getting a hamster any advice?

[figment3258]

Hey all. My daughter has asked for a hamster and we decided to let her get one. I am thinking teddy bear hamster that's what i had growing up and i loved them. Any advice? Thanks a lot.

 

[JESW]

We have had two and really enjoyed them. The only thing that I didn't know was that they had short life-spans...our two lived just over 2 years. Dd11 was heartbroken after the last one died (while we were at Disney last year) and doesn't want another one.

I got a kick out of them and would have gotten another one if she wanted one. They were both very playful ad cute.

Jill

 

[FINFAN]

yeah, short life span...our neighbor has the names listed on his cage of all the ones he has had...you know the label makers that emboss letters, lol.....he has at least a dozen.
I would make sure that cleaning of the cage is HER responsibility and easy enough for her to do. Other than that, since they are nocturnal, be ready to hear that squeaking at night! They are cute tho...enjoy!

 

[Schminston-Mo]

Just throwing out the suggestion of getting a rat rather than a hamster. They are smart and can be taught tricks and if handled correctly they are really cuddly and interactive.

There are lots of good pet rat sites online (as I'm sure there are for hamsters as well!) if you want to look into them.

 

[pickles]

I second the rat, but if you dont like teir looks then do a guinea pig

longer life
not likely to bite like a hamster
guinea pigs dont spend their whole nite trying to figure out how to escape their cage like a hamster does
if a g. pig were to escape he is very easily caught and not going to get into your wallls and shred stuff

did I mention hamsters bite..hard?

also hamsters are NOCTURNAL so unless your kid is up and night and enjoys hearing the wheel all night, they wont be thrilled with their hamster.
One of the bigger reasons hamsters bite is they are nocturnal and kids are trying to wake them up during the day

get a guinea pig much better choice!!
you can also show them in 4 h and stuff

 

[figment3258]

Thanks for the advice. Her heart is set on a hamster. We did have a genie pig a while back and he got so mean that we could not take him out of his cage at all. We gave him to a friend I don't think we could do a piggy again.

 

[pam66]

Just make sure when the store says the hamster is a boy they know what they're talking about...... we bought a boy hamster and 2 weeks later "he" had 5 babies!!!

 

[SandrA9810]

I'd say to keep the cage in the living room with better air circulation, because in a bedroom it'll make it seem like it smells more.
And being in the living room, the little hamster can run till his heart's content at night. But do keep some crisco on hand for a bit of greasing up the wheel.

I had a dwarf and teddy bear. Surpisingly enough, the dwarf was much sweeter than the teddy bear. But that was just an odd case. I could wake him up whenever, and he never bit me.

Their bites are hard, as they can chew through wood. but it feels more like getting a shot in the finger with a needle as their teeth are so tiny.

 

[padams]

When you select your hamster, look for bright, clear eyes and non-matted fur (especially around the tail area). Also, pick one that is friendly (doesn't run away from being picked up and doesn't seem to mind human touch).

 

[Buckalew11]

We have a chinese dwarf hamster. He NEVER bites. DD got him 2 yrs ago and he never, ever bites. When I bought him at PetSmart, the girl there said they don't ususally bite--unlike all the other kinds. I could not even hold the teddy bear kind--they just nibbled and bit constantly.

Had a white dumbo rat before this creature and they are truly, truly sweet! The tail freaked me out a bit at first but Stitch was a sweetie and grew on me.

We look at their little short lives this way: They're only expected to live about 1-4 years, so let's make their little short lives they best it can be.

 

[dawson5]

We've had four teddies. Except for at the very beginning, they didn't bite either. I don't know if we were lucky or we weren't afraid and they could sense that but they were quite cuddly and oodles of fun to have around.

It sounds like your daughter has her heart set on a hamster. While you are there, look for a litter box. They are small and usually triangular in shape. We just filled it with cheap, clumping kitty litter. They do use it, makes clean up a breeze. Once we figured out they could be litter trained, we stopped with the pine shavings and just bought some fluff to put where they sleep.

Also when they get out (and they usually do) find where they go. We never had the problem with them in the walls but our last one would go in the basement. He found some newspaper that he shredded and had a mouthful of seeds when he got out. We left that there and put extra seeds out when he escaped. We knew that if we left him be for a day, we could go and find him there usually after 24 hrs.

 

[OK!]

Just make sure when the store says the hamster is a boy they know what they're talking about...... we bought a boy hamster and 2 weeks later "he" had 5 babies!!!

And conversely, I was told my first hamster was a girl, so I was worried something was desperately wrong with her when all of a sudden her butt appeared to be, in the words of the pet store owner, "...real swollen." He said, "Well, ma'am, that's 'cause you've got yourself a BOY." Whew. I was scared that "she" had been having a hernia or something.

 

[erincon23]

We found out the hard way that some hamsters are VERY smart. We had one that figured out how to open the cage we had him in, and he would escape regularly. I tried using twist ties to hold the door shut; he bit through them. He would hold onto the top bar with his front paws and use his back paws to push the door open, so we finally had to put a heavy dictionary on top of the cage! One night, we were all sitting our our bed watching a movie and the hamster came to the doorway and looked in, waiting for an invitation. We kept his cage in the upstairs hallway (which is room sized), so that he wouldn't wake anybody up at night. He never bit me, but he did bite the child who purchased him (we were taking him to school to be the class pet for a few days, and I don't think he liked the car ride -- when DS tried to pet him to calm him down, he bit HARD). I ended up being the only one in the family who would pick him up, pet him, or take care of him (DH and older DS are a little wimpy when it comes to animals -- neither of them will pick up the dog, either). Make sure you get one of those habitats with trails and stuff to do --they're better behaved when they're not so bored.

