Dwarf hamsters are some of the best pets around. They are a good first pet for children. Dwarf hamsters are easy to care for, not overwhelming like house training a new puppy. Plus they teach responsibility to a child; the owner has to change the water, give food and clean the cage weekly. Another good feature is that dwarf hamsters don't make a mess. They stay in their reletively small cage at all times except while being handled, the cage is getting cleaned, etc. Dwarf hamsters are also a great apartment pet. Again, they don't make a mess and don't take up much room. There are a few different breeds of dwarf hamster which include the dwarf campbell's russian hamsters(what I breed). The others are the dwarf winter white russian hamster, the roberovski & the chinese(I believe this species is illegal in California). To a breeder there are a world of possibilities as far as different color mutations. The campbell's species has the most so far of the dwarfs with colors like opal, black, argente, black eyed argente; the pattern genes platinum, umbrous & dilute; the coat gene satin; plus tons of combinations(2, 3, & 4 color gene hamsters). Winter whites have mutations like sapphire, imperial(or white bellied) plus the pattern gene pearl & combinations. The roberovskis currently come in only the normal/agouti coloring which I think is very cute anyway. The chinese species also only comes in the normal/agouti coloring. On average dwarf hamsters have a life span of one & a half to two years. However, most well cared for hamsters will live a bit longer. I breed dwarf campbell's russian hamsters and this site, is about my hamstery, The Happy Hamstery. I am located in Central California. I have many colors available. I will have even more colors/patterns available in the future. Currently I am specializing in only the black eyed colors. I am only working with the opal, black, platinum and dilute genes so far. I have every color you can get out of those genes with the exception of blacks (I do have dilute blacks and platinum black, just not plain black yet - once you get that dilute gene mixed up in your black line it's hard to get it out.) and I only have dilute platinums and dilute blacks - no other hamsters with the dilute gene. I hope to expand with BEAs, mottleds and umbrous hamsters very soon (hopefully I will have purchased the new hamsters by the end of the year 2000, things are going according to plan so it should happen on schedule). Every hamster no matter what color, sex or age is $10. (That price is cheaper than some pet stores' prices. Plus all my hamsters are tame when you get them and socialized with other hamsters - not something you can say about most pet store animals. Also, you will never buy a young female from me who is already pregnant due to my not separating the sexes properly - another common problem I have heard of from people who buy their hamsters from pet stores.) I don't believe in different pricing according to rareness of color like some other breeders, to me all hamsters are equal, plus different people like different colors so it's not accurate for me to say "well that one's prettier so I'll charge more for it". All my hamsters are handled daily and provided with toys and ample room in their cages. They are also fed treats like vegetables and fruits, egg, cheese and sunflower/pumpkin seeds, plus some of those commercially sold treats that come in the pretty boxes(I am partial to "Vitacraft"'s treats). Remember I am a breeder of dwarf campbell's russians. All the information here is derived from my experiences with that particular species. While some of the information may be true for all dwarves, some of it may not. Stuff like the general care information is probably true for all dwarves but you should go to a place that specializes in whatever other breed you have for information on things like breeding. Well, there is a little introduction for you.