I am a child (aged under 14) and I completely understand all the responsibilities of looking after Minnie. My parents would have let me get a hamster straight away (after reading a book on them) but I said I wanted time to do more research in to looking after them (hence the fact I joined this site and found out LOADS about hamsters). Also, I thought wee Minnie would be tame as I got her from a breeder but I quickly found out that she wasn't (I now have my doubts about the 'breeder' status and think it may have been more of a slightly less commercialised hamster mill)