August 26, 2007
· Filed under hamster buying, hamster care
The ASPCA has a great quick start guide to hamster care on their web site. It starts off with a little history about hamsters and where they were first discovered, then continues on to feeding and housing your wonderful new pet.
This is a pretty good article and will help you get on the road to taking care of your hamster properly.
Their website provides their recommendation about where to get a hamster for your home. “The ASPCA recommends that you get your hamster from a responsible breeder or, better yet, adopt one from a shelter or small-animal rescue group.” Though you can certainly pickup a hamster from a shelter, I would suggest that you stay with a responsible breeder. The breeder is going to know more about the parent hamsters and their temperament then a shelter or even a pet store will.
Though the hamster care article from the ASPCA is a great read, I would suggest that if you are really serious, you get the book Hamsters (Animal Planet Pet Care Library) for further information.
Ted
August 25, 2007
· Filed under hamster buying, hamster care
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). Read the rest of this entry »
