MY 6 year old want a hamster. Why should she have it?

[Dorange]

We live in a rented 2 bedroom flat and dogs or cats are a big nono no.
Thinking about giving in since she js an only child, maybe will be good for her to have a pet.
Why shouldn't I give a hamster to her?

[Tuhlulah]

Oh, female Syrians come into heat ridiculously frequently (like every 4 days or something silly) and smell quite a bit when they do. They are reputed to be less friendly then males. I have never had a female, so don't know.

[Tuhlulah]

If you are going to get a hamster, Syrians are better because they are bigger. But a small fragile animal and a 6 year old child isn't a match made in heaven. Hamster can bite and when they do, it's to the BONE! Imagine being stapled by a staple gun. Plus they are nocturnal. And as other posters have said, can be very noisy at night. You can get tank style cages to prevent bar biting (only someone who has been kept awake by this particular torture will understand), and a silent(isn) wheel.

Syrian hamsters need big cages approx 50cm x 80cm (mine is 100 x 50). They must be kept alone, as they are very territorial and will fight to the death. If you do get one, get it from a proper breeder, as this will be handtame and healthy and will have been socialised and chances are, will not bite unless you do something stupid or disrespectful. To find a good breeder check out HamsterCentral and post a query to find breeders in your area. If you are in the London area I can recommend a breeder.

But, they are not ideal for little kids. They can die easily and even if you are lucky will live to 2 if you are lucky. Plus they are fragile little creatures. Vets bills are no less because the animal is small. (As I can testify.)

Buying from petshops, both independent and the chains, risks you getting one which has been bred in a rodent mill where the animals are kept in pretty atrocious conditions. Which you may not mind. But you will care about the animal possibly not being as healthy as a 'breeder' hamster (here comes those vet bills), or as importantly, more likely to bite.

Before anyone bites off my head, I will say that these are generalisations. Many people have healthy sociable hamsters from petshops. I was very unlucky, and now have a breeder-bred hamster, 'who' is a delight.

GOldfish. Don't bite. Don't make noises. And when your child loses interest (a very likely scenario) maintenance is pretty low.

[OohMrDarcy]

my hammy is houseproud too - its very cute, you can see she looks forward to cleanout day so she can build her bedroom exactly how she likes it again! We also often give her a hanging seed treat and she will literally shred it and move it all to her food bowl

fyi - ours is neither escape artist or psycho - she is gorgeous and cuddly!

She is also active during the day. She is kept in the lounge and (possibly unsurprisingly) tends to wake up whenever she hears the DC - so wakes for a nose in the morning, after school and around bedtime, then gets up properly for the night when they are in bed, though she is happy to come out whenever she wakes up - and if I am working on the laptop and she wants to come out, she will stand at her bars and stare at me until I get her

depending on the cage you might be fine with one slightly bigger than the chest dimensions you measured - Cookies cage is bigger than the storage box it sits on (and all her mountains of crap is stored in the box!)

[Beamur]

A nice tame, well handled syrian hamster makes a lovely pet - but you will need to supervise handling.
Personally though, we've had bad experiences with them, we had 2, one was terrified of being handled and screamed (very offputting) and the other was a psycho & could not be handled at all and would draw blood every time. The screamer was also an escape artist...Rubberduck is spot on.
I've also had Russians which were lovely, but would agree that the smaller varieties are probably less suitable. They can be a bit smelly and are so active at night you will need to put them in a different room even with a quiet wheel there would be lots of scuttling and chewing noises. I also found there was always sawdust kicked out. I'd never get hamsters again.
We currently have a gerbil, which I reckon makes a good pet for a small child. Ours are not handled except when cleaned out, but are quite happy to come to the bars for snacks and attention. They are active during daytime and quite social and interesting - they also smell very little.
You can get great cages for them and they love to dig and chew. The one we have at the moment is not as good as our previous one which was a big glass tank with a mesh lid and several shelves which gave a good variety of space. They are very clean animals and will often have a preferred spot to toilet which you can clean more often.

[Retropear]

Having said that check out the loft cage on offer,looks fab.Even has a pull out tray.

[Retropear]

We have a boy hamster and 2 girl gerbils.Have looked after a girl hamster but it just hissed at us.

We never see our hamster,just hear him at night downstairs.

The gerbils are great fun but we have fab cages for both. Zooplus Leon for the hamster(check out all the pics in reviews,you can do loads with this cage). To be honest the cage is so fab I think he is exhausted by morning as he is clearly vey busy.

The gerbils have the big Falco.It's fantastic as you see their tunnels and put masses of things in and can make loads of layers.Ours even have a sandpit with stones in.Don't buy gerbil cages with metal bars on the layers as it can hurt their feet.

As loved as the hamster is he's kind of a virtual pet.I'd go for gerbils in a flash,they have far more personality.

[Dorange]

I will make sure I get female (if I get one)

[LazyGaga]

That sounds very endearing - a houseproud hamster!

Now why don't they make bloody dogs like that?

