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Mouse-like hamster using its tail for balance while standing on a branch (a feat difficult for hamsters).

Mouse-like hamsters 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.