The modern day pet hamster was first discovered in Syria in 1830. An Israeli Zoologist working in the Syrian desert brought the hamster back to his lab and was successful in breeding them. Later, in 1839 a British zoologist named George Waterhouse gave them their modern day name – the Golden Hamster. All common household pet hamsters are descendents of the Syrian desert hamsters.
Hamsters were shipped all over the world arriving in the United Kingdom in 1931 and later in the United States in 1938 for use in lab research. Hamsters are healthy, disease free animals and have the potential to have a new litter of babies nearly every month.