white and the picture with the Winter white says it is a Camobell’s. --24.68.16.177 (talk) 01:50, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 29 December 2020

Talk:Hamster

Hamsters are very good at painting a picture on the wall.

Fun Fact!

Hamsters love music, so if you have a pet hamster and want to randomly listen to music, you can! It beneficially helps the hamster too. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.65.169.154 (talk) 19:01, 6 January 2021 (UTC)

I like hamsters! SpicyMemes123 (talk) 19:13, 11 March 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 10 February 2021

P. campbelli. The Campbell's dwarf hamster P. sungorus.

The photo described as "P. campbelli. The Campbell's dwarf hamster" is actually another photo of a P. sungorus. This is evident as the shape of the nose is wider than a Campbell's, the eyes are further apart, the ears are smaller, it has a thick dorsal line and the coat has a slightly different texture. Examples of Campbell hamsters can be found here: https://www.midlandhamsterclub.co.uk/hamster/campbell.html 95.236.188.198 (talk) 08:09, 10 February 2021 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. 54nd60x (talk) 13:54, 10 February 2021 (UTC)

I copied the image here. I get the newsletter from Midland Hamster Club, those people know their hamsters. There was not a citation in the image in any case, so getting expert confirmation would be useful. I am looking at this image - File:Campbells_dwarf.jpg. This appears in many places in Wikipedia as a Campbell's hamster. We should get this right. It is hard for me to see the difference in looking at the picture. Hey person who made the request, are you around? Can you say more about how we can confirm, or do you have more ideas to talk this through? Blue Rasberry (talk) 14:04, 10 February 2021 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 17 November 2023

when it mentions The hamsters that are pets other than the Golden hamster they do not mention the Chinese hamster which is scientifically a dwarf Shinyhamster (talk) 23:20, 17 November 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. M.Bitton (talk) 00:53, 18 November 2023 (UTC)

Hamsters in Australia

Should it be noted that it is illegal to have pet Hamsters (& Gerbils) in Australia? https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-29/the-risk-of-pet-hamsters-and-gerbils-in-australia/101812034 2001:8003:2305:BE01:D159:45DE:E2C:246C (talk) 20:18, 6 May 2024 (UTC) Swampy.