Hello from Japan!

[Bombori]

Hello! I'm in Japan with two hamsters.
I'll introduce my hamsters :)

"Okuni" is Roborovskii Hamster.
Female, and 2 years 3 month old.

"Chataro" is Pudding(Yellow) Djungarian Hamster.
Male, and 1 year old.

My hamsters history is three and a half years.
During this period, I also lived with three other hamsters.

I am in Japan. I would like to know about overseas hamsters.
Which country is the most advanced hamster culture?
Please tell us your stories.
Care,Issue,Hospital,Average life ...

I'm sorry if my English sentences are incorrect.

[AmityvilleHams]

The most advanced would be Germany.They tend to know the most about cage size,substrate depth,etc :)

[cypher]

Hi Bombori, welcome to HC :)

Look forward to hearing more about your hams.

I would agree with Amity about Germany, there seems to have been a lot of research there into hamsters & their needs.

[Drago]

Hello and welcome to you and your hamsters :) I agree with cypher and amity, Germany is definitely most advanced in their care!

[BorisPasha]

Hi there, welcome to HC :) your hamsters sound lovely :)

[Cinnamon Bear]

Hi there, are hamsters popular in Japan, easy to rescue or buy them in pet stores? Syrians and dwarves? Can you get Chinese hamsters in Japan?

[Josie]

Hello Bombori and welcome to HC, look forward to hearing more about Okuni & Chataro :D

[JLPrairie]

No doubt it's Germany. Visited their pet store once on vacation...simply amazing. Commercial 360 sq. inch cages for sale, all natural hamster products, etc.
Looking forward to hear about your hamsters!

[Bombori]

Thanks to everyone!!
Okay, Germany is the best.

Hamsters are also popular in Japan.
In my country, there is such a method as a means to obtain a hamster.
Pet store,Foster parent,Breeder.

Several kinds of hamsters are exhibited and sold in most pet stores.
Syrians are normal, teddy bear, long haired, panda, black etc...
Dwarfs are winter white, campbells, roborovski etc...
And we can get Chinese hamsters in Japan.

So hamster is very popular and there are also many pet stores.
However, there are few hospitals familiar with hamsters.
Therefore, even if something happens to the hamster, there are many cases where the means to help is limited. We often feel helplessness.

The doctor says, "Hamster medical care is still developing."
I don't know if the story is universal.
So I thought I wanted to know about the world's hamster circumstances.

Germany is very interesting.
Commercial 360 sq? natural hamster products?
Really interesting!!

[AmityvilleHams]

360 square inches is not a German minimum :( The minimum would be more like 1,550 square inches for Syrians,775 for any dwarf species(including Chinese).That being said,a robo or Chinese could be happy in something smaller than 775 square inches :)

In fact,the 360 square inch minimum has always come from the US and has never been truly accurate except to a robo or Chinese who may thrive in such a cage size.The more up to date size is 450 square inches,but even that isn't big enough for Syrians who still indicate the cage size is inappropriate in that size cage :(

[cypher]

The recommended minimum cage size varies widely from one country to another.
Vet care is actually very advanced in some countries, here in the UK it can be a bit patchy & experienced vets aren't always easy to find but there are many who know a lot about hamster health, I think it may be harder to find good vets in the US (generally known as exotic vets there) but as in the UK there are vets who have a good knowledge & experience in treating many hamster health issues.

[Lilac_Dreams]

Welcome from me and my 5 Hamsters, Kureto, Kuma, Kumo, Bubbles and Tinkerbell and from my dog, Guren! :D

[Thin Lizzy]

Hi and Welcome to HC.
Your english is very good.

[Hamsterita]

Hello Bombori!

I'm from Spain. Here there isn't a lot of information about hamster care. There aren't breeders and it's hard to find speacialized vets (they call themselves exotic vets, and they usually know very little about hamsters). It's hard to find suitable cages and toys, but thankfully we can get them on the internet!!

[SKB_Hamsters]

Hello and Welcome to Hamster Central.
Your hamster sound lovely.

[Bombori]

Thanks to everyone.
Any reply will be helpful. And very interesting.

The Japanese commercial cage is slightly smaller in size.
360 square inches is the larger one.
Therefore, some owner modifies the plastic case to make custom cage.

In Japan care books, it is mostly written that the wire mesh cage is not good for hamsters.
However, a lot of wire mesh cages are sold in pet shops.
Good quality commercial products are still inadequate.

Besides hamsters, exotic animals such as hedgehogs are increasing in popularity year by year.
It is easy to obtain living organisms, but I feel that information, products, hospitals to support are inadequate.
British enriching is enviable!

Are hamsters popular in Spain?
Surely now there is Internet, so it's a convenient world!

Listening to the hamster circumstances of other countries is really interesting.
By the way, I wanted to know about foreign hamsters, and recently I was reading such a book.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/Hamster-Care-Essential-Ownership-Training/dp/1511972408

I was surprised to read this book, but can you let the hamster remember the action?
In Japan we rarely ask the hamster to remember the action like a dog, but is it normal overseas?

My English is almost using Google's translation tool.
I am sorry if there is something wrong.

[cypher]

Google translate is doing fine, no problem with your English :)

I have heard of a few people trying to train hamsters like dogs but it seems a very strange thing to do to me, they are very intelligent animals & learn things very quickly but not in the way dogs do or for the reasons dogs do, our relationship with them is very different.
Even here in the UK good books on hamster care are few & far between, even some of the good ones are a little out of date now & can be hard to get hold of, most of the more popular books you see online tend to be basic care guides & not always very good.

[Lilac_Dreams]

It isn't very common but people do train their Hamsters sometimes but it's mostly for fun without any reason for it :)

[Rads]

Kon'nichiwa hamusutā sentoraru e yōkoso!
Bombori as for Cage sizes here in the UK there are so many to choose from, many that are sold in Pet stores are much too small for their intended Hamsters.
Pippin lives in an Alaska Cage which has a footprint of 640sq inches she has plenty of room it also gives plenty of room for adding items to enrich her life.
As for training, Pippin aka Pip will come when she is called when she is running about our house in her ball, she will also follow me about, finally Pip does have an odd addiction to feet..!
Pip says hi waves a paw and bows..:-)

[Cinnamon Bear]

I think that Syrians are always trying to escape no matter if you gave them access to your whole house, they would probably try to escape out the front door:)

I agree with above post that 360 sq in is still good for a robo and a Chinese. I have one robo in a 105 sq in bin cage and she loves all that space, but I don't think it's that big of difference than a 20 gal long tank. My Chinese is in a 15 gal tank and she loves that size, at least for now.

[Hamsterita]

Yes, hamsters in Spain are a common pet. I had hamsters when I was little, my cousins too, and a lot of people at my school. Even my dad when he was little had hamsters. But unfortunately I think that people doesn't take their care very seriously. They are cheap, tiny, and anyway they don't live long, so I suppose that if you mix those things with lack of information you end up with poor care conditions.