32 Countries Where Hamsters Live in the Wild . . . Yes, Hamsters!

When you think of wild animals, hamsters are probably far from your mind. But, like all pets, they started out wild, and most still live in the wilderness. There are 20 hamster species worldwide, only 5 of which are domesticated. Their range includes much of Europe, the Middle East, and Central and East Asia. Below, in no particular order, are some of the countries where you just might be lucky enough to spot a real live wild hamster!

1. Belgium

European hamsters are small rodents with red-brown or grey fur with a black, grey or white underbelly. They like gardens, hedges, and low-lying farmland with soil made of loam or loess—just the type of habitat they find in Belgium.

2. France

In France, the wild hamster population has shrunk dramatically, down 94 percent from historic levels. One of the threats to wild hamsters is eating a diet of corn, plentifully available in rural areas. Too much corn causes hamster mothers to craze out and kill their babies.

3. Germany

Germany’s economy is robust and highly developed. Wild hamsters enjoy protected status there, but the intense level of urbanization threatens their survival. Infrastructure construction removes farmland and wild spaces and creates large paved and developed areas they cannot cross easily.

4. Czech Republic

European hamsters, like those found in the Czech Republic and neighboring countries, are the largest hamster species. They can grow to 8-14 inches long (20-35 cm) and have a 1.6-2.4 inch tail (4-6 cm).

5. Austria

Wild hamsters in Vienna, Austria, have a habit of eating candle wax as a source of fat. People have spotted them in graveyards stealing candles from memorials and trying to shove them down into their burrows!

6. Slovakia

Slovakia’s wild hamsters can live up to 8 years. They give birth to 3-15 pups per litter, which can themselves reproduce in just 43 days. Despite this rapid growth rate, they are an endangered species due to loss of habitat and extermination efforts.

7. Hungary

As a critically endangered species, European hamsters are protected in most of the European Union. However, even though they are nearly extinct in Hungary, the country allows farmers to exterminate them. This is especially unfortunate because Hungarian hamsters have their own distinct genetic line.

8. Serbia

If you find yourself traveling in Serbia one day, you might very well encounter a population of wild hamsters. Keep your distance, though. Unlike the dwarf or Syrian hamsters people keep as docile pets, European hamsters will viciously bite people when given the chance.

9. Romania

Romanian farmers consider wild hamsters a threat because they eat crops, spread disease, and dig burrows that can cause livestock to break a leg. Traditionally, wild hamster pelts were also used for clothing and handicrafts made with fur.

10. Bulgaria

Bulgaria has abundant rural and wild areas suitable for wild hamsters. They dig complex burrow systems with large underground storage chambers. They store an average of 4.4-6.6 pounds of food (2-3 kg) for winter hibernation.

11. Syria

More docile than European hamsters, Syrian hamsters are popular pets worldwide. Adorably, their nickname in Arabic (أبو جراب) means “mister saddlebags” because of their habit of storing large amounts of food in their cheek pouches.

12. China

Chinese hamsters look more like mice than others and are sometimes confused with them. In the wild, they are usually brown with a black stripe down their backs, some speckles of black and grey, and an off-white underbelly.

13. Russia

Russian dwarf hamsters have a dark stripe down their backs but turn completely white in winter. This helps camouflage them in the winter snow from predators, particularly weasels. In captivity, however, artificial light prevents this seasonal coat change from happening.

14. Ukraine

Ukraine is primarily an agricultural country with massive tracts of rich farmland. Wild hamsters in Ukraine are declining, as they are victims of the same methods farmers use to exterminate rats, mice, and other rodents. In addition, wild hamster habitats in the eastern part of the country have been violently destroyed in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that started in 2022.

15. Poland

In 1970, there were about 1,000 wild hamsters in Poland, but that number has declined 90% to just 100 today. They are split into two separate populations that are too isolated to interbreed, which limits the species’ biodiversity and prospects for survival.

16. Afghanistan

The grey dwarf hamster is a species found in Afghanistan. It lives in the Pamir Mountains at elevations of 3,300-14,100 feet (1,000-4,300 m). Biologists think it originated in arid semi-desert areas but then spread to farms, gardens, and sometimes buildings.

