Hello everyone, I'm new :)

[LancashireLass]

Hi Jen welcome to HC you have definitely come to the right place this site has helped me out time and time again with good valuable advice. Good luck in finding your perfect hammy.

LL xxxxxx

[Chezzu]

Welcome to the forums Jenibelle!

Personally I do find Syrian hamsters easier to tame, more cuddly and they're definitely easier to handle in the beginning. Saying that, all hamsters are different so you're never really guaranteed to get an easy to tame hamster! Syrians tend to take less time to tame however. Syrians are best for beginners though, you've made the right choice in wondering about syrians!

The european cage minimum size is 80cmX50cm so you should consider how big this actually is and if you have room for it, if you can get bigger, you definitely should as the more space your hamster has, the better! Syrians can grow quite big so you will need to buy bigger toys, a lot of toys marketed towards hamsters are only really suitable for dwarf hamsters as they're not big enough for syrians! So consider that you probably have to try and and find bigger toys suitable for your syrian, sometimes having to buy rat toys. A bigger wheel, probably at least 8" and if you plan on buying a hamster ball it will need to be a larger size too, larger versions of both of these tend to be more pricey. Though once you've bought these things they aren't too much of a worry!

You have to take into account that your hamster cannot live on a diet of hamster mix alone, they will most likely need extra protein in the form of live or dead mealworms and will need to be supplied with fresh veg on a regular basis too! Syrians don't tend to have additional dietary needs (such as diabetes) so you're okay there!

Syrians depending on their cage size need to be cleaned out every 2-3 weeks, and as you can guess, this can be quite stinky if you don't have a hamster toilet (sterile/pet sand in a container) that you spot clean frequently and fully change once a week. You'll also need to spot clean you hamster's cage for dropping frequently too!
It does only take a couple of minutes out of your day but you still need to take it into consideration!

Just like any pet, you will expect to do work.. but honestly I've always found its so so worth it! Hamsters are so loving and fun to watch and play with! As long as you're able and willing to cope with the work, getting a hamster is a great idea! ♥

[ifminionswerehamster96]

Hey, Jeni. I'm new too, but i know a little bit about hamsters and would love to help.

[Scargirl]

Welcome to HC! I think Syrians are the best.. Don't listen to me though, syrian is the only type of hamster I have had so far! But they seem pretty docile if you give them the right handling. This is Scarlet and her cage set-up. I'm gonna get her more toys for Christmas to fill up the empty spaces!
I got her cage from amazon.com and it is the WARE Chew Proof Critter Cage.
Just go on amazon.com and search it. It is a good size cage. 25 inch. You might need to clean it more often because of the hamster pee so it might get rusty.
Her wheel is a 10 inch comfort wheel and she has an igloo and a pumice rock for her teeth. That toy in the corner is a boredom breaker. There are like 4 different kinds. It is 15 centimeters square. She has a cerimac food bowl. You can make your own hamster toys. Just go in the DIY section of the forum
You'll find lots of info. You might even consider a dwarf. Though, you cannot use the WARE cage because the bar spacing is 1/2 inch. Way too big for a dwarf. Here is Scarlet's cage set-up for a little head start on what to do.