Dwarf Hamsters by Sharon Vanderlip (1999, Paperback)

Great color pictures - these hammies are just so cute! Very detailed book - one of the best I have reviewed. Goes into detail about why hamsters are rodents, the anatomy of a hamster, the origins of each of the four types of dwarf hamsters, great charts summarizing material, covers costs, time needed to spend with hamster, and teaching children to handle the hamster. Very good shorty on length of life and how to prepare children for the inevitable. Great info on body language (did you know hamsters can do flips?). How to capture an escapee, how to pick up the hamster without getting bitten, feeding and potentially harmful foods (read this carefully!)and health with treatment. A nice chapter on breeding with adorable pictures of new born hamsters - they are so ugly they're cute! even includes some basic information on breeding for colors and coats. If you own a dwarf you must read this book! And as a previous review stated I'd chose this book for a report on hamsters or use as a reference in raising hamsters for 4-H or showing.

It was interesting, good information, had lots of pictures and did not take long to read. We have 2 dwarfs and wanted to find some info on where they come/came from originally as well as just more general info. I decided on this particular book because it was written by a vet who has experience with dwarfs.