What is the maximal age a Golden hamster reaches?
An adult Golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) usually gets as old as 10 years.
Golden hamsters are around 15 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 2 grams (0 lbs) and measure 8.9 cm (0′ 4″). As a member of the Muridae family (genus: Mesocricetus), a Golden hamster caries out around 8 little ones per pregnancy, which happens around 4 times a year. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 18 cm (0′ 8″).
As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.
The golden or Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) is a rodent belonging to the hamster subfamily, Cricetinae. Their natural geographical range is limited to arid areas of northern Syria and southern Turkey. Their numbers have been declining in the wild due to a loss of habitat from agriculture and deliberate elimination by humans. Thus, wild golden hamsters are now considered vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.However, captive breeding programs are well-established, and captive-bred golden hamsters are often kept as small house pets. Syrian hamsters are larger than many of the dwarf hamsters kept as pocket pets (up to 5x larger), and weigh about the same as a sugar glider, though the wild European hamster exceeds Syrian hamsters in size. They are also used as scientific research animals throughout the world.
Animals of the same family as a Golden hamster
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Muridae):
- Buffoon striped grass mouse bringing the scale to 26 grams
- Florida naked-tailed rat getting as big as 27 cm (0′ 11″)
- Rothschild’s woolly rat with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Nectomys squamipes with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Thomas’s giant deer mouse with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Blazed Luzon shrew-rat getting as big as 19.5 cm (0′ 8″)
- Long-tailed vole with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Aztec mouse with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Eastern chestnut mouse with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Emin’s pouched rat growing to a mass of 1.28 kgs (2.82 lbs)
Animals that reach the same age as Golden hamster
With an average age of 10 years, Golden hamster are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Sarcophilus laniarius usually reaching 8.17 years
- Bushveld elephant shrew usually reaching 8.75 years
- Plains viscacha usually reaching 9.33 years
- Chinese ferret-badger usually reaching 10.5 years
- Barbary ground squirrel usually reaching 9 years
- Jungle cat usually reaching 12 years
- White-tailed jackrabbit usually reaching 8 years
- California leaf-nosed bat usually reaching 10.33 years
- Mindanao treeshrew usually reaching 11.5 years
- Cape fox usually reaching 10 years
Animals with the same number of babies Golden hamster
The same number of babies at once (8) are born by:
- Cinnamon antechinus
- White-footed dunnart
- San Joaquin antelope squirrel
- Virginia opossum
- Steppe pika
- White-tailed antelope squirrel
- Yellow-footed antechinus
- Townsend’s ground squirrel
- Taiga vole
- Grayish mouse opossum
Weighting as much as Golden hamster
A fully grown Golden hamster reaches around 98 grams (0.22 lbs). So do these animals:
- Vinogradov’s jird with 117 grams
- Kobe mole with 95 grams
- Golden Oldfield mouse with 88 grams
- Bush vlei rat with 103 grams
- Coxing’s white-bellied rat with 80 grams
- Fat sand rat with 102 grams
- Angoni vlei rat with 100 grams
- Sooretamys with 100 grams
- Hero shrew with 91 grams
- Plain brush-tailed rat with 105 grams
Animals as big as a Golden hamster
Those animals grow as big as a Golden hamster:
- North African hedgehog with 21.4 cm (0′ 9″)
- Red-cheeked flying squirrel with 18.1 cm (0′ 8″)
- Tsing-ling pika with 15.6 cm (0′ 7″)
- Guam flying fox with 14.5 cm (0′ 6″)
- Magellanic tuco-tuco with 21.6 cm (0′ 9″)
- Grey-bellied squirrel with 21.1 cm (0′ 9″)
- Hairy-tailed bolo mouse with 14.5 cm (0′ 6″)
- Long-tailed Talaud mosaic-tailed rat with 15.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Richmond’s squirrel with 19.4 cm (0′ 8″)
- Mindanao treeshrew with 19.5 cm (0′ 8″)