Hamster adoption stories?

[Hammymad]

I was wondering how many of you have adopted hammies? And if so,I'd love to hear about it,if you'd like to share that is? Lol

My first adopted hamster was Holly,she was about 8 months when I adopted her.I walked into pets at home and her previous owner had just brought her in,and had a cage,ball and lots of toys etc,as soon as I saw her I fell in love and I took her home and within a few days she was used to me handling her and used to squeak to get my attention and pick her up put of the cage (Cookie now does this lol) Holly lived until about 26 months old,I lost her the second week in December,I was heartbroken,I bought a little holly bush and buried her under it in my hamster memorial garden.

And my second adopted hamster is a 16 month old Syrian male called Hammy. He has a cleft pallet and needs his teeth trimming every 2-3 weeks. as soon as I saw his cute little face I knew I'd be taking him home and the women who took him in we're made up as they though because of his age and health issues nobody would want him.that would never put me off.infact it would draw me to them more than a younger hamster.
I will be definately adopting again when I have the room. And I will be adopting a dwarf hamster as there are so many of them needing new homes,everytkme I go in pets at home I want to adopt them all xxxx

[Angelhamster]

We've no experience of adopting hamsters but find people like you amazing! I would love to hear adoption stories too. Best of luck with keeping those hamsters safe in your care

[samzyzg]

Well i adopted little Hammy off of Debs who had taken him in... I seen the post around December, but thought my mum would never let me have another hamster and since i'm still living at home i need her approval and i thought no doubt someone else would give him a loving home....
And about a month ago i seen that no one had adopted him still, even though he is such a lovley guy I know many were interested but because of distance it made it hard for them... So i decided that i would ask my mum and with a little increase in my dig money i got to bring home the lovely little fluffball Hammy

Debs said he was being feed on junk food > and he was rather obese when Debs first took him in and ran a risk of being diabetic....


> Heres a wee pictures of the little guy Also sorry about size i still have no idea how to resize on photobucket.


He's definitely lost a lot of weight and is a happy little guy, he does like to give me little nibbles when he's out and i've still to scared to lift him in his cage without gloves on (he can be very teratorial) although he hasn't been attacking the gloves that often anymore
He seems to love being out of his cage and i adore watching him toddle around and he seems to enjoy climbing over duvet mountains :P

(Sorry for bad spelling i couldn't be bothered spell checking)

[kyrilliondaemon]

Its great that you adopt hams

Two of ours were from the P@H adoption bit, Skip and Whizz. We got them last June. Both had been handed in and been there for about a month - then our plans of a robo colony fell through. We went into P@H for something else, realised that homing those two (who did live alone) would be a great way of getting robos since our plans had fallen through and went home, sorted a cage for Whizz, got our two carry cases, went back, got Skip and the cage he'd had previously (we knew which it was and that it was about the same as a mini duna), and Whizz. Then changed Skip's cage two days later because we decided he should get a mini duna because Whizz's one was better for us and for her so we figured he should get the same.

We thought they were about 6 months old and both male, but Skip was actually at least 16 months and male, while Whizz was about six months we think but a female instead lol

Both were really nervous of us but over time we won Skip's trust and after months of patience Whizz got a bit better - now she's both scared and curious so its still rare we get to interact with her but we don't need to allocate an hour just to get her out of a mini duna anymore either

In January we decided they were both confident enough with us for us to get them bigger cages and went for the ZZ2 cages. Whizz was still not happy so we realised she needed company. So we got Muffin, we introduced them, they lived together and Whizz has been happier since. They did fall out in Feb but we hope they'll be back together again in the future.

At the moment Skip is our happy little guy, elderly but happy and active, he has an Alexander to himself and loves it. Whizz is in a split ZZ2 until we try letting her and Muffin meet without the divider. We hope they'll get along, but even if they don't Whizz has been much happier ever since she met Muffin whether living with her or not

They've been a lot of work sometimes, but both are fantastic little hams and well worth all the time, effort and patience thats gone into getting them happy despite their pasts

We also plan to either get breeder hams or rescues in the future. No more pet shop hams for us now and the majority will be rescues we think


Saw Sam had put pics, so here's one of our earliest of Skip in his "safe place" where he'd dash to hide and watch us if we were too near the cage.


