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Radio Hams Hamstery
 


NHC logo
National Hamster Council and
British Hamster Association
registered
BHA logo

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 SOEHC logo
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 Photo of Adrian 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
Caffrey, a black tortoiseshell & white hamster
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.


Roborovski's Hamsters
Roborovski's hamsters playing on a dish wheel
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.


Chinese Hamsters
A normal and a dominant spot coloured Chinese hamster
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.