To let my hamster be a house hamster?

[DifficultSituation19]

I rescued a hamster about 4 months ago who had had a pretty shit life up until then (she was about 8 months old when I got her).

She had never really been handled, but is now super tame and friendly. Her (very large) cage is on the floor of the living room, and since she’s become tamer I’ve been just opening the door of the cage and letting her free roam around the living room every evening, usually for 3-4 hours, sometimes longer. When she’s tired she gets back in her cage and puts herself back to bed.

Last night I was —three sheets to the wind— tired, and fell asleep while she was having her run around. This morning, when I went downstairs, she wasn’t in her house. No sign of her all day, but this evening she woke up and has been running around as normal, popping back into her cage every now and again for food and drinks or a quick run on her wheel.

I closed her cage door at about 10.30, and her little face broke my heart! She just sat at the door of her cage looking very sad indeed. She’s now out running around again. So I’m thinking, people have house rabbits, how about a house hamster? I’d keep her confined to the living room and she’d have the option of being in her cage if she wanted to be there (and I’d obviously put all her food in there).

Is this a bonkers idea? She has a sand bath, soil, deep substrate, and more toys and treats than you can shake a stick at in her cage, but she’d far rather not be in there. We don’t have any other pets that could munch her, and the dc are well trained at keeping the doors closed.



Sorry was trying to post a picture but it won't work.

What are the best recommended hamster cages now? I keep hearing names such as Alaska(?) and something else?

OMG! No nothing about hamsters, but what a beautiful face! Absoutely gorgeous x

love this thread and loving all the pics of the small furries, thanks everyone for sharing them

She is ADORABLE and you are being such a lovely mum but don't let her roam. They escape. I have had several, 2 disappeared forever (the guilt...) and 1* was found 2 weeks later in the recycle bins of the house 2 doors down the road. How??

(*That one went on to have a long and happy - caged - life)

Oh my goodness, new hammy is gorgeous too!
Currently my brood is 5 syrians (a satin fur white named Holly, a sable and white named Mouse because she's unusually small for a lady syrian, Lady Lara who looks a lot like your peanut, white paws included, a gorgeous white and ginger boy named Gizmo who was adopted after 2 months n the adoption centre as he had to have dental work done, and a lovely little old black and white boy, just past his second birthday and balding, named Panda. Also got a brown and white roborovski named Tyrion.

They are currently sleeping off the special hammy safe carrot cake i baked them this afternoon. Panda is looking old and wobbly when he walks now bless him, hopefully hes got a few more months in him though.

It is with sadness that Lady Lara came to live here, i did have a gorgeous black and white super long haired little boy Badger, but he fell asleep one day and never woke up, was only around 3 months old :(

@chubberella you may find this useful.

I hope you will still let her out; it's so sad seeing animals in cages.
She looks adorable.
Do hamsters need companionship of their own kind or are they solitary creatures?

@AlmostAJillSandwich OMG 5! You’re even more bonkers than me. Even with 2 I spent half of my life ‘exercising my hamsters’ much to my boyfriend’s amusement/annoyance 😁. 3 is going to be mad. Oh well, it’s done now.

I feel like at this point I should also introduce Miss Bitey, the missing link. She is a VERY NAUGHTY HAMSTER.

@FreshFreesias they are solitary, even in the wild. They tend to kill each other if they meet.

Mouse is a very bitey hammy too, but not as bad as the snakes, we have 6 of those too :P

What a cutie! I know you say you haven’t much room but as you are already heavily over-invested in little Peanut’s happiness and well being can I suggest getting another cage (like cheap Alaska) and joining together with a tube? I’ve done this and now have the opposite problem to you in that my unsociable little fella just spends his time trying to get back in the cage!

my darling hamster lives mostly in his eco green habitat, he's quite happy tripping around in there- he has 2 caves, (magazine holders,) a big digging/bathing sand box and his huge climbing branch, as well as climbing his 'walls' and scrurrying about his tunnel and wheel- his substrate is deep enough for fun burrowing too- but he enjoys his play pen ( large enough for an adult to sit cross-legged in, so he climbs around me, or plays in his tower or on his climbing frame, and he has a 'bin-cage', play pen, filled 2/3 with care fresh, he can burrow in, (when I need him safe for cleaning his main house, and he uses this for his holiday home when we go away, as its light weigh and great for travel ) for free time he lols around the kitchen work tops-fully supervised, he loves the window ledges and behind the microwave, and we spend some lay time on the stairs to satisfy his climbing urges.

He's 4 months' old, and completely luffed , but I wouldn't let him free roam- he'd just bugger off

Oh me oh my 😍😍😍.

In an unprecedented move I let new hammy (Sasquatch?) have a run around in the kitchen for an hour on her first night here, as she was so chilled.

@DifficultSituation19 Call her Sasquatch! LOL! She is so big! wants to give her SQUISHES

I haven't read the thread at all, but just had to pop on and say that is one gorgeous hamster, OP! If the beauteous one ever needs another home, please make sure I get first refusal! 😍😍😍

@LoadOfOldTosh 🤔 not sure I want to part with Peanut but if you want Miss Bitey you can have her 😂. She destroys everything and smells like a polecat but she’s very cuddly.

Must resist buying hamster....

Must resist buying hamster....

Must resist buying hamster.....

I had them when I was a teenager and haven’t had them since....I went onto mice as I found them much more sociable. But now I realise I may have done some things wrong... but no, I do not need a hamster

I had a dream about having a pet hamster last night because of this.

It was ace.

@Soubriquet I think back in the day pretty much everyone did stuff wrong with hamsters...I know I did...tiny cages/tiny wheels and no enrichment. They’re definitely different animals for having a better life though, a lot of aggressive behaviour is caused by stress.

@TinselAngel hamster dreams are the best dreams .

Well Rose/Sasquatch has settled into her new digs. Her cage is a bit of a work in progress as I had to cobble it together with what I had but she is especially loving digging in her sand bath.

DifficultSituation19

Can you keep hamsters in the same room? Or does the smell of each other stress them out? Thinking of getting another rescue myself after seeing your pics but running out of spaces

@titanicteaspoons I prefer not to for the reasons you mentioned but plenty of people do and it’s fine (people either stack the cages or get industrial type shelving units to put them on). If it’s all males or all females in the same room it would cause less of a commotion I reckon!

I want another hamster now! Must not. Have cats these days.

I kept mine in the same room, on large shelving units, and they were perfectly fine.

@DifficultSituation19 your Rose/Sas looks like a Mrs Tiggywinkle. And as you've got a Miss (Bitey) you need a Mrs!
All your girls are so sweet!