I’m 40. I think I’m having a mid-life crisis wherein I’m reverting to age 12, which was how old I was when I got my first pet, a tan and white hamster named Sammy. He loved to cuddle and would ride around on my shoulder with me wherever I went.
Pros:
Hamsters are relatively inexpensive
Hamsters are cute
Cons:
You have to keep their cages clean or they’ll get stinky
Not ALL hamsters are cuddly and like to ride around on your shoulder
My dog may not like it, or god forbid, may eat it if it ever got loose
My dog is getting on in age, and I’ve considered having a less expensive pet after he goes. I keep going back to hamsters as an option. With hammies you don’t need dog walkers, sitters, food, nor do you have vet expenses. But you also don’t get love from a hammy the way you get love from a dog. Unless he’s like Sammy.
Should I let this obsession pass, or would a hammy be an good and inexpensive trial pet?
They’re usually kind of assholish, in my experience. And when they’re not being jerks, they’re asleep. I’d get a rat, if I were you. They’re supposed to be really neat.
My kids both had Hammies - several of them actually. One would ride on a shoulder or sit patiently where placed by a distracted 6 year-old. One got eaten by the family dog - well, not eaten, it’s neck was snapped. Another jumped out of wee hands and into the knot hole of a gigantic tree where it lived for several days until we lured him out.
I think you know of the cleaning part of their care - and they can be interested in hanging out with you - but they don’t run to the door to greet you. They can be Houdini-like in their ability to get out of their cages. I don’t think at my age I’d enjoy hamster antics the way I did when I was younger, but to each his own.
I think you might test-drive one before you commit. Maybe make a deal with the local pet store that you can return it after a few days if it isn’t as full of personality as your childhood one was.
When I was a kid, I had one who was nice, rode on my shoulder, slept in a shirt pocket - but was bitey if woken up. As a young adult, I got another one and he was just not companion material. He never really got used to me, didn’t like to be held, tried to bite often. Plus you forget that they run in their wheel almost obsessively. I’d second the recommendation for a rat - they seem much easier to socialize and have great personalities, judging by the reports I’ve seen from rat owners.
Hamsters are so cute, with their teeny tails. They’re fun to watch in those Habitrail cages. I’m not sure why they’re considered “just for kids”. Of course, they do tend to die just when you get attached to them.
Hamsters aren’t known for their likable personalities. Would you consider a guinea pig or even a gerbil? They have some really fancy and cute breeds of those but even the plain ones often make good pets and they are cheap. Rats are the smartest by far but they are rats. I thought about getting a pet rat but I used to do animal research on them and don’t think I could make that mental leap.
Have you looked into rats? I have only owned dwarf hamsters, who where uniformly assholes. My rats (especially a pair of females) were quiet, clean, and inquisitive.
I had a rat, named Rat. They are extremely industrious, strong-minded and intelligent. They are easily bored and require stimulation. I don’t recommend tham as an “easy” pet. You need to be wiling to create a cool habitrail type home and re-configure it on a regular basis in order to keep him interested. You also need to provide treat or food-containing puzzles. Otherwise, they’ll just start digging holes in your home.
Also, beware the great responsibility you are taking on. Listen_to_Act_Three before you decide whether you really want to have the Power of Joe.
Hamsters are night time creatures and gerbils are daytime creatures. When do you want them active? Think of the noise when it’s bed time, and them sleeping when you are awake.
I would be cool with hanging out with the hammy at night before (my) bedtime. He (or she) would be in a different room & wouldn’t wake me from sleeping. I read up on the differences between gerbils & hammies. It looks like gerbils are more pack-oriented & would get lonely by themselves, so maybe 2 would be ideal. Hammies are solitary and more bite-prone, but you can raise them from youth and train them not to be biters.
I just google-imaged both gerbils and hamsters, and while gerbils are cu-ute, just looking at the hamsters tugs at my heart strings!
Hmm, I had a pair of rats living in a multi-level cage and they never seemed to get bored as long as I moved around their little rathaus and provided different textures of bedding and a few cat toys with jingles that I replaced as they destroyed them and took them out of the cage for playtime at least an hour a day and talked to them and yeah I guess you’re right.
As long as you are willing to keep caring for it (or them) even if you feel like you’ve gotten a dud pet, the risk doesn’t seem that high in terms of maintenance or costs. You may even be able to rescue them from a local humane society!
I also realized I was breaking the rules on pet threads: Clarissa, aka Mrs. Dalloway, and my wife. Clarissa was our first rat, she was a rescue from a pet store that had her in entirely too small a cage.
Galina and Svetlana, and my wife again. This is a mom and daughter team from the same pet store, they’d been returned by their first buyer because they were “vicious biters” and “hated people”. Yep. Mom (Galina) is on the left.
My favorite pet of all time was my hairless rat, Harry. He converted dozens of rat-squeamish teenagers in my classes to doting rat-lovers. He was as intelligent as a dog but much easier to care for, and was loving to the extreme.
Also, rats may get out of their cages, but usually will meander back to bed and food, unlike a hamster that makes a break for freedom and never looks back. My rats could jimmy their cage like Houdini, and the janitor flatly refused to clean my room because they would get out of their cage and run to her, expecting to be picked up, cuddled, and fed snackies. She didn’t appreciate the attention. Wuss.
Life got so much easier for me the day I got a cage with a lock that was openable solely by brute strength in excess of what the rats could manage, even together.
