5 replies to this topic

[hamsyamsgrams]

Hi all! I got my Lulu in June (she was born at a shelter in April). The shelter told me she was a Syrian hamster, but in the last couple weeks, she started sprouting a few long strands of hair from random parts of her body (by her scent glands, behind her head). If you look at my Instagram (hamsyamsgrams) you can see what I mean. 

 

My guess is that maybe she has a recessive gene for long hair and it's now expressing itself. But what do you guys think?

 

The random long hairs look super silly, but I love her regardless!

 

 

[daisy~]

Female long-haired hamsters are much less fluffy than male long-hairs. I don't think a recessive long-haired gene would have this effect but it's probably just because she's a female long-hair.

Edited by daisy~, 27 July 2022 - 06:38 AM.

[Kikya]

I'm sorry I don't have an instagram but yes long haired female Syrians have weird floofs sticking out. It's usually just a skirt of hair instead of all over like the males. They tend to get more hair as they go toward adulthood and she's probably getting better nutrition too then at the shelter.

[snowham12345]

I checked out your Instagram (and followed) and your hamster does indeed look like a long haired hamster!
My long haired female has similar little tufts of long fur. As she gets older she will likely just grow more of these tufts, however her first likely won’t get close to as long as that of a male longhair. I hope this helps!

[hamsyamsgrams]

I checked out your Instagram (and followed) and your hamster does indeed look like a long haired hamster!
My long haired female has similar little tufts of long fur. As she gets older she will likely just grow more of these tufts, however her first likely won’t get close to as long as that of a male longhair. I hope this helps!

 

Thanks for the follow!    And thanks everyone for weighing in. It's comforting to know nothing is wrong - she's just not what the shelter said she was hahaha.

[nebit]

The others are correct- female longhairs from non-show lines tend to only have a few long hairs around the ears and rump, perhaps a tuft or two.

 

Female long-haired hamsters are much less fluffy than male long-hairs. I don't think a recessive long-haired gene would have this effect but it's probably just because she's a female long-hair.

Long hair is recessive, I suspect you're trying to say that a heterozygous hamster (Ll- a hamster with only one long hair gene) would appear short haired. But a hamster with two recessive longhair genes has long hair.