Hamsters as pets
A hamster is a great pet for all ages (although younger children should always be supervised while handling a hamster) and an ideal pet for first time pet-owners! Hamsters are cute, odorless, relatively inexpensive to keep as pets, and easy to care for. Hamsters are friendly and even fairly smart!
Hamsters have a wide variety of different physical appearances, in several different colors and patterns. They can be solid colored, or be multi-colored. Hamsters can be orange, red, brown, black, or white.
Hamsters are mostly solitary animals, especially Syrian hamsters, and it's best to keep them on their own most of their lives. As long as you give your pet hamster the attention he/she requires, you're the only friend your hamster will ever need! When forced to live with other hamsters, they may get stressed out and get into fights, and often fight to the death. Even in the wild, hamsters avoid each other except during mating season. You might see hamsters in pet stores living together, but only because they are very young hamsters. When the young hamsters get older, they will start to fight each other. Dwarf hamsters tend to be more social, and can be kept with other dwarf hamsters, but fights still may occur. You should never keep different species of hamsters together in the same cage.
Hamsters are nocturnal, meaning they sleep most of the day and stay awake most of the night. This is because most hamsters are native to dryer and hotter climates, so the sleep during the day when its the hottest, and wake up to enjoy a nice cool evening! In the wild, hamsters sleep underground in burrows. Hamsters love to dig!
A hamsters average life-span is 1-3 years in captivity, and less than that in the wild.
Hamsters are clean little animals, you'll notice they wash and groom themselves on a regular basis. If you have a long-haired hamster, you can gently brush it's hair with a very soft toothbrush, or a special hamster brush sold at pet stores.
Don't be too concerned when you notice your hamster is puffed out much larger than you think is normal, because your pet hamster will stuff it's cheeks full of food, to take it somewhere else to be eaten later. Hamsters can be funny little animals. They are great to observe as they go about their usual routines, and you can really see they have a personality sometimes!
Because of the cheek-stuffing technique, the furry little animal gets the name hamster from the German word hamstern , which means "to hoard". Hamsters are mammals, and are part of the rodent family. The word "rodent" comes from a latin word rodere , which means "to gnaw". A hamsters front teeth are always growing, and that is why your hamster likes to gnaw on things. Gnawing helps your pet hamster keep his/her teeth filed down to a reasonable level.
Hamsters are said to have poor eyesight, but great senses of smell and hearing. If you notice your pet hamster standing up on its hind legs, it is because it has heard something and is trying to listen closely. Because of a hamsters poor eyesight, it has not-so-good depth perception, and they may try to jump an unsafe distance, or possibly even walk off a table. If a hamster falls, it can be seriously injured.
Hamsters are very quiet, and rarely will you hear them make a sound, other than the squeek of their exercise wheel or gnawing on their cage. You may hear your pet hamster cough or sneeze, and that is usually a sign that your hamster is sick. Sometimes they squeek, as a mating call or if something has startled it.
