Hamsters? - Chicago,IL

I wanted a hamster desperately as a child, but my parents refused. As soon as I had my own apartment, I bought myself a hamster! I was obsessed with that little guy! I found a pet store that had their hamsters in low, open-topped cages, so people were petting them all day long. Mine was a baby when we got him and I held him every day, so he was super friendly. He would ride on my shoulder or sleep on me while I watched TV. I gave him little fruit and veggie treats, he was so stinkin' cute with his little paw-hands... I recommend a glass terrarium with lots of bedding, cardboard tubes, tissue boxes, etc to build nests with. The terrarium is so easy to clean- take out critter and any toys/dishes, dump the rest, wipe down the whole deal with vinegar water, refill with bedding. Takes like 15 minutes and so much more sanitary than the cage bars that never really get clean. Mine lived to be 3.5 years old, so don't bank on the 18-24 month life span.
Oh, and I have heard that male teddy bear hamsters make the best pets. My parents had a whole pack of the Siberian dwarfs (dwarves?)- they were watching pets, not snuggling pets.

They stink really bad, even with the cage being cleaned daily. And you know those cool tunnels and toys they have for them? They poop and pee all over inside them, it looks nasty and is a pain to clean out.

Hamsters make great pets, but they are fairly high maintenance. They must be handled daily or they will become skittish and likely to bite.
The litter must be changed at least every couple of days, or it will smell. Rodent urine is highly concentrated, and so starts to stink quickly.

My daughter had a hamster for a few years. I think she was in 3rd grade when we got it and it died when she was in 6th. It was a wonderful pet for her and she really loved that little hamster. It was a regular hamster, NOT a robo dwarf hamster. THOSE are super fast and if they escape from you, good luck getting it back into its cage. Her friend had a couple of robo dwarf hamsters. Within 1 week, they'd both escaped, never to be seen again. You can't take them out and play with them - they just run like bullets. But regular hamsters are good pets, I think, for the pre-teen kids.

They *are* nocturnal, so your daughter should be prepared to be woken up several times a night when it runs on its wheel. Unless she can sleep through that...like my daughter could. Other than that, there's a lot of information online about caring for hamsters. We didn't find it to be stinky or really much trouble at all. Miss that little guy...

My ten year old got one just before she turned ten last year. I thought a bigger hamster would be better, less likely to escape or bite. It was the dwarf hamsters that proved to be friendlier at the pet stores. I taught her how to clean the cage, and it's her responsibility to do so. We did it together the first few times. The dwarf hamsters can go longer without a deep clean. My daughter is supposed to spot clean weekly (cleaning up the food storage and bathroom areas as well as the wheel and ball) and thoroughly dumps and cleans everything once a month. The paper bedding (Carefresh) they have does a good job. She checks on her every evening to make sure she has food and water.

The hamster got out once when a girl down the street was hamster sitting for us. Fortunately, it was found. My daughter blocks the bottom of the door with a blanket or towel just in case the hamster gets out; that way it at least can't leave the room.

I think it ten was a good age for hamster ownership in our family. Have your daughter do some research on the types of food that is best and care that is needed before you get one. They do need exercise. We had to extend our cage and make sure she got our to run in her ball or crawl on my daughter regularly. Otherwise, she's chewing on the cage at night. Even in another room, it's annoying.

Not sure if we have a robo but we have a tiny hamster and yes, my kids did tire of it. But it may be bc ours seems to hate to be held. My nephew has one that is about the same size and is way more comfortable with people so my kids actually play with that one when they visit. If your daughter does tire of it, not like the care is a big effort... No smell at all and you just change the cage every few weeks. As people have said, they are nocturnal though so we don't keep it in a bedroom. I certainly wouldn't miss the hamster and while my kids say they would, not sure of that. But I don't outright regret it bc it's so easy. And when a friend visits, they do play with him/her some. We have a dog too by the way. If this would be her only animal, I would go for it. It's still an experience even if it's a "huh, pets are work and not always fun" lesson. And not sure if hamsters get lonely. I offered to buy two for company and the pet store said no, they often fight. So maybe they don't mind being alone and like I said, ours doesn't want to be held so it's not like a dog that shows us he/she wants our attention.

Hamsters are nocturnal. This is from the Humane Society:

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/hamsters/tips/hamste...

