New and thinking about getting a hamster

[harmless]

Hi. I have a lot of questions.

I've had gerbils before, about 5 years ago, and thought they were cute and interesting, and tame enough to be a little company. I set up a safe area to let them out of the cage and sat there with them sometimes, and they would climb all over me, even sit on top of my head. One of the little stinkers chewed a hole in my shirt and I didn't notice it until later, but I just laughed.

But there was a problem with the gerbils. I found one of them dead in the cage one day, when she was just under 2 years old, and couldn't decide whether the remaining one needed for me to get her another friend, or whether she was going to die soon too--they may have been sisters. I asked myself every day what I should do. I played with her more, and didn't get another gerbil. It turned out that she lived several months longer.

So this time I want a solitary little furry pal. At first I was thinking Syrian, but then I saw online that people are saying that the larger dwarf hamsters are okay alone too.

I'll be on the forum asking about that, and about cages, which seem to be the other big and somewhat difficult decision.

I live in South Carolina in the USA and am a retired woman.

[LunaTheHamster1]

Hi and welcome, all hamsters are solitary including the smaller dwarfs.

[taco bagel]

hi! hamsters are great little pets and i definitely recommend getting one!

as you'll be a first time hamster owner i would for sure recommend syrians, they are definitely the easiest to tame and handle as they have been domesticated by humans longer then any other kind of hamster (domesticated in the late 30s early 40s) i wouldn't recommended dwarfs as first time hamsters as they are quite speedy (especially robos!), harder to tame and harder to handle (haven't had any chinese hamsters and info is hard to find on them so i cant really speak on them) although if you do decide to get a dwarf definitely keep them on their own, while dwarfs aren't solitary its still recommended to keep them alone as housing pairs or more has a lot of cons and isn't necessary

hope this helps!