Keep away from Freddie Starr! (Hamsters)

Member Name: alginate

Product:	Hamsters
Date:	10/04/06 (633 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Dont answer you back

Disadvantages: Freddie Starr!

As a family we have had the usual household pets, Dogs, Goldfish,Budgies and the odd Tortise, but never a Hamster, until last year when i fell in love with my niece's hamster and decided to get one of my own.

The hamster most often for sale in pet shops up and down the country is the Golden Hamster or as its commomly known the Syrian Hamster due to the fact that they originally came from Syria in the 1930's and is now one of the most popular small pets in Great Britian.

Appearance.
My Hamster is a short haired variety, so its hair is fairly sleek and smooth, however you can get long haired or Rex variety hamsters.
The hair on the stomach is quite sparce compared to the hair on the upper body.
They have 4 toes and a thumb on each front leg and their feet are very good at digging and climbing and they have sharp claws.
Their pouches can be an alarming feature also, they can cram shed loads of food into these little pouches which are on average are about 2.5cm deep but can expand to double their size when filled with food, a hamster will fill the pouche with food and then push it back out using it's hands when it's found a safe hiding place.
It's teeth are very small with both incisor and molar teeth present, and their teeth never stop growing.

Colours.
The most common colours are, Cream, Cinnamon,Albino,Sable, The dominant spotted, the grey and the yellow

Picking Your Hamster
I got my hamster from my local pet shop and he cost me a grand total of £6.00.
I was advised to pick a hamster between 5-8 weeks old as they are easier to tame, one of the best ways of figuring out a hamsters age is to look at it's ears, a younger hamster has tiny white hairs on the inside of its ears, if the ears are hairless and shiny this indicates an older hamster.
Soft clean fur and bright eyes are a good indication that your hamster is healthy.
Females true to form can be quite grumpy as they get older where as males tend to kick back and just chill out!

Housing
I bought a starter kit which had everything i needed, a water bottle, food bowl, a wheel, food and bedding all for £25.
Wood shavings are better to line the bottom of the cage as saw dust can irriate the eyes, newspaper should also be avoided as the print can be toxic.
The cage should be housed out of draughts and out of the way of other animals, ie cats/dogs.

Feeding
Hamsters eat almost anything, egg, pasta,rice, fresh veg, if feeding this kind of food have a seperate bowl from their dry feed as this food will decay and hamsters are hoarders.
Citrus foods are not good for them as it upsets their stomachs.
Fresh water should be available and changed every day.

General Health
Hamsters are very clean animals who clean themselves, they should be cleaned out at least twice a week, and their soiled bedding area every day.
They are prone to the common cold so avoid picking up your hamster if you have a cold yourself because you can pass it on.
Their pooh is a good indication to their general health, normal poop is hard and rod shaped, runny poop means to much fresh fruit and veg and very hard poop means the poor thing is probably constipated.

General opinion
I think these are the easiest aminals to look after, easy to handle( they might nip from time to time) easy to feed, easy to house, you dont have to walk them and their great fun.
Thanks for reading.

Summary: Wont break your bulging bank balance