Russian dwarf hamsters- advice please

[Icecreamandapplepie]

We were lucky enough to find someone who was giving away a pair of dwarf hamsters due to moving to a smaller flat.

He clearly loved them alot, they have a huge cage with tonnes of play equipment, places to hide and burrow etc.

They are happy and sweet natured, one is more active, the other shyer.

We have three children- 5, 7 and 8. They are in love with our new pets!

My question is this- they are so small and so fast. We pick them up to put them in their balls to whizz about occasionally/ for a cuddle. We have to do this so carefully over the cage/a box as the just hurtle over and off everything. With no regard for how high the drop may be the other side.
Is this usual? Will they calm down at all? I would've like a bit more of a cuddly pet for them... we were originally thinking rats but then these little hamsters came up.

Sorry for the potentially daft questions. We love them and will keep them, just wondering if they will ever get used to us/ enjoy being petted/ not be quite so suicidely fast!

In my experience these aren't hamsters for cuddling, mostly to view. They are often quite nippy too. Syrian hamsters are easier to handle.

Guinea pigs are better for cuddling. The hamsters sound entertaining to watch at least 😁

We had 2 of these, same sex they said. We were able to keep the pet shop stocked with hamsters for months until we made them take back the originals

Great, thankyou. As long as we know what to expect! I can't believe how much time the kids spend watching them 😃

The rule with hamsters seems to be the smaller they are the faster they are.
We had docile Syrians that were easy to handle.
Gorgeous winter white Russians, whose fur would turn white each winter and then back to grey/brown in the Spring. V fast but still just about handleable.
And then a chinese speed demon that you physically couldn't catch by hand no matter how hard you tried.

One thing to watch for is that we were told that Russians could live together happily, so got 2. Then quickly had to get a 2nd cage as one was aggressive to the other. If you have a shyer one, it's well worth keeping a careful eye out for any bullying.

You do need to keep them in separate cages, not sure if you know that.