Hamsters

[weeal]

My mate is buying a hamster for her nephew for his xmas, he will be so excited but what type of hamster should she get? syrian hamsters? russian hamsters?
Should she buy two for company or is this not advised.

It will have a posh cage and lots of toys lol

Any advice welcome from hamster owners please.

Thanks
Al

[jen78]

They can be great little escape artists!!

Saying that I had a basement flat when I had Dennis and would put him in the lounge in his ball while cleaning his cage out in the kitchen.

I remember looking round once and taking aminute to realise he shouldn't be sitting there looking up at me.

Bless him, he's got out of his ball and come all the way across the lounge, up a step to find me in the kitchen and was sat by me looking up at me in a "hey mummy, look what I did" kinda way!

[weeal]

awwwwwww Jen thats cute, you make it sound like a wee child haha

Mamma you would really have taken the wall down? or just wanted to oggle the firemen? uhu

[phillipa.d]

Animals can be so clever - once one of the hamsters i was telling you about got out (it was me, I left cage open, I know, I know...) but my cat, Treacle, instead of killing it, actally picked it up, took it upstairs and woke my daughter up to tell her!!!!

I couldn't believe it!! One lucky little hamster, that night!!!

[jen78]

He was a little star Dennis, very sociable.

An e.mail was sent round work once offering a hamster for sale as they were bored of him, turned out that was his second home at least as they got him off someone who didn't want him either.

So I adopted him. I looked after some houses and about 13 tenants for my landlord back then and he had so much fuss from everyone.

One of the houses used to look after him if I was away and he was spoilt rotten as two of the guys there had little boys. I think he was always a bit disappointed when I came back haha :)

[bigmamma]

My hamsters had those hamster balls , what fun watching it follow you around the house in its ball . Tilly used to stay in my pocket for ages curled asleep .

[weeal]

So thats another vote to the rat then tastymorsel, hmmm and definitely not in pairs either if hammy's
Thanks

phillipa thats a heck of a story, dont they just amaze you at times, my friend's cat goes along when theyre walking the dog like it wants to be a little dog too

[weeal]

right youre all now putting wee me in the mood for one haha

Jen that poor wee soul, at least he ended up with you and was happy eh

Mamma I can just picture you with a wee hamster in your pouch xx

[phillipa.d]

yeah, my old cat Jack lives with my mum now, and he always goes for a walk with the dog!! Hamsters were really good fun for a couple of weeks, they would both get on the wheel at the same time, and whizz along side by side; then, sometimes, they would both get on and one would face the wrong way, which would have my little girl in stitches!!

such a shame they started to fight...

[Miss-Ladybug]

Syrian hamster all the way ;]
So much friendlier.

All the small ones (russian etc) are nasty little blighters.

[icemaiden]

Rats definately!!!

Been breeding them for a while now. They are so intelligent, not smelly as a lot of people believe. Very entertaining and live longer than hamsters. And you can buy some really nice coloured ones too.

On the downside they are prone to tumours so keep a close eye on them. What ever you decide, spend as much time as possible with them and lots of cuddles and play.

[tigerlily11]

As Jen says Syrians will fight if they are male. They are solitary animals in the wild and do not go well together.
Dwarf Hamsters are you best bet if you want to keep a couple. They live in gangs in the wild as they do hunt for prey in packs believe it or not.
Be careful when you first get them because they need lots of attention to get them used to being handled.
they can be like bars of soap. However big or small they are.

[tigerlily11]

There is one other rodent that I found was great fun and that was a Gerbil.
You can keep them in fish tanks, minus the water of course.

[icemaiden]

Nocturnal no.knowledge?

[icemaiden]

Oh you mean the other icemaiden. I see now.

[tigerlily11]

I really should read the entire thread before answering.
I have kept rats as well. All of mine developed tumors which was so sad. All except the last one I had. He was called Pop.
He was what I call a house rat. He would come out of his cage at all hours of the day. He never chewed wires just the wall paper. He would get knock the lid off his fod box and help himself. He was self service. But if you left anything of the side by his cage it would go missing. He even robbed a baby bottle in the middle of the night and we found it chewed to death in the bottom of his cage. But he was the friendliest, funniest little soul I ever met. I do miss him.

[icemaiden]

Here we go again!!!

[weeal]

hey I didnt know there were two Icemaidens either...there ya go!

Thanks Icemaiden and Tigerlily, hey Gerbils do sound funny, this wee laddies mum will definitely not agree to a rat no matter what you all say lol

hi no.knowledge, didnt give you stars cos...well...youre just whittering again arent you LOL, oh ok then but just one mind