Golden hamster

Gestation lasts 16 days, litters average 8.7 young, there are 3.75 litters per year, and sexual maturity comes at 48 days. The golden hamster is listed as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List, a threatened category, and has a lifespan of 3.9 years, with values up to 10 years reported.

Weight

105 g – 108 gsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Lifespan

3.9 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Herbivoresrc for Diet

Longest recorded lifespan

10 years

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

Not recorded

Gestation

16 dayssrc for Gestation

Young per litter or clutch

8.69src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

48 dayssrc for Age at maturity

Litters or clutches a year

3.75src for Litters or clutches a year

Active

At night (nocturnal)src for Active

Lifestyle

Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle

Conservation status

Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The golden hamster is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Endangered species.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classMammalia
4. orderRodentia
5. familyCricetidae
6. genusMesocricetus
7. SpeciesMesocricetus auratus (Waterhouse, 1839)

Synonyms Cricetus auratus

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

NT, Near Threatened

Turkish hamster

Mesocricetus brandti

Cricetidae

VU, Vulnerable

Romanian hamster

Mesocricetus newtoni

Cricetidae

LC, Least Concern

C

Ciscaucasian hamster

Mesocricetus raddei

CricetidaeNo free photo yet

CompareGolden hamster vs Turkish hamsterGolden hamster vs Romanian hamsterGolden hamster vs Ciscaucasian hamster

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
  Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{golden_hamster_2026,
  title = {Golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/golden-hamster},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}