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Radio Hams Hamstery
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This is the home page of Radio Hams Hamstery. A hamstery is
place where hamsters are bred and kept. Unlike a hamster farm, hamsters in a
hamstery are carefully selectively bred using a controlled breeding plan. This
produces pedigree hamsters whose ancestors are recorded and whose genetic makeup
is accurately known. Due to the selection of only the best animals for breeding,
pedigree hamsters are larger, tamer, longer lived and healthier than animals
produced by accidental or non-controlled breeding.
This careful breeding
of hamsters by the serious hamster fancy has lead, throughout the history of
hamster breeding (since the 1930's) to many natural genetic
mutations being discovered, which produce many different colours and fur
types.
In England and many other countries, hamster breeders and keepers
enjoy showing their animals at hamster shows. At these shows hamsters are judged
on their size, shape, condition and how well they conform to the standards laid
down by various hamster organisations, such as the National Hamster Council
(the oldest of these organisations, founded in 1949). Radio Hams is a member of
several hamster clubs and we are the secretaries of the South Of England Hamster Club 
Radio Hams Hamstery is now located in Lisburn, south of
Belfast in Northern Ireland. We moved here in March 1996, from southern England
and were the first to bring Black (aa) hamsters and Silver Grey
(SgSg) hamsters to Northern Ireland. Indeed we may be the first serious
hamstery in Northern Ireland. Please email us if you know otherwise.
Hamster breeding and showing is not as popular in Northern Ireland as it is in
England. A new club has just been started here, the Kilkeel Hamster Club and
they are begining to hold shows. We enjoy hamster shows as they are a good
opportunity to compare notes with other breeders and show off our hamsters that
we are rather proud of.
Radio Hams Hamstery is run by Adrian Dornford-Smith 
and Rachel Cooper.
It was founded in 1994 and enjoyed
considerable success in showing when we were in England. Our particular
interests are the use of Medelain genetics in
hamster breeding, the further development of patterned hamsters and the captive
breeding of Roborovski's hamster.
We sell pedigree hamsters to local pet shops and direct to the public. The price of pedigree Syrian hamsters is seven pounds each. The cost of shipping hamsters is prohibitive, but if you live locally to us we would be happy to supply you with a hamster (provided we feel you are a responsible animal keeper). We are also happy to receive visitors to the hamstery, so if you would like to visit, get in touch with us.
We breed the Syrian (Golden) hamster, Mesocricetus
auratus, the Chinese hamster Cricetulus griseus and the rare
Roborovski's hamster Phodopus roborovski.
Pedigree Syrian Hamsters
The Syrian hamster is the
species most often kept as a pet. We breed and show pedigree Syrian hamsters.
The photo' shows Caffrey, who is a black tortoiseshell and white long haired
satin Syrian hamster, her genotype is
aaTotoBaballSasaRxrx. She is approximately 18 cm (7 inches) long and is
not particularly large, some of our Syrians reach 23 cm (9 inches) long. Our
hamsters do not bite, partly because they are selectively bred over many
generations for tameness and partly because from the age of 2 weeks to about 5
weeks they are hand fed puppy milk. This makes them excellent pets who are quite
happy with human company and therefore live a happy and contented life in
captivity. We specialise in the following colours :-
You can see what some of these colours look like on the National Hamster Council poster. We also breed the following patterns :-
We also breed the following fur types :-
We can produce any permutation or the above colours, patterns and fur types, so if you would like a particular sort we can breed one for you. This will generally require approximately 2 months notice.
We sell our animals at 6 weeks of age, so they are fully weaned, totally hand tame and ready to move to their new homes. We split the sexes at 4 weeks and every animal we sell is of a guaranteed sex and is guaranteed not be pregnant.
Every animal we sell comes with a pedigree giving its ancestors
back to great great grand parents, listing their names, who bred them, their
wins at shows etc. and their complete genetic make up.
The
Roborovski's is the smallest species of hamster, when adult, as are the ones
shown in the photo', they are approximately 4.5 cm long. They are colonial
animals and should be kept in at least pairs. They live happily together in
single sex groups, but it is much more difficult to set up peaceful mixed sex
colonies and this is not recommended for new owners of this species. They are
very tame animals and never bite. Due to their small size and fast movement they
are quite difficult to handle and are therefore not recommended as pets for
small children.
The
Chinese hamster is a small hamster growing to 8 cm (3 inches) long. They are
best kept in single sexed groups of two or more as they are social animals. They
live longer than other species (up to 3 years) and are very easy to handle as in
the wild they live in trees and so cling on to hands, fingers and clothing.
There are two colourations in existence presently, the wild colouration (on the
left in the photo') and the dominant spot colouration (on the right in the
photo'). At Radio Hams Hamstery we breed both colours. Chinese hamsters have
longer tails than other species of hamsters, approximately 1.5 cm (0.5 inches).
The hamsters in the photo' are both adult males and consequently have the large,
obvious testicles that are characteristic of this species.
We are happy to answer any hamster queries (if we can, if not we'll put you in touch with someone who can) and you can email either Adrian at radiohams@ntlworld.com or Rachel at rachel.a.cooper@ntlworld.com or you can contact us by 'phone or letter.
Radio Hams Hamstery
4 Rusheyhill
Road
Lisburn
County Antrim
UK
BT28 3TD
Telephone 02892 648133
(+44) 2892 648133 outside the
UK
This Web site has been visited times since the
17th June
'97
