Hamsters in London

[Seedless]

Watden pets in warlingham (near Croydon )breed Syrians and have some at the moment. If you google I think they have a website and they have some videos on YouTube of their hamsters too.

[hannahlondon]

Thank you. Can you recommend them? I'll have a look in a min.

[Seedless]

Hi, I don't actually have any experience of them. I kept coming across their ads when we were looking recently for a hamster on preloved and other sites. I considered buying from them but it was just outside my comfort zone for driving (I'm a nervous driver and stick to a safe zone which is about a five mile radius from my house!).
In the end I got a hamster from a small pet shop and although lovely, she wasn't tame and would nip. I've been patiently taming her in the bath every night for the last 4 weeks - my almost 6 yr old and I taking turns sitting in with her- and she will tolerate being handled now although she's still a bit skittish.

[hannahlondon]

Ok thanks. I would prefer to know someone has had one from there that was tame otherwise I'd worry it would be the same experience as yours - not being tame and biting. Well done for gradually taming yours. In the bath?

[Seedless]

Yes we sit in the bath with her. We let her run loose around the hallway once but she seemed to get very frantic and hyper. It's hard to tell if she's excited about being out or nervous. We love our little pet shop girl but it would probably have been a better idea for us to get a well-handled hamster from a breeder. Our hamster drew blood from both of us a couple of times in the first week. To be honest, she wasn't aggressive, just seemed to think our hands were food. Luckily this didnt bother my daughter but another child might be put off by the experience. So I think you're definitely doing the right think looking for a breeder.

[hannahlondon]

Oh really, I thought we weren't supposed to bath hamsters? I could have this wrong! Sure I read something about them losing heat quickly. It does sound sweet though! Reminds me of when my girls were babies! Thanks. Hopefully we'll find a fairly tame hamster as I think my girls could be put of if they were bitten so soon! I have warned them that hamsters can nip if they're frightened so we'll see. Thanks again.

[Vectis Hamstery]

Some people use an empty bath as an enclosed space to get their hamster used to them Tuftyfluff has been away, but I'm sure will answer when she is caught up again.

[Seedless]

LOL. Sorry, I should have pointed out that we don't put water in the bath. It's just a contained environment where she can climb over us and become accustomed to our smell without escaping.

[hannahlondon]

Haha! Thought it sounded funny! Like the idea of going in the bath with them! Will have to try this once we find our friend

Thank you. Hopefully will get a reply from her shortly then.

[hannahlondon]

Thank you everyone for your help. Tuftyfluff has some babies available now and has agreed to hold onto one for us until my daughter's bday. So excited! Picking her up 9th December. Thanks again x