conceptual hamster questions

[littlesthobo]

Hello - think we are about to crack under the strain of repeated (very cute) requests for hamster from DS2. Me and DP both have memories of hamsters being on the odorous side - is this just a matter of being strict about cleaning out? and is it sensible to think about having one in their bedroom? We don't have any other pets. All advice gratefully received.

Not a hamster owner so not sure about the smell, but any pet will smell if they aren't cleaned out properly. As hamsters are generally quite active at night, it may disturb your DC if it's kept in their bedroom.

Females smell more than males- or so I was told in the pet store, as apparently the come on heat every 4 weeks and emit an odour. Male wee smells too.

I wouldn't keep one in a bedroom. I had two of my rats in my bedroom for a few weeks. We could hear them through our earplugs. Hamsters will be just as noisy at night! Though some say it's fine once you get used to it.

If you didn't see it, please watch on catch up last Wednesday's Pets Wild At Heart. The Russian hamsters had me laughing my head off. David Tennant's commentary is brilliant.

Apparently Russian hamsters run 6 miles a night on their wheels as they would in the wild. That's something to think about, squeak, squeak squeak........all night long

have you considered gerbils instead? They are busy during the day, less at night, so they don't disturb sleep.

hamsters are LOADS cuter than gerbils

yes they smell

yes the noise of them running round in their wheel ALL NIGHT will sometimes be heard all over the house (seriously)

and they bite- till they get used to being handled

but they are lovely little things- delightful in fact. Even OH loves ours and he was very resistant to getting one

(the only one of us who's not been won over by hamster is DS, who calls him 'that wanker'. But we know that, deep down, he loves him really)

No, not gerbils! Rats are the way forward! So cute and fun and they sync to your schedule, perfect pets

See, look at this little face and those dumbo ears!

OP I'd recommend finding a good breeder for any rodents you get, they'll be much more handleable from the start than pet shop rodents.

Awww Pixie another beautiful photo of Ashi

Awww , he's nearly as cute as the guinea-pigs

A few weeks we found a dead rat and before I'd even thought eurgh, I thought "Oh, in another lifetime you could've been someones pet"

No idea about hamsters, NDN keeps several though, she loves them

Stinky yes
Noisy yes so not in bedroom
Ours lives in the spare room but when we have guests she goes in our walk in wardrobe. And keeps us awake running on her wheel. We can't keep her anywhere else as we are open plan downstairs and the cat would have her.
She is so lovely, never bites. She's a Syrian.

...I must admit I am slightly disappointed at the thread subject after such a promising title.

I had wrongly assumed it might be a philosophical discussion involving our little furry friends.

Thank fotified :)

Nearly?! Pft, he can beat a GP any day I am leaning more towards GPs now, definitely plan to get some when I live in a house with a garden!

I cheat, that's an old photo of him, my favourite one, but one of the first ones. This one is more recent :)

Wild rats are horrible things.

philosophical discussion invokving our little furry friends

OK.
Why are guinea-pigs kept as pets? What do they give? What's their side of the bargain?

They don't run about like gerbils or mice. They don't run round in a wheel or a ball.
They aren't independant like rabbits. You can't let them free range in the garden, they'll get picked off.

They have a huge repertoire of noise to let me know they're hungry/it's time to go out/one is annoying the other.All my fault.

They are cuddly but they just tuck themselves under my chin...........then pee or pooh , so they ease then raise the blood pressure

They are vunerable to all sorts of environmental issues, predators, foods they can/cannot have. They need company but they're fussy.

In their native South America, they're a food source

but they are THE most amazing and beautiful little animals and we luffs them

I once had two mice, a rat and a hamster in bedroom as a kid. You get used to the noise.

I have a hamster now. I luff him lots even though technically he is DSDs. They don't smell too bad as long as you clean their cage properly. Oh and they smell of biscuits and look like teddy bears.

I love hamsters too much. Syrians only though, not a fan of the little ones and they tend not to be great for children as they are fast and often bitey. I've always had them in the house and I'm expert at hamster taming They don't smell particularly, females do when in heat but I think it smells a bit like oxo cubes Girls are much busier too. I've had boys who like to lick and cuddle up rather than run all around.

I keep mine in plastic cages so no bar chewing, not the habitrail ones, like big aquarium ones so I can put in lots of toys and levels and a deep layer of bedding for digging and general important hamster business. They seem to prefer that! I bought a silent wheel too, as well as dog biscuits which are good for them to gnaw on. We are deep sleepers so we have kept them in the bedroom in the past, and our set up is the quietest possible, but it depends on your DC and how they sleep.

Although to clear up the small pet debate, rats are best, by a mile.

Pah , guinea pigs are far, far cuter than rats. Rats have scary tails!

When i was young I had a hamster in my room. One night I played with it when meant to be in bed and left the door of the cage open.. The hamster escaped and somehow bypassed the cat, travelled downstairs and into the kitchen sink cupboard and squeezed between the pipes and floor. It lived under the concrete floor until I guilt tripped my df who then had to use a jackhammer to dig up the floor to get the hamster out..
My second hamster who I got much older lived in the bathroom... Because it was so noise it kept the whole house awake.

Even better, why are guinea pigs called guinea pigs? Who decided that they looked like pigs? Why were they not called mini-capyburras or something?

friday Their tails are awesome, I love how they use them to balance and wrap them around something when they are trying to reach a treat wedged into an obscure corner of the cage (they have to work for their treats!) and you can get them to do helicopter tail, which is utterly hilarious.

Nope , still scary! Can't even with cope with DH rats tail file used for filing pipe work when plumbing..shudder

Scary is a hairless guinea pig urgh! Its an abomination against nature to deliberately breed an animal that can't enjoy normal outside play.

Guinea pigs should be cute and furry

Ratties are gorgeous. I'd love another cageful pair. They're a big commitment though as you have to let them out for exercise. But that's great fun in itself. One of ours used to groom me .

My girls have a Syrian hamster each and keep them in their bedrooms. The wheels are very quiet - we bought specific quiet wheels! They sleep through any noise. No smell. They are very sweet!

They have large cages so do take up quite a lot of room. One is in to a bit of bar chewing, but it isn't that noisy.

Oh and ds2 had gerbils a few years ago. Apart from the trauma of discovering one of them was pregnant - discovered when she gave birth. They then ate the babies...that was a tricky conversation when ds2 got home.

The gerbils were much harder to handle. Extremely fast and small. Syrians are lovely.

Guineas babies are born ready to rumble (fur,teeth,open eyes) and it's very rare (not unheard of but very rare) for them to eat their babies.

They don't do wheels

They don't need those eerie tails

My fur daughters are indoors today (snow last night) but they're just larding about, eating.

Vis-a-vis, the superior rodent.