[Sparrowfarts]

But if you get a male, be aware that they become obscenely well-endowed in a heatwave. Really. DD and I thought he'd developed a ghastly disease until we googled, but it's a weird cooling mechanism. Might come as a shock to a 6 year old. Certainly did to us.

[Sparrowfarts]

Whoops, stock up his food store and remake his bed all over again and he becomes a positive whirlwind of housekeeping.

He is great

[Sparrowfarts]

Guineas are too big for the top of a chest of drawers.

Anybody will smell bad if their home isn't kept clean.

Our hamster has a place for everything, as DD has supplied him with several houses in his cage. He sleeps in one and throws mouthfuls of poo out daily to keep it nice. He washes in another, stores food in a third and pees in a corner. When he is cleaned out, he has to stock u

[RubberDuck]

Hamsters only come in two varieties: psychos and escapologists. You have been warned

[Dorange]

As I am changing the bedroom furniture, I have decided to put the cage (if I make my mind in favour of the hamster) on a table which measures 70Lx50D. The Living World Eco habitat is lovely but even the small one is too big...and the other one is just too colourful...

Any recommendations?

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Some little furries (not guinea-pigs IME except my very first pig when I was 9yo) will choose a pooh corner.
Jam Jars on their side can beused.

Guineas just walk'n'drop their shiney droppings

[OohMrDarcy]

out of those two cages I'd go for the living world eco one - you can get plenty of bits to keep hammy happy

They don't kick woodshavings out if the tray is deep enough and the cage big enough. With my cage - Cookie can pile up her woodshavings to make a full on burrow and only once has any escaped the cage (in 7 months)

Yes they only smell if they aren't cleaned enough - and again I have noticed that cage size is key in their cleanliness. The bigger the cage the more naturally they act, which seems to include keeping food in one place, weeing in another etc.

[Dorange]

I meant hamsters up post.

[Dorange]

Oh and they just smell bad if the cage is not cleaned often right?

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I wouldn't recommend guineas in bedrooms TBH.
They need much more space
The hay (that they 100% must have) smells more than the guineas but there's no getting away from it.
And they can be quite noisy when they are just going about their normal day-to-day life.
Our boys used to tear cardboard, be wheeky, squabble over food in the eatly hours (this was in their winter night cage, in another bedroom with a duvet on the top)


I'd have to say though, if I didn't have GPs I'd want female rats........

[Dorange]

Which one is best for one hamster?
Rats are no no for me.

[Dorange]

[[http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=145&pf_id=61155 cage 2]]

[Dorange]

[[http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product_group.asp?dept_id=5942&pg_id=2956 cage 1]]

[Dorange]

will the hamster throw wooden shavings all over the bedroom?
I absolutely love the idea of guinea pigs but aren't they much too big for a bedroom? Specially because I'm thinking about putting the cage on the top of a chest of drawers if that's ok......

[OohMrDarcy]

Hamsters are gorgeous animals - I have had many over the years, starting with a syrian at about your daughters age.

I would recommend a syrian over russians / chinese / robs - they are hardier and easier for a child to tame. I had russians and robs as an adults and whilst they are absolutely gorgeous and great fun - mine escaped a few times and it was sheer luck that got them rescued!

As someone has said - most hamster cages on the market are actually too small to be safe for a hamster, in my opinion that is the cause of lots of stressed animals. I bought a new syrian (first since having kids) in february as a birthday present to myself - we got a rat cage for her along the lines of this
www.amazon.co.uk/Savic-Ruffy-Navy-Blue-Ferret/dp/B000LXR734/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1379057414&sr=8-7&keywords=rat%20cage&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

I also bought wooden bridges etc to keep her occupied. Means she can nibble anything she likes and its fine - we didn't bother getting her a house as the tray is nice and deep so I can provide deep woodshavings and bedding and she makes herself a much more natural home.

My DD (6.5) basically wishes she was hers - every time I clean her out DD is there helping, she offers to refresh her water every day (still offers most days 6 months on) and is really good with holding her etc.

Even DS (3.8) is able to hold her a bit though can't pick her up himself as he squishes her a bit much

You can get silent or virtually silent wheels - again go bigger than you think necessary, they need their backs as straight as possible when running!

[Sparrowfarts]

DD2, 13, has a Syrian hamster in her room - she doesn't mind his noise, but you can't be sure of that before you get one. He is a friendly extrovert, doesn't bite and is fascinating to watch going about his business in his big cage (a Hamster Heaven with a 'pet shop' cage attached to the top, penthouse style, which houses a good-sized wheel). Relative to his size, he lives in more spacious conditions than the rest of the family.

Be wary of cages with lots of tubes - ours was inclined to move into the tubes with all his kit and refuse to come out, which is neither healthy nor sociable, so we just have a short tube run up to his penthouse now.

He is an excellent companion for a teenager who spends a lot of time in her room.

[youbethemummylion]

Hamsters get sick really easily, they have terrible habit if literally rotting to death. Gerbil, mouse etc would be far better and whatever you get get two (same sex) or will be bored and destructive