Need help deciding on small pet for DS

[funkychunkymonkey]

I was hesitant at first to get the hamptser because the life span is so short. My DS is a very sensitive little guy and I didn't want him to have a heart break in a couple of years....but then I thought if I just explain to him how long he will have it, and that 2 years would be a nice long life for the hampster spent happily in his bedroom, that he would be prepared. Also , he will be a teenager by then adn will probably be better prepared to handle it. I figured that my new baby will be older by then, and if he is heartbroken, then I would get him a rabbit at that time when I don't have so much going on to handle.
QUOTE]
Congrats on your pet! Hamsters are great fun pets. Mine loves to run in toliet paper tubes. Even for a sound sleeper the wheel can be a issue. Mine is a nice one (enclosed edge critter trail) and is sometimes loud. I did learn if I moved it to the center of the cage it seemed quieter. Two years is average for lifespan. My dwarf hammy lived to the ripe old age of 4.

 

[traces7]

Congratulations on your new hamster. They are fun little pets. And a good 1st pet to learn to take care of!

 

[MiniGirl]

Congratulations on your new pet. We bought our DD8 a hamster a few months ago, and am surprised by how much we have all come to love him. He will come to the side of the cage when he hears us in the room. We'll put him in his ball, and he'll follow us around. He's just a really sweet little guy, and my dd has been a wonderful hamster "mommy" to him. He is loud at night though on that wheel. Yikes. We have ended up keeping him downstairs on the far side of the house and sometimes we can still hear him.

 

[lukenick1]

We love our hammies too but boy they constantly poop! I did consider a rat but I cannot get past the tail. Hearing the males make better pets is great but who wants those big testicles touching them. Eeeeewwww LOL

 

[stsomewhere]

I may be the only one to say this, but a ferret. They can be great playmates for a cat (most people worry about the cat hurting the ferret, it is actually the other way around). They can be litter trained and 'walked' on a leash!

Not saying run out and get one, but look into it!

We had ferret. We would walk her on leash outside. Take her to the park.
We had a cat but the cat was easy going and did not mind. The ferret would sneak up on our kittens while they were sleeping, grab them by the scruff of the neck and hide them. Once they were bigger, the ferret could not do it.

 

[lukenick1]

I would love to consider another small pet but we are allergic. I know we are definitely allergic to cats, I am allergic to rabbits. Do you think Ferrets have dander too???

 

[KimR]

For those of you with hamsters, what type did you get and how old were they? I just bought my DD a teddy bear hamster last Thursday, and by Saturday, the poor thing had died. We think it might have been wet tail, but it happened so quickly, we weren't able to get him to a vet.

DD is still devastated over the loss of her pet. She had come to love him so much even in that short perioed of time. She thinks it is her fault, nothing I say can convince her otherwise, and says she absolutely does not want another hamster. I'm also reluctant to get another because I've heard wet-tail is quite common and often fatal. I don't want to risk her going through that heartbreak yet again.

I've been told it's better to get a somewhat older hamster - they told us he was 6 months old, but I honestly think he was younger than that. He was so tiny. Can any experienced hamster owners give us some advice in case she changes her mind? I'm hoping she will have a change of heart once she gets over her sadness. This is an awful to happen right around the holidays. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that, but I am kicking myself for getting her that hamster right before Christmas.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Yikes, Kim! That's so sad. I had hamsters die on me when I was a kid and I remember how hard it was. Give your DD this for me, will you?

I really don't know how old our teddy bear is. He seemed to be full size when we got him. The place we got him from wasn't the cleanest place in the world and truthfully, we just wanted to get him out of there. So I was a little concerned about him and did make a call to a small animal vet's office shortly after we got him, but he was ok. They were good about talking to me on the phone - maybe you could call one near you and they might be able to give you some insight into what happened with yours. Was his tail area actually wet? I don't know a lot about it but know it's very common in hamsters.

We've had ours now for almost a year and he's been pretty healthy.

I don't think you should be hard on yourself. You had no way of knowing what would happen, and something must have been wrong with him if he died in two days. I hope you try again. Make sure you wash down the cage very well to get rid of any germs he might have had, and it's probably best to buy one from a different place (although I'd probably try for reimbursement - take a store credit, you can buy supplies later. .

 

[talulabelle]

For those of you with hamsters, what type did you get and how old were they? I just bought my DD a teddy bear hamster last Thursday, and by Saturday, the poor thing had died. We think it might have been wet tail, but it happened so quickly, we weren't able to get him to a vet.

DD is still devastated over the loss of her pet. She had come to love him so much even in that short perioed of time. She thinks it is her fault, nothing I say can convince her otherwise, and says she absolutely does not want another hamster. I'm also reluctant to get another because I've heard wet-tail is quite common and often fatal. I don't want to risk her going through that heartbreak yet again.

I've been told it's better to get a somewhat older hamster - they told us he was 6 months old, but I honestly think he was younger than that. He was so tiny. Can any experienced hamster owners give us some advice in case she changes her mind? I'm hoping she will have a change of heart once she gets over her sadness. This is an awful to happen right around the holidays. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that, but I am kicking myself for getting her that hamster right before Christmas.

Aww, so sad. We've only had ours for 2 days, but so far, all seems well. I got a teddy bear, since the clerk in the store said the dwarfs would be so small for my son to hold and he would do better with the larger hamster...I think he's a baby, seems like he grew already in the 2 days we've had him.
We got him at PetSmart. I looked at the local old fashioned pets store- but the place was a little dirty and they had SO MANY hampsters in one cage! It was gross and next to a cage crawing with white mice...honestly, I think they sell them primarily as snake food for the snakes they sell there.

PetSmart was really clean, and only had 2 hampsters in the cage (both didn't really want to be held, so they brought out the ones from the back. There were 3 in the container and it was clean and huge. I picked one that was really sweet and wanted to be held. PetSmart is a large chain, but does things right. They don't sell many animals, but they do have an onsite vet that checks the hamsters and other animals. I would reccomend buying from them or a large pet supply center that is similar and has a veternarian on staff.