I had a hamster when I was seven. He peed on me while I was holding him; I dropped him and apparently broke his leg. He died. They are not a sturdy sort of pet; they are not affectionate and they don't love you back. Plus, they aren't daytime pets... so when your kiddo wants to play with the hamster, he's going to want to be sleeping.

Check out the link. For our family, no-- a hamster is not ideal. But we are cat people~ meow!

My kids loved their hampster. I got one for them and they never got tired of it but I guess it kinda depends on the kid. If you do end up getting one you should try to get a baby one because I heard that when you g a baby one it gets used to you and doesn't get scared as much. Just make sure the cage stays up high because idk about yourdog but with mine that would be one yummy snack. (We got the dog after the hhampster) I wouldn't reccomend getting colored bedding, but make Sir you get one of those balls for them to roll around in. A pet that was even more fun than the hampster was our guinea pig. They're less energetic and easier to care for. Good luck!

we found the dwarves to be much spookier and meaner, but not everyone seems to feel that way. i love hamsters and ratties, although it's been years since we've had any rodents.
10 is a good age to start with a small pet. 'interesting' is in the eye of the beholder. we all found them so (okay, my dh not so much) but the boys didn't care that the hamsties were nocturnal, and they got plenty of time being held and in their exercise balls. we did have to be very vigilant around the cats and dogs, but never had any mishaps.
rodents are stinky if you don't keep up with their cage cleanings. it will be a good way to find out if your daughter is really ready or not!
it's always a risk, though, isn't it. we were lucky that the boys enjoyed all their pets from hermit crabs to horses. they did need to be reminded from time to time, but never really balked at the chores. the only one we had that didn't work out was a guinea pig (surprisingly) but we re-homed him.
khairete
S.

We have been offered several hand me down hamsters from several different people because their kids were tired of them and didnt take care of them. My best friend had one briefly and we found out that I was allergic to the bedding so I never actually had one. I do remember playing with them, well putting them in the ball and watching them roll around the room. I do remember her room smelling from it. It wasnt bad, it wasnt good. If my kids were dead set on an animal in the rodent family I would look into a guinea pig as they are a little more hearty and live longer.

Of course, it all depends on your child. My daughter begged for one at age 8, and it proved to be too early. The novelty wore off in a couple months, and the poor thing sat by himself in his cage 90% of the time. I became the caretaker. And he was cute, but not THAT cute, lol.

The smell was minimal as long as we changed the bedding (we used shredded newspaper) once a week. Our dog completely ignored the hamster; in fact the hamster was way more interested in our dog, and would stalk her when she was out on the floor.

I got a hamster when I was nine. I really loved it. I took great care of it for three years but when I was 12 I got really busy and no longer had time for it so we gave it away.

We have one of the larger "teddy bear" hamsters - we got him last year for DD's 6th birthday. I have to do all the cage cleaning, feeding, etc. but that's what I figured would happen. He sleeps most of the time so he's not super interactive but when he is awake and comes out of his igloo we like to hand feed him treats. Sometimes we lure him out with a treat into a plastic cup and then we can put him in his exercise ball and roll around. We got him when he was still pretty small and the pet store employee handled them a lot, so he was used to be picked up, but we have not been great about doing it all the time so now he's more skittish and nippy. The cage does start to stink pretty quickly after being cleaned, especially because he seems to only want to go in a couple areas so it gets really concentrated.

They are pretty cute but some are more "tame" than others. It will depend on getting one while it is very young, how much it's been handled and then how much you continue to handle it. It is recommended to only have 1, they tend to become more solitary as adults and won't always get along with each other as they mature. The dwarf hamsters might be ok if they've always been together but you probably can't put two strange ones together. They also only live about 2 years, maybe up to 3 if you are lucky, so I would tell your daughter upfront what to expect as far as lifespan.

