The Winter White Dwarf Hamster is so called because of its ability to turn white in winter. In the wild, as daylight hours shorten, the hamster’s coat will gradually get lighter until it becomes almost completely white. This can also happen in captivity so don’t worry if your hamster changes colour in the winter months.
Winter Whites grow up to 10cm with the males being larger than the females, and they live on average for 2 years. They have a compact body that’s bullet shaped with prominent eyes and a roman nose. They are available in three colour varieties normal, sapphire and pearl.
These hamsters are sociable and like to live in single sex pairs or small groups. They are nocturnal, but it is not unusual to see them active during the daytime.
The Winter White hamsters pictured above are the ‘Normal’ or wild type colour.
The Winter White hamster pictured above is a colour known as sapphire. The normal brownish colour is replaced by a very attractive smoky grey colour with a blue tinged base coat.
The Winter White Pearl (pictured above) is a very pretty colour. A pearl is entirely white with Black (Normal – pictured above left) or Blue/Grey (Sapphire) ticking giving the hamster a ‘haze’ of colour over its body. The Winter White Sapphire (pictured right above) is Blue/Grey in colour but still has the distinctive arches and dorsal stripe.
New Winter White colours were believed to have mutated in recent year, however after extensive investigation these ‘new’ colours were found to be hybrid animals all originating from Winter Whites that had been crossed with the Campbell’s variety. More recently a new pattern ‘merle’ seems to have occurred, this gives the hamster a ‘marbled’ effect creating a patterned hamster.