Daddy, daddy, I want one of those. So the pleadings of my two year old starts. Sorry sweety, I’m not going to have a nasty rodent in my house. Besides, I don’t even know the first thing about hamster care.
“You know honey,” chimes the wife. “I’ve had hamsters before and I will show her how to handle it and take care of it. Besides, they’re actually pretty clean. Of course we will need a few things if we are going to get one.”
Oh brother, now the wife has taken the side of my daughter. How can I say no when the two most beautiful people on earth are tag teaming me? OK, i say, but you’re going to have to take care of that thing. “No problem,” says the wife. Thus my journey begins.
Luckily (so I thought, more on this later) we were at a pet store, so I was able to ask at least a few questions. Before telling me anything else, the staff at the pet shop made sure that I understood that hamsters had to be alone, one per cage (I have since found out that this is true for Syrian hamsters, but not Dwarf hamesters).
What Kind of Hamster Should I Get?
What an excellent question. There are a couple of things that you should consider when helping you to decide what type of hamster to buy.
First, what knowledge do you have in the area of hamster care? If you are not familiar with hamsters, then getting a Syrian hamster will probably be your best bet. They are larger and easier to get used to from a handling point of view.
Next, do you have small children that will be involved with handling your new hamster? If so, the Syrian hamster is great for the same reason that they are great for a first hamster; they are easier to learn how to handle as they are bigger in size.
Finally, do you want to have multiple hamsters? If so, then you will want to either get Dwarf hamsters or multiple cages so that you can keep your Syrian hamsters seperated (they fight as they get older).
One added question that I just thought of; While looking at hamsters, which do you like the best? Of course this will probably be the most important question, but the other questions are there to help you decide how you are going to best handle this final question.
What else do I need when Buying a Hamster?
Thought you could get away with just a hamster and food, did ya’? Don’t forget that your hamster is going to need a home, food, a way to exercise, something for their food to go in, water, and bedding. We’ll go into each of these with details in a later post. For now, know that these are items that you will want to consider as well.
Where to Buy Hamsters
I must say that I bought my first hamster from a pet store. Don’t slap me just yet, it is a viable place to find them if you are just starting out with your first hamster.
I would suggest though, if at all possible, that you find a breeder to get your hamster from. Why would you want to do this? Well, breeders know the parents of the hamster that you are looking to buy. Whereas, pet shops usually get their hamsters from “farms” or the unexpected offspring of hamster owners. Their is no known history.
Breeders are also known to take care of the hamsters that they have bred from and know the temperament of the parents. This goes a long ways to ensuring that you get a good hamster for you and your family.
I hope that you have been able to learn something from this post. I know that there is so much more to cover and as time goes on I will cover more. If however you are looking for a hamster now and want to know more, then check out the book Hamsters (Animal Planet Pet Care Library) to get up to speed quickly.
Happy hamster buying,
Ted
