page_title: Golden hamster
section_title: Breeding
hierarchical_section_title: Golden hamster / Breeding
caption_attribution_description: This is a photo I took myself. It is a female syrian with her two babies, which are less than one week old.
context_page_description: The golden or Syrian hamster is a rodent belonging to the hamster subfamily, Cricetinae. Their natural geographical range is limited to arid areas of northern Syria and southern Turkey. Their numbers have been declining in the wild due to a loss of habitat from agriculture and deliberate elimination by humans. Thus, wild golden hamsters are now considered vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
  However, captive breeding programs are well-established, and captive-bred golden hamsters are often kept as small house pets. Syrian hamsters are larger than many of the dwarf hamsters kept as pocket pets, and weigh about the same as a sugar glider, though the wild European hamster exceeds Syrian hamsters in size. They are also used as scientific research animals throughout the world.
context_section_description: The practice of selective breeding of golden hamsters requires an understanding of their care, knowledge about breed variations, a plan for selective breeding, scheduling of the female body cycle, and the ability to manage a colony of hamsters.
caption: A hamster mother emerging from a tube to see her two young, which are less than a week old
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD", "Image Model": "C2020Z", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "v954-76", "Image DateTime": "2003:12:26 12:25:53", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "254", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "892", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6562", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/50", "EXIF FNumber": "11", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2003:12:26 12:25:53", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2003:12:26 12:25:53", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired", "EXIF FocalLength": "23/2", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1362", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "731", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "751", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}