Russian Dwarf Hamsters and Hairless Rats

[Corallus Borealis]

Here are a couple pics i took this morning

first are the russian dwarf hamsters, this is a new batch of weinlings from this morning.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v611/AlmightyArboreals/Rodents/CHUCK072.jpg

and second are a pair of Hairless Rats! wow these guys are cool, the woman almost wont let me feed the babies off she says lol
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v611/AlmightyArboreals/Rodents/CHUCK066.jpg

Chuck
www.AlmightyArboreals.com

[Ian]

Hairless rats are weird, every time I see them they creep me out!
I assume you raise the hamsters for food? If so, what do you feed them to?

[Corallus Borealis]

i feed them to emerald tree boas,amazon tree boas and tokay gecko.

[Ian]

Any reason you feed hamsters instead of mice or rats?
I am not criticizing, I am just curious as to why you use hamsters? Variety is the spice of life though, right!? :D

[Corallus Borealis]

well it started as i had an emerald that was a puker. she would puke up anything and was getting to the point as to where i thought i was going to have to euthenize her. well i heard about russian dwarf hamsters and bam. she ate them with vigor and does not puke them up.. i should find the link again but the hamsters are actually more nutricious than the mice. they also dont stink like the mice so i can raise them in my apartment. i find also that the hamsters are like bookwork and clockwork as far as breeding. ill get a litter of 6-8 babies every 20-24 days from each female. i find that the next litter is down before the last was weined. russian dwarf hamsters are not like rats and mice in the aspect that they blow out all their eggs in a 12 month period, then they are litterally done and i have proven this. that and they make good pets if handled alot after they leave mom and i get 3.25 a piece from the pet stores. when i was running all 25 levels of freedom breeder cages i was producing some 3-4 thousand hamsters a month.

the rats are to hopefully replace the hamsters for the emeralds, trying the hairless thing to help on the time it takes to digest the rodents for the snakes. ill let you know how that goes.

[gmherps]

I could use some of the hamsters for some picky arssee females I have.

[Ian]

Well, it makes more sense now! I will have to keep hamsters in mind for the regurgers.
If you come across that link, post it for us. I remember seeing it a while ago but thats all I remember :)

[Corallus Borealis]

here is the link
http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

[Ian]

Thanks Chuck!
Here is another link I just found that is a bit more in depth on the nutrient composition for those that are wondering. I am glad to see that quail are healthier than I thought, since I was feeding them a lot this year!
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:EgK1bFftkXoJ:www.nal.usda.gov/awic/zoo/WholePreyFinal02May29.pdf+%0ANutrient+Composition+ of+Whole+Vertebrate+Prey%0A(Excluding+fish&hl=en&c lient=firefox-a