Erin

 

[Pembo]

We got a male..that died 3 weeks after we got him. To prevent ds from being very upset we tried to substitute a new hamster. My mom got it for us (we were out of town and ds was at her house), she was so worried about the color and size that we forget to look at the sex. Two weeks later our boy had babies...and we had one very confused DS. (Moral-don't lie to your kids just to save their feelings. )

I suggest getting an aquarium instead of a plastic cage. We tried the plastic thing and although it was fun to see the hamsters run all over the place, it smelled and had to be changed...often and it was not very sturdy, we had more than one escapee.

Remember, a hamster's goal in life is to escape.

Zebella now resides in a nice aquarium with a sturdy lid, held down by a book. She has a wheel, water bottle and food dish and gets to run around in her ball when we take her out. She's happy.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I'm not sure of the names of the types of hamsters, so bear with me. I've had four brown hamsters - two as a teen and two as an adult. I don't ever recall them biting. Nor did they breed - thankfully. They lived about two years or so.

Two months or so ago we bought a black teddy bear hamster. The kids had been asking for one (not specifically a teddy bear or black) but the night we found him in a back room pet store in a "yucky situation", my DS (and the rest of us) didn't want to leave him there so we brought him home with us on the spur of the moment. The owner of the pet store told us these hamsters were bred to be friendly and I think he was right. He told us they only nip if they smell food on your hands and that seems to be true so we wash before we hold him (and after, lol).

He is adorable. And friendly. And I can't believe how much he's grown on me in this short a time. We all love the little guy. His name is Gus (because he reminded us of Cinderella's mouse Gus - in sig, lol).

I did a quick read of his type of hamster and read they like to live alone, so we decided that for now he'll be an "only". We bought a small cage at the pet store that night, but realized as the weeks went on he needed more room, he's big to begin with and has grown. So I bought a bigger version of the same cage and it's awesome. Putting it together was tricky, but once we got past that, it was great. I had to buy it online as I couldn't find it in stores. I'd recommend it. (Be careful where you buy it as the price varies from $56 to as high as $139!). It's fairly easy to clean. We vacum it out with the Shop Vac and then wipe down all the structures inside with soap and water without taking it apart. Takes about 20 minutes. My two 12 yr olds do most of the work with a little help and supervision.

He's quite active and happy in his new digs, and we also let him run around the house in his ball for an hour or two each evening which he loves. It is hysterical. When we first put him in the ball, he'd bump into all the furniture and walls. Now he steers the ball - left here, right there, straight ahead, etc. He's seemed to learn really fast and knows his name and such. Our German Shepherd is enamored of him and watches him for hours. She licks him (gently), follows him around in his ball, and lets him run on her back when we're holding him. We'd all miss him if he was gone.

I have to get some new pics, but here he is.

 

[WhateverLolaWants]

We found out the hard way that some hamsters are VERY smart. We had one that figured out how to open the cage we had him in, and he would escape regularly. I tried using twist ties to hold the door shut; he bit through them. He would hold onto the top bar with his front paws and use his back paws to push the door open, so we finally had to put a heavy dictionary on top of the cage!

Too funny, my hamster was the same way. She'd hang off the door of the cage and chew until it popped open. I ended up "locking" it with one of those black paperclip type things.

I remember when I got my hamster, the salesperson strongly recommended not to change it's food from what they fed it in the store. Also, there is a type of bedding not recommended for use, though I can't recall what kind. Also, definitely get one of those balls to put them in - my hamster would circle around the entire house over and over.

 

[Kath2003]

Don't buy one of those super-amazing-plastic-tubes cages. Buy a large cage with several floors and wire bars. The hamsters can chew through a super-amazing-plastic-tube cage in no time.

You need to change their toys regularly to keep them entertained. Toilet roll tubes are a favourite but they can shred them in under an hour

Look up hamster diets - they like all kinds of fruit, vegetables, seeds, bread, cheese and meats. Dried food is NOT sufficient.

You can also hide their food around their cage to give them a bit of a challenge

I would not give a hamster to a child younger than 12 - they are FAST and require careful handling. If you want a 'sit still and enjoy the cuddles' pet, you need to get a guinea pig (who I think make the BEST pets for people of any age).

 

[MrsPete]

We just lost our hamster -- she only lived 1.5 years, which was disappointing. She was a wonderful little pet. She was very sweet and never bit. Being small, she didn't make a bunch of mess (guinea pigs' cages require cleaning much more often), and she loved to come out of her cage to play.

My suggestions:

Get a teddy bear (or a honey bear, black bear, panda bear, etc.). They're larger and slower, which means you can catch them. They do not like to share a cage, so you have a perfect excuse to have only ONE.

Get a book on hamster care. Some of the things it'll teach you aren't instictive: for example, they cannot get wet.

They love to eat vegetables and fruits, and it's so much fun to watch them eat.

CareFresh litter is absolutely the best and is worth the price.

 

[figment3258]

This is helping so much! thank you all!