And this is Whizz on the night of our huge breakthrough where she decided she could risk collecting treats we'd dropped through the cage lid, and then even decided she could risk eating them on her shelf despite us being close. Still absurdly proud of her for the huge step forwards that was (It took about 5 months to get there lol)

[Hammymad]

Awwww he's lovely its a shame that people buy the dwarf hamsters for kids and then because they're fast the kids can't play with them and they might bite because they're scared and then a few weeks later.theyre in pets at home waiting to be adopted I usually go to the Stockport pets at home because the adoption centre is bigger there and when I got my Hammy,he was the only Syrian,all the other adoptees (6-7) were winter whites or robos xxxx

[Hammymad]

Thanks for sharing your story,I really enjoyed reading about your little ones
I will probably just try and adopt from now on (I am actually adopted myself hehe) I tink WW are the most loving,little fuzzies. I did have a Chinese hamster awhile back,he was friendly but smetimes he could give you a nip.Rambo (WW) has never bitten,he's a little softie I have never had a robo hamster up to now,but who knows in the future

I'd be more than willing to put in the time and effort if I did adopt a hammy who had behavioural problems or was abit "nippy" I get alot of pleasure from taking care of my little ones and it's lovely to be among like minded people xxxx

[samzyzg]

It is a big problem with dwarfs, i know my step sister had 2 of them (although one had to be put to sleep) she still cleans and feeds but can't handle because of how fast they are... I'm struggling with my Robo's at the moment as well but my bathtub is quite old and needs replaced so i don't feel comfortable taking them there and i wont go into the shed to check if i have correx (I really don't like spiders) so will have to wait til i can get someone to do it for me XD
When i was younger i used have russian dwarfs and handled them all fine Which does surprise me but i still remember being scared to handle them at first... I wish more advice were given to people, as its not always their faults as such... if you aren't given proper advice how can you care for them properly... and people assume pet shop staff know what they are talking about which isnt really the case.

[Hammymad]

Awwww Skip amd Whizz are so cute *wants* hehe xxxx

[KatiePillow]

I've 'adopted' three hamsters, One was a true adoption - Alfie, he'd been returned for fighting with his cage mate, and Sesame and Dancer (chinese and robo respectively) were unsold stock, but Sesame was in the adoption centre for at least a month before I got her.

Alfie was one in a million, we got him 3rd December 2010, he bit the girl who tried to usher him into a box, and was trying to squish out of the aquarium he was in. We had arranged to get a taxi home, but it fell through so we ended up walking halfway home in the snow with him in a box cuddled to my chest. (Got a lift the rest of the way though)
After settling in he bit me VERY hard, drawing blood, and I tried a few times and he was just mostly unresponsive.. I left the room and my OH gave him some millet to eat from his hand and Alfie was perfectly tame from then on. We realised after about a week that he was blind, and he used to topple over because he was meerkating too much, and he was awake during the day, which was lovely.

He really was the biggest softy, he had a tumour, was blind, had cateracts, had infections in his scent gland and eyes, so cost me about £150+ in vet bills, but he was so worth it, I really loved him. The day he was helped to the bridge we spent 3 hours in my bed with him sleeping snuggled to my stomach, and I still miss him. He's what made me want to rescue, but also made me realise that I'll never have a hamster like him again >.<

ETA, he also had a stroke and managed to teach himself to walk again, such character




Sesame and Dancer were less successful adoptions, in that I've had Dancer a year and he's only just become comfortable with me handling him, and Sesame still bites me and is really independent.. I still adore both of them and they're really interesting to watch, but they're not really people-hams I would adopt them again in a heartbeat though.

[kyrilliondaemon]

lol thanks We've got loads of other photos and some are in better light and things, but those two were relevant and are always special photos because of when/why they were taken

I'm glad you enjoyed reading about them too I could have written more but didn't want to write a giant essay lol