Hamster Central - View Single Post - What hammy to buy for 9 year old and where to buy

Ria P · 12-07-2021, 07:57 AM

Hello and welcome to HC!

It is very important that you want a hamster as much as your daughter just in case your daughter loses interest and you end up looking after the family pet.

I'm glad that you don't want to buy in a random petshop because they sell small, awful cages with tiny wheels and plastic huts for houses, hamster balls and give people outdated information.

A Syrian is easier to handle because of their size but a lot depends on the individual hamster's personality regardless of species. As you know, the majority of hamsters sleep during the day so your daughter may not be able to interact much with her pet. This is something i would point out to her just in case she expects a hamster to be a cute and fluffy playmate.

You could contact people or rescues who rehome unwanted hamsters because that way you could find out about a hamster's personality and routines.

I rehome myself sometimes. If you want to consider going down this route, you would need to be able to proof that you have a suitable enclosure and set up. As a general guide, a minimum of 80cmx50cm and 20cm wheel for a dwarf and 100cmx50cm with a 28cm wheel for a Syrian plus a big house, sandbath, paper based deep substrate and plenty of enrichment. The use of a hamster ball for exercise is unacceptable because that's dangerous and cruel so you would need to have a large playpen of safe freeroaming area for out of cage time.

I find that male Syrians are often calmer than females but saying that, i currently have a very lively male foster Syrian who wants out of his cage soon as he sees me.

If you have a look on the Forum there are sections for the different species of hamsters and there's a thread called "Let's see your cages" under Housing.

12-07-2021, 07:57 AM
Ria P House of Hamsters Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Wiltshire, UK Posts: 7,103	Re: What hammy to buy for 9 year old and where to buy Hello and welcome to HC! It is very important that you want a hamster as much as your daughter just in case your daughter loses interest and you end up looking after the family pet. I'm glad that you don't want to buy in a random petshop because they sell small, awful cages with tiny wheels and plastic huts for houses, hamster balls and give people outdated information. A Syrian is easier to handle because of their size but a lot depends on the individual hamster's personality regardless of species. As you know, the majority of hamsters sleep during the day so your daughter may not be able to interact much with her pet. This is something i would point out to her just in case she expects a hamster to be a cute and fluffy playmate. You could contact people or rescues who rehome unwanted hamsters because that way you could find out about a hamster's personality and routines. I rehome myself sometimes. If you want to consider going down this route, you would need to be able to proof that you have a suitable enclosure and set up. As a general guide, a minimum of 80cmx50cm and 20cm wheel for a dwarf and 100cmx50cm with a 28cm wheel for a Syrian plus a big house, sandbath, paper based deep substrate and plenty of enrichment. The use of a hamster ball for exercise is unacceptable because that's dangerous and cruel so you would need to have a large playpen of safe freeroaming area for out of cage time. I find that male Syrians are often calmer than females but saying that, i currently have a very lively male foster Syrian who wants out of his cage soon as he sees me. If you have a look on the Forum there are sections for the different species of hamsters and there's a thread called "Let's see your cages" under Housing.