Re: 4-5 week hamsters vs 8-12 week hamsters
You should never get a hamster younger than five weeks old, at four weeks they really benefit from an extra week with their same-sex siblings. Some hams benefit from longer than that with their families so its not unusual for hams to not even be ready for rehoming until 6-8 weeks of age anyway. When we had a litter of hams born here we found that personalities were clear long before 4-5 weeks, by the age of three weeks old we could see clear differences in personalities and behaviour.
Hamsters benefit from being tamed at a young age but this should really be done by the breeder, the more time the breeder can spend with them the tamer they'll be when they go to their new homes. That said, we don't often get hams really young and we still find they generally become as tame and friendly as we could ever have hoped. We got Muddle and Eggbiscuit on the same day, Muddle was 5 weeks, Eggbiscuit was at least a couple of months old. Muddle was from a good breeder, Eggbiscuit was a screecher who followed the screeching with nipping. A month or two down the line and they were just as tame as each other, both became tame, confident and really, really happy with people.
Another example is sisters Silky and Pepper, they were housed together when we got them at three months. We've had them a couple of months, worked with them both the same, given them the same time for taming e.t.c.... Silky is confident, friendly and unphased by anything. Pepper is friendly, fine when handled but sneezes at the slightest bit of stress. I'd trust Silky with anyone, Pepper I'd only trust with people I knew would handle her carefully. Its not down to age or anything else, just down to the ham and who they are really. One of our newest syrians is a year old, give her enough time and I firmly believe she'll be as tame and confident as Muddle and Silky.
So basically... Don't get a ham younger than five weeks. Apart from that I don't think age makes a difference to how friendly/tame they can get. I've heard that younger hams can be easier to tame than older ones, but I doubt three weeks (between 5 weeks and 8 weeks) will make much of a difference to be honest. I think what you want to look at more than age is where they're coming from - a hamster from a good breeder who has handled the litter a lot will probably require less taming time than a hamster from a pet shop, even if both are the same age. Once tame chances are you'd be unable to tell which came from where though.
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