do a gerbil instead of hamster, the gerbil won't smell and the hamster will
at the pet store make sure you handle the creature, if they bite or aren't friendly do not get that one, it's not a good fit
my kids loved making mazes from our blocks for the hamsters to run through and loved rearranging the tunnels in the cage, but the tunnels you have to be careful with that you don't create hiding spots or poop spots

overall we had a good time with our hamsters, they had them for a few years. The first set we had, well, one of the hamsters ate the paw off the other hamster, it was VERY upsetting, and we took them back to the pet store and that's when the very very sweet, helpful sales girl (as opposed to the stupid one from when we first bought) made sure that the hamsters were very friendly before we took them home. The second set were wonderful, let the kids hold them all the time. One died after about 9 months, the other one hung on another year or so. It's hard to remember. It was sad when they died, my girls took it very hard, but it was important life lesson to handle death in a small way.
I would not recommend it being in a room, they are VERY active at night. We had to remove the metal wheel and get a plastic one because even with the cage being on the first floor and the rooms being on the second floor it was keeping us up at night with the squeaking of the wheel.
The reason I say gerbils don't smell is my friend's kids had gerbils and she never had smell issues.
Oh, but she did have baby issues!! Apparently they weren't both girls/boys but one of each! They put them in 2 different cages and still had babies so they had to move the cages like 2 feet apart to stop the baby factory, lol.
My kids were younger then your daughter, for a 10 yr old, I think it's a great pet. And like I said, encourage her to build mazes out of blocks or cardboard or wood, that was the most fun. Oh, and running around in that ball was so funny.

They do best in groups, IMO, and I would make ABSOLUTELY sure you have two of a kind. We got what we thought was a trio...and then found out we had a happy male with two girlfriends...They stink if they are not kept clean, like any other small critter. If she wants just one, you might consider the larger Syrian variety, which like to be alone. And please consider looking on Petfinder for a rescue.

I had 2 regular hamsters when I was a child. They were okay pets but I enjoyed my guinea pig so much more. Hamsters do smell and the other posts weren't kidding about the nocturnal part. They'll go 100 mph on their exercise wheel for what seems like hours. I understand the robo dwarfs are even more "energetic".

You might ask at your local animal shelter or pet rescue and see if you can be a foster family for hamsters or see if you can pet-sit someone else's animals. We acted as the foster family last summer for the school's pair of red eared pond slider turtles. By the end of summer, my daughter couldn't wait to return them to the school and has never asked for one again. It's a way to "test drive" having the pet without the commitment.

Best of luck to you.

We currently have two Siberian hamsters and one Dog. the dog is absolutely fascinated by the hamsters (She joined the family after the hammies) and would find them to be a tasty treat. So you'd have to make sure that they are kept separate.

In terms of care, we got them when my youngest was 10 and she's dome fine with caring for them. They are noisy at night so keeping them in her room may not work out. That was our plan but we ended up moving them downstairs.

The smell isn't horrible if you clean the cage weekly. Our hamsters don't make a mess in the tubes so that's not a problem.

If you get one, don't get two together even if they are siblings. We were told that ours would be fine together as they were sisters. That lasted until they matured and started fighting. Hamsters are solitary animals so we ended up buying two cages and equipment.

My daughter's friend just got a hamster for her 9th birthday in April. By August, the hampster died. It contracted Wet Tail disease, which I guess is very common. When a hampster gets stressed, it gets a bacterial infection. Hamsters are noctural, so when it was out and about in the plastic ball at night, it would run into the walls and get spooked easily by noise. They have 2 dogs and 3 children, and this is the stress they believed caused the Wet Tail. After hearing this, I crossed this animal off my list. I have enough to worry about with my children. Just my thoughts.

Look into gerbils... They have a slightly longer life span; they don't smell and they tend to poop in just one section; and they are diurnal whereas hamsters are nocturnal and that wheel going all night will keep your daughter up all night. However, he had one gerbil who LOVED her wheel - all day and all night....The one we have now just likes to sleep in it or hide in it.
Good luck

I have never liked hamsters. Every one I ever came into contact with was mean and didn't like to be held.

Rabbits are great pets providing you spend time with them. They can be easily litter trained and are affectionate and social. I wouldn't go for a dwarf anything as they seem to be more hyper and skittish.

Rats also make great pets, they are clean, very smart and fun to hold and play with. The sad thing about them is they are so inbred they die from tumorous cancer at a young age. Our rats only lived about 3-4 years but they were easy to care for and fun.

Just be sure your child is really into animals and has time to interact with a pet. You will not enjoy the personality of an animal and get to know them if they are neglected in a cage all the time. We had a three story cage for our rats that was on a high shelf. We let them out to hang out on the shelf when we were home and then could grab them from there for some play time. House trained bunnies can run about a small area or room when your child is studying, reading or watching TV. Both smell great if their home is kept reasonably clean, they are self groomers and very fastidious.

NOOOOOOOOO! get her a stuffed animal