Are the Russian hamsters at Pets at Home CAMPBELLS or WINTER WHITES?

Russian dwarf hamsters are highly social and live happily in same sex pairs or groups.

They are lively little hamsters and really enjoy being handled once they are used to you, although they are very sensitive to rough handling so are not suited to young children.

There are two types of Russian hamster: Campbell's Russian and Winter White Russians. Campbell's Russians can be beige, brown, black and white, but the Winter White spends the summer in their brown coat and often becomes totally or partially white as the winter draw in.

Dwarf hamsters should be fed a hamster specific mix and can be supplemented with fruit and vegetables to offer variety to your hamsters' diet.

You should provide plenty of toys for your hamsters' to play with, this will help to keep them happy and healthy.

Russian dwarf hamsters on average live for 2 years.

For more information on hamsters, please refer to the Pets at Home Care Guide for Hamsters, available free online.

LIVE PETS are not available to buy online and can only be purchased from your local Pets at Home store where friendly trained staff will help select the right pet for you. To find your nearest store, please refer to our Store Finder.

It could be either, you'll have to go to your local store and ask if they're not specifically identified as Campbell's or Winter Whites. The description on the website does point out that they're referring to both breeds with the term "Russian". See the third paragraph

Wait, there are reasons to shop for pets at P@H other than the fact it's easy to get to and the animals are fairly cheap? So we're going to ignore the fact that the vast majority of animals are bred in "factory" conditions with very little space, are weaned at a stupidly young age and generally treated very poorly? It doesn't matter if the individual animal is healthy and well socialised - you're funding an immoral industry.

By all means shop there if that doesn't bother you but please don't pretend that the "positive" side of shopping there balances out the negatives. It doesn't.

As for the breed - chances are even the store doesn't know what breed they are. They get them in as "russians" from the breeder and if they're not a mix/hybrid (which they likely are) then it still unlikely that the staff will know which breed unless they have independent knowledge of how to determine the breed from the colourings and such.

I've worked for P@H and was never told how to tell the difference or what breeds we got in and my boyfriend also works there and doesn't really know much about it.

All you can do is ask and hope they know enough to give you a sensible answer.

I never said that the positives balance out the negatives, I said the reviews of whether it's good or bad are balanced.

So you know there are major negatives but because you've not heard a review that reflects that you don't mind?

Anyway. I've just given you another review to consider.

No, I have heard reviews that reflect the negatives but I've also had an equal number of reviews saying the complete opposite.

There are no other breeders in my local area anyway, so if I wasn't going to P@H I'd have to go way out of my way. Another factor.

At least check Craigslist, local classifieds and Pre-Loved. There is always the Adoption Centre in P@H as well.