Talk:Campbell's dwarf hamster

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[edit] The Lifespan Thing

To avoid an edit war, I've changed the lifespan information to reflect both views: 18-24 months or 18-36 months. In my own experience of many years and many Campbell's dwarf hamsters, the first figure is the average. Only 18% of my dwarfs who are deceased have lived past two years, and I am including those who lives only a few days or weeks past their second birthday. These are all hamsters who may have received better-than-average care, with veterinary care, diabetic-friendly diet, low stress handling, safe exercise conditions, etc. Remember, we are talking about average lifespan, not possible lifespan. I know of one dwarf hamster on Flickr who lived to be some months past 4, but this would hardly be considered average.

However, I do concede that places like Petsmart, Petco, etc. give the average lifespan as 18-36 months. The hamster-owning community has voiced concerns over misinformation at these companies in forums such as the newsgroup alt.pets.hamsters, so this statistic should not be taken without question, but that doesn't make it invalid, either.

That said, perhaps dwarf hamsters who live in captivity in a lab, as opposed to a home, have a longer lifespan. This may be due to routine culling, for example, making for a heartier specimen than what the casual breeder can offer. Just a bit of speculation, and by no means based on any kind of fact.

Clearly, we need to see more sources for these numbers.

Shari 21:11, 8 August 2007 (UTC)