What type of hamster

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We're thinking of getting a hamster. Just looking into the different types and was wondering what is the best type to get and whether there is anything major I need to know about!!!!

Thanks

If it's for a child then they really don't make great pets. They're generally asleep when you want to hold them so you wake them up and they're grumpy and they're quite often nippy. They also make loads of noise during the night - ours ended up living in the bathroom.

Guinea pigs make much better pets.

Syrian hamsters are better if you want to handle them. We have found with the dwarf hamsters that they really do like to live without too much handling. Could just be ours as most of our are rescues.

Read a few forums regarding cage size (don't go with what they sell in p&h). Our Syrian's are in cages at least a meter long. Get the biggest wheel you can as if it's too small they will hurt their backs and they go for miles on them. I would do research on the various websites and aim to buy either from a breeder or a good country store. We have two Syrian's at the moment (lost one last week) and three dwarf hamsters all in separate cages. Makes for a lot of noise at night

We've got two guinea pigs but if I'm honest it's hard to feel a connection with them as they live outside all summer and then in an room which isn't attached to our house in the winter. We cuddle them when we put them in the run each day and our children sort the food but they don't come and see us really even when we walk out with food!

I'm thinking we could manage a hamster in the house but I'll look into it more carefully before deciding. I know friends had 2 gerbils as I don't think they are as nocturnal although I could be wrong!

My DD did a lot of research and decided a Campbell's was best. I couldn't tell you why though.

We had gerbils (until today )

They also need a very big cage. Ours were in a glass tank type thing just over a meter long. They need to dig so the cages sold at most pet shops don't work as the wood shavings or whatever you use for their digging just get flung out all the time.

Our gerbils were lovely and great to watch. The tunnels they created were impressive and they could destroy a cereal box in minutes. They also would come out to see us and stand in the middle of the tank for a treat and one was happy to be stroked.

We didn't handle them much though as I realised once we got them that I was very nervous to hold them. They are incredibly fast and can jump much higher than you think. I worried they would fling themselves from too high or I would hold them too tight.

They aren't nocturnal. They will come out in the day at times and for longer in the evening.

We also have guinea pigs. Is there any way you can keep the Guinea pigs in the house at times in the day so that you can get a better bond with them? I've started bringing mine downstairs in a child's pop up play pen now so they are more a part of daily life.

We've had a succession of gerbils. They're far friendlier and more interactive than hamsters which are nocturnal. We handle our gerbils a lot and they love the interaction (climbing in our clothes etc). We also let them out for a run around the dining room (make sure it's secure without any holes in skirting etc and doors closed) - they're in and out of their tank and are very happy to have some freedom! They need a glass or plastic tank and lots of stuff to burrow in. They love tunnelling. Very entertaining, especially for children.

Lots to think about, Thanks!

Perhaps at the weekend we can bring them in. We are hoping to get the room which they live in sorted so we use that more anyway so hopefully that will help. It's a shame that they smell (well it's the hay I think that smells as we clean out daily)

I find the hat quite smelly too. It's much better now though as I make sure fresh hay is always available but I keep it in half a cardboard box so they can get in and eat it but it's not all over their cage.

Then I use newspaper with fleece or vetbed in the rest of their cage. It's easy to clean and doesn't smell at all.

In their downstairs run I have some link offcuts as a base to protect the carpet and then use fleece again. They stay down with us for a few hours in the day and get attention. Their upstairs cage is a c and c 6x2 so it's bigger than the run and they like the peace of upstairs too.

I have to agree with the whole nocturnal thing. It's not unusual for hamsters not to get up until 8/9pm or later. If you're buying it for the children, don't bother getting one if your child's bedtime means that they won't see it every day. They are, however, delightful pets and they fit in perfectly with my lifestyle as a working adult.

Having had both a Syrian and a dwarf hybrid aka Russian dwarf, I found the Syrian to be vastly more social and easier to handle. Roborovskis are ridiculously fast and often become "look but don't touch" pets. I wouldn't recommend a dwarf for a child (and tbh I won't be getting another dwarf, but I would have another Syrian)

In terms of what they need - disregard the nonsense that Pets at Home will tell you - they will sell you inadequate everything for double the price it should be.

• cage - bare minimum of 80x50cm unbroken floorspace, but the bigger the better (there are 100x50cm cages). Shelves are bonuses, but they are not replacements for the footprint of the cage being minimum 80x50cm. Zooplus.co.uk has some excellent value for money cages - the Barney and Alexander in particular, but the Alaska is also adequate if you're on a tight budget.
• wheel - for a Syrian it must be at least 28cm diameter (i.e. about the size of a dinner plate) to avoid causing spinal problems. Any smaller and they have to bend their back or neck to run, which causes painful spinal problems.
• food - not all were created equal! Harry Hamster and Science Selective are both very good.
• bedding - variety of options out there. Fitch, Aubiose and Megazorb are all popular and cost effective. Carefresh is similar to Fitch but very pricey. Should be a minimum of 3-4 inches deep. Avoid 'fluffy bedding' (i.e. anything that resembles cotton wool) like the plague - it's incredibly dangerous and can kill
• chews - as they're rodents, their teeth grow continuously and must be ground down. Wooden chews are frequently ignored, but Whimzee dog chews are universally popular and hamster safe. Chewing the bars of the cage doesn't count - that's a behaviour equivalent to polar bears pacing up and down at the zoo (it's boredom, and eventually becomes ingrained habit), and can damage the teeth.
• other things to provide - sand bath, hide, toys

Please don't buy a hamster from a pet shop. There are lots of rescues out there (often run from someone's home, so you might not know it's there!) and if you give me an idea of where you're based I can point you in the right direction. Alternatively, hamsters in desperate need of a cage and owner upgrade come up very frequently on Gumtree, Shpock, Pets4Homes etc. Hamsters in Pets at Home and other pet shops come from rodent mills - the hamster equivalent of puppy farms #adoptdontshop

Fantastic advice Frederick! Not much to add really other than to say that the advantage we've had from adopting our hamsters is that they've all been handled and the rescue didn't just fob us off with any old animal - they took the time to make sure we were suited to each other

Thanks for all the advice!