The RSPCA names five hamsters as the ones most commonly kept as pets: the Syrian, the Chinese, Campbell's Russian dwarf, the winter white dwarf and Roborovski's dwarf. Three of the five are dwarfs. Two of those dwarfs, Campbell's and the winter white, are close enough relatives that they can be crossed in captivity, and that one detail explains a good part of what sound dwarf hamster care looks like. So this description starts with the species and works out to the cage.
Three dwarfs and their proper names
According to the RSPCA hamster fact file, there are 24 species of hamster, all in the family Cricetidae. The three pet dwarfs share the genus Phodopus. A 2022 Royal Veterinary College study of UK vet records lists the Djungarian, or winter white dwarf, as Phodopus sungorus and the Roborovski as Phodopus roborovskii (PubMed 35732354). Campbell's dwarf is Phodopus campbelli.
The Roborovski has a separate story. A 2016 study from the Chinese Academy of Sciences calls it the desert hamster and identifies the Mongolian Plateau as its centre of origin, preservation and spread (PubMed 26839955).
How common are they? The same RVC study covered 16,605 pet hamsters. Syrians made up 73.45% of them, Djungarians 13.77% and Roborovskis 6.35%.
Why Campbell's and winter whites should not be crossed
A 2016 Nagoya University review describes hybrids between Phodopus campbelli and Phodopus sungorus as models for studying hybrid incompatibility (PubMed 27628130). That research is a fair warning to anyone tempted to breed the two at home.
A 2015 Nagoya University paper notes that male hybrids between Campbell's dwarf and the Djungarian hamster are sterile, and in its own hybrids (Campbell's mothers, Djungarian fathers) most of the sperm had malformed heads (PubMed 25801302). A University of Montana study from 2014 found that the outcome depended on which species was the mother. One cross type led to massive overgrowth of the placenta and embryo, severe developmental defects and death of the mother. Embryos from the reverse cross were viable and normal sized, but the adult hybrid males were relatively small (PubMed 25130206). A 2021 follow-up from the same university traced the placental overgrowth mainly to genetic differences on the maternally inherited P. sungorus X chromosome (PubMed 33710276).
Even the pups sound different. A 2023 Moscow study of 4,000 pup isolation calls found that the hybrids' low-frequency calls were shorter and lower in frequency than those of either parent species (PubMed 37459937).
The RSPCA's advice lines up with all of this: "We strongly advise against mixing different species and sexes of hamsters."
Company: pairs, trios or alone
Dwarfs are the hamsters that can share a cage, with conditions. The RSPCA company page says Roborovski, Campbell's and winter white dwarfs can sometimes live in pairs or trios, but that even dwarfs don't need other hamsters to be happy. Groups should be formed early in life, ideally from young litter mates, and new members shouldn't be added later.
Fights tend to happen at night, when hamsters are active, so the RSPCA says to check them every morning. Hamsters don't play-fight. If a fight happens, the animals need permanent separation, and the RSPCA doesn't recommend putting them back together. This is no small matter in practice: bite injuries from other hamsters were among the most common problems in the RVC records, at 235 cases (5.88%).
For a pair, the RSPCA environment page says the number of hiding spaces should be one more than the number of animals.
The cage, the wheel and the water bottle
The RSPCA wants a solid cage floor with bedding deep enough to dig in, and no wire mesh floors, which can lead to foot problems. Plastic cages are better than metal, and wooden ones shouldn't be used. Its behaviour page asks for a good-quality wheel with a large diameter, such as one meant for rats, solid and axle-free. Water should come from a bottle with a valveless sipper tube, checked every day for leaks or blockages, because hamsters can't apply strong suction.
Life is short whatever you do. The RSPCA says hamsters usually live for up to two years, and the median age at death in the RVC records was 1.75 years.
Food, and where dates fit in
The RSPCA diet page builds a hamster's diet around a compound pellet ration or a seed mixture made for them, plus small quantities of greens, cleaned root vegetables and pieces of fruit such as apples. It says never to give grapes or rhubarb, which can be poisonous to rodents.
Dates are not on that page at all. On USDA FoodData Central figures, Deglet Noor dates hold 63.4g of total sugars per 100g (FDC 171726), against 10.4g for raw apple with skin (FDC 171688), about six times as much. With apples as the named example and dates absent, the cautious reading is to stick to the RSPCA's list and keep the dates for the people in the house.
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