Small furry rockets (Chinese Hamsters)

Member Name: Bearstorm

Product:	Chinese Hamsters
Date:	19/05/09 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great fun to watch and cheap to keep

Disadvantages: Pet shops that sell them in pairs, Not a social breed

I would definitely recommend the Chinese hamster as a pet. I didn't get my first one till I was 24 and I still have her nearly three years later. She is mental!!

The Chinese breed are very small and much more mouse like in apperance compared to a syrian or roborovski breed. They are characterised by the fact that they have a tail. Only a short one mind. I found that the Chinese hamsters are a bit more feisty than the syrian for example.

For such a small hamster mine has a big personality. Now you may think that strange for a hamster but she always comes to the cage door when you make kissing noises (how sad) and she takes the smallest seeds from you without a single nip! As I said before I have also had her nearly three years so I odn't know if it is that she is some sort of bionic hamster or if it is because they are hardier than other breeds.

The only thing I would seriuosly stress is that the Chinese breed are the ONLY breed of dwarf hamster that are not social. A lot of pet shops sell them in pairs and they should really not do this with Chinese ones!! I myself bought a pair of females and within a week they were fighting and hanging off each other. I bought a book on hamsters and it stated 'The only breed not social is the Chinese..' So i immediately went out and bought another cage.

A friend went out and bought a pair for her daughter so I warned her to seperate them ASAP she didnt and it resulted in one chewing the other ones head off and this is not the only incident I have heard about so I cannot stress enough to be careful when buying!!!

I also like to call this breed the pocket rocket because I dont think I have ever seen hamsters run so fast! Im not so sure if they make good pets for very young children as I don't honestly think that they are all so great at being handled but for older children and big kids alike I think you can have hours of fun watching them run about.

Summary: Good for older children and big kids