17. Iran

Hamsters can live in various conditions, including the edges of deserts, river valleys, rocky mountainous areas and foothills, and farmland. Iran, a large country of mountains and deserts, offers all these conditions to hamsters.

18. Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan hosts a population of Turkish hamsters. They are closely related to the Syrian hamster but are not usually kept as pets because they tend to be aggressive. Their color is tan and dark brown.

19. Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan’s grassy, treeless steppes are attractive to wild hamsters, who avoid dense vegetation like that found in forests. They eat roots, seeds, green plants, and insects. They can tunnel deeply underground, with chambers as low as 59 inches (150 cm) below the surface.

20. Iraq

Iraq has diverse biomes, including mountains, semi-arid deserts, and marshy river valleys. For this reason, the country supports a wide range of wildlife. Sand cats, foxes, polecats, the small Indian mongoose, and an array of snakes and raptors are some of the predators that pursue hamsters.

21. Greece

Wild hamsters were once plentiful in Greece but not so much in recent decades. The warm Mediterranean climate is ideal for them, but the temperature can get quite cool in winter, particularly in the mountains. Wild hamsters usually hibernate from October to March, waking up once a week to feed on the food they have stored underground.

22. Jordan

The predominant feature of Jordan is the Jordan River valley, a part of the Great Rift Valley system that stretches all the way to southern Africa. This deep gorge supports abundant wildlife, including wild hamsters and the creatures that prey on them.

23. Israel

All pet Syrian hamsters held by pet owners today descended from a single mother and her pups brought to Jerusalem in 1930 to be raised as research animals. Some escaped into the wild and developed into a population of wild golden hamsters. The Zoological Society of London acquired some of them and eventually introduced them as pets to the public in the 1940s.

24. Pakistan

Pakistan is home to wild hamsters that resemble mice. Sometimes they are even called “brush-tailed mice,” although they are not the same species. They like the rocky, semi-arid regions where mountain and desert biomes overlap.

25. Turkey

The Turkish hamster is also known as Brandt’s hamster, the Azerbaijani hamster, or avurtlak. People don’t usually keep this aggressive species as a pet, but they do use them as laboratory test animals. Its numbers are declining in the wild.

26. Mongolia

The Mongolian hamster and the Roborovski hamster are two species that live in the sand dunes and arid grasslands of Mongolia’s Gobi Desert. Sparse vegetation means fewer thick roots in the soil that are hard for wild hamsters to tunnel through. Mongolian hamsters are not endangered but are rarely kept as pets.

27. Armenia

Because Armenia’s terrain is so mountainous, it breaks the country up into distinct biomes that support a diversity of wild animals, including migratory birds, fish, and mammals. Armenia is home to an exceedingly rare carnivore, the Persian leopard, with only 10-20 surviving individuals in the wild. This is good news for the hamster, which is easy prey for this big cat.

28. Lebanon

Lebanon is more heavily forested than other countries in the region, with the cedar of Lebanon being the country’s most well-known tree. Wild hamsters originated in a desert environment where they can dig through sand. They don’t do well in areas where matted roots prevent them from digging deep burrows. Nevertheless, Lebanon does support a population of wild hamsters.

29. Moldova

The common hamster or European hamster is a critically endangered species in Moldova. Worldwide, the wild common hamster population has declined 50% yearly for the past 10 years. If this continues, 99% of the remaining population will be gone in another 10 years.

30. Belarus

Belarus, like neighboring countries, has a population of European hamsters. Interestingly, in the wild, hamsters live about 4 years but only 2 years in captivity. This is because captive hamsters do not hibernate in the winter. This puts their system under greater stress.

31. North Korea

The main wild hamster species in North Korea is the Chinese striped hamster. It has greyish-brown fur with a faint black stripe running down its spine. Most hamster species are solitary, but this one shares its burrow with several other individuals.

32. Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is home to mouse-like wild hamsters that differ from other species in some important ways. They have especially big eyes and ears, long tails, and no cheek pouches. They’re very similar in appearance to mice and easily confused with them.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © PhotocechCZ/Shutterstock.com