How many hamsters is a good amount for you?

I have 8 Campbell's (1 group of 4 girls, a trio of boys and a lone older male), 6 robos (all male - a group of 3 babies, 2 older males and the newly separated youngster Bruce), 3 WWs (a pair of males and a lone female), 1 Chinese and 1 long haired Syrian male. That's 19 in total.

It can be pretty exhausting entertaining them all so I think I'm at my limit. Luckily I get to work from home quite often and I'm not working full time at the moment anyway so I have a lot of time free to play with everyone but there are odd times when I think argh, just leave me alone for a few minutes!!! (like at 2.30am today when I had to separate my robos).

I didn't intend to have some many hamsters. It just sort of happened. 3 of them are rescues that I just couldn't leave behind and I guess the rest of are my hamster addiction! It makes it easier having groups of dwarves as that means only one cage to clean per group and playtime is together (although everyone gets lots of individual cuddles too). I certainly couldn't cope with 19 Syrians!!!

[agatecrystal]

I have 3 at the moment and have just lost one a few weeks ago. Id like to have about 10 maybe. I think thats a good nice number for me but as I'ma an addict id have loads more if I had the room to in my bedroom without living in a hamster room lol.

[Yaffle]

I've got 8 syrians at the minute and have room for possibly 2/3 more then I really would be at my limit in terms of space. Hopefully when I move I'll be able to dedicate a whole room to the hams but even then I don't think I'd have more than 20 as I don't know where I'd find the time!

[Moosley]

We have about 25 Syrians and could do with having a lot less in regards to space as it would make life easier! Though with all the handling and feeding etc, I can easily cope with what we have and a few more or less doesnt really hurt

[Holly]

I'm not sure how to answer this - if I'm answering purely for myself than I think I'd find around 20 would be enough for me without being too many to handle, clean out and just generally care for.

I do, however, have a little helper who is as obsessed as I am and has consistently and willingly given up his time to help with the hamsters for the past 18 months. He'd like to start showing under his own name (with his own prefix) which is very exciting for me as an obsessed mum (BUT he's not having any of the Chocolate Hams :P ) so I guess we could handle a few more than 20, maybe.

I'm very conscious of the fact that we love spending time with the hamsters and (apart from a brief period of time when we are just about finishing cleaning out all the cages in a single day ) it never feels like a chore - I want it to stay that way! I think I'll know when we've reached our limit (I hope) but so far it doesn't feel like we have.

[Bunsey]

for me there's a big difference between my max dwarf number and max syrian. i like to let all my syrians in their balls at once and that goes up to about a max of 6-8 balls else they just block each other in and go nowhere!

in terms of space, i have space for 6 syrians comfortably or 9 a bit cluttered. dwarfs i have space for many more, about 14 comfortably or 20 a bit cluttered. obviously i choose to mix and match syrians and dwarfs.

ideally i'd have, roughly, 3 winter white, 1 chinese, 2 robo and 6 syrian. that's 12.

[PinkEmily]

Well i have 4 used cages on my shelves at the moment with one shelf empty. I have a Cambridge and a Peggy sitting spare at the top of my wardrobe waiting for a syrian. So i think the maximum 6 hamsters. But suppose i could fit a another robo or dwarf in somewhere :P
As for time wise i suppose i could take more, my guys and girls are up at different times each day so they come out for a cuddle whenever im free, usually when im doing coursework....Chip is quite demanding at the moment though. Definatly a maximum of 6 at this time.

[Lady Fluff]

I think, with my current lifestyle, 2 is my limit - though I only have Pumpkin at the moment (but my 2nd Mary cage arrived 90 minutes ago and the Wodent Wheel is on order so hat will hopefully be increased soon! )