Hamsters anyone?

[dg39]

OMG, I knew I shouldn't have opened this thread, but, my curiosity got the best of me. I couldn't imagine having any of these pets mentioned. I'm sure there all nice, but, I just don't have the stomach for any of them, especially the rats. I'll stick with my dog. Please, no offense to anyone. I think your all brave people to have pets like these.

 

[nancy679]

We have a hamster, and the smell is really bad, sometimes just after 2 days after her cage is cleaned. I think I read somewhere that the females urine smells stronger than a males. Our is nice, she did bite when she was younger, now she doesnt. THis is our second hamster but after her I wont get another.

 

[Jockaroo]

I had 4 hamsters. Only one lived to the expected 2.5 years and I took very good care of them. Hamsters are very fragile animals. They will not handle being squeezed or dropped. One of mine fell off his water bottle in his cage and broke his neck--very gruesome thing to see. Please understand this since you are thinking of it for a pet for a young child. And they will bite. Hamsters are nocturnal and will want to sleep all day when your child wants to play and then run in the squeaky wheel all night long. And if you get a plastic wheel--they will eat it. Cage cleaning is not difficult. I had a little ball the hamster could run around in and I'd put him in there to clean the cage. Hamsters are susceptable to "wet tail" which is a diarrea illness. They get ill very quick and unfortunately often die from this. Hamsters are fun to watch, but the "play value" may not be as high as other pets.

 

[sweet angel]

I had a couple of hamsters. I guess both lived to average ages. As for them being fragile, that's debatable...unless I had SuperHamster. Mine got out of his cage a week or so before the holidays (years ago) and we thought he was gone for good...couldn't find him anywhere. My BF's mom at the time had company down from Canada for the holidays and for about a week they kept hearing noises at night. We determined it was Fuzz. My BF made a hole in the wall behind the fridge (where we traced the noises to), put some cheese on a fishing line and popped it in the hole. Couple minutes later, Fuzz appeared...skinny, covered in dust from inside the wall, but fine. He lived for a while after that.

I had really bad luck with guinea pigs. Had 2, both died within days of getting them. Probably a bad pet store though.

When my DS was in 4th grade, he brought me to the science teacher to show me her rats. The teacher put one of them on my shoulder (I guess to freak me out). It was really cool and my son just looked at me like "Wow, my mom's got a rat on her shoulder and she's not freaking out!" I got a little nervous when it touched me with its tail though.

I always wanted a ferret.

 

[luvthatduke]

Oh wow, Lizzydoll73 your pics are great!
I had lab rats a long time ago,
and they were the white ones.
I have to say I wouldn't want the same-looking ones again.
But, now that I've read thru this thread
I think I'll be investigating getting a rat or two.
Do you recommend two for the social-ness?
And just how do you tell the sexes apart?
Any info from the rat owners on the type of cage
& equipment needed?
What did you each find worked best for you?
TIA!

 

[MerryPoppins]

You have to be really careful with the g. pigs and not drop them, but I guess that's true of any of these animals. We left ours with friends and they dropped one and broke off his teeth. They grew back, but we had to grate his food for a while.

I have also had all these pets, except rats. My favorites were my mice. They were very easy to handle and very friendly. They never bit, etc. Our hampsters slept in the day and were up all night. Not much fun to watch. Our pigs were cute, but they'd bite. The gerbils probably were my second favorite. Friendly since we got them young and more active than the hammies.

 

[funhouse8]

Try looking at minature hampsters. They are really cute and fit in the palm of your hand. We have had a few of them over the years and they seem people friendly.

My older boy has a cinchillia(spelling?) and she is really sweet but very shy.

MerryPoppins

You have to be really careful with the g. pigs and not drop them, but I guess that's true of any of these animals.

You reminded me of a funny story. My daughter dropped her hampster and I've never seen anything move so fast to behind her wall unit in her room. What a job we had trying to catch it. So here is another reason not to drop it.

 

[Tuffcookie]

I consider myself an expert on hamsters. We have owned hamsters for 40+ years. I prefer hamsters over the other rodents mentioned because they are cleaner! You do not get the odor from hamsters that you get from the others. Hamsters do not make noises (unless the wheel they exercise in, needs greased!) You should get one that is quite young (8-12 weeks). They live to be 2-2/1 years old. Sometimes, when they are so young it is hard to tell female from male. Do not make the mistake of thinking one hamster will get lonely and need a "friend". Hamsters, plural, sometimes fight and then there's the other problem...Hamsters (plural) and you could end up with many more hamsters! Get your young hamster use to your touch by being gentle. DO NOT just put your hand in the cage and snatch him out of it (especially if he was sleeping). You wouldn't like that either! I put my hand in the cage, let him sniff my hand, and all the while talk softly to him.

When you go to the pet store, check any potential hamster for something called "wet tail". That is a sure sign of a sick hamster.

Do not get one of those cute habittrail cages (or other plastic cage) for your hamster. Hamsters love to chew and I have yet to see a plastic cage that doesn't have some sort of tubing or add on apparatus that they cannot chew thru! A good ol 10 gal aquarium with a screen cage lid works best. Make sure to get the safety locks for the top of it. And do get an exercise wheel!

I could go on and on but I LOVE hamsters! All of ours have had German names because the word "hamster", which is German, means "to hoard", which is what they do with their cheek pouches.