| Mouse-like hamsters Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Superfamily: | Muroidea |
| Family: | Calomyscidae Vorontsov & Potapova, 1979 |
| Genus: | Calomyscus Thomas, 1905 |
| Type species | |
| Calomyscus bailwardi Thomas, 1905 | |
| Species | |
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Calomyscus bailwardi | |
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| Calomyscidae distribution | |
Mouse-like hamsters, also called brush-tailed mice or calomyscids, are a group of small rodents found in Syria, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. They are found in rocky and slightly high areas in desert regions.
The mouse-like hamsters are not real hamsters, although they look like hamsters. They were once thought to be hamsters based on the shape of their teeth, but they do not have the cheek pouches, and short tail of the true hamsters. All animals in this genus were part of the same species before, Calomyscus bailwardi, but they are now separate species because they have big differences in chromosome number, skull length and weight, and other differences.
In Europe, species of Calomyscus can be kept as a pet. They are called Calomyscus bailwardi mystax or Calomyscus bailwardi. Only special people sell them, not pet shops. And so only people who really like mice will buy them.
Mouse-like hamsters live the longest of all the mouse species. They have been recorded as living 9 years, 3 months and 18 days in captivity. They regularly live over 4 years in captivity. The species which lives the second longest in the muroids lives 7 years, 8 months, which is the Canyon Mouse, Peromyscus crinitus.
