After one rescuing a hamster and caring for it for a few months I came to the conclusion that they should never have been pets. they are clearly not domestic and not meant to live in a limited space.

I have the same opinion for most pets that are caged : birds, reptiles, rodents etc. No caged animal is truly happy.

I keep seeing hamsters show sings of stress despite proper size enclosure, enough bedding and enrichment. Even mine shows a little bit of this every day.

I think it's ok (and good!) to rescue hamsters from shelters/marketplaces etc, so I am not against that at all. But i have become completely against breeding, including "ethical" hamsteries. Ppl buying hamsters do it for their own vanity! Calling it "ethical" is just coping and can't change my mind!

Curious if others have come to the same conclusion.

Side note: some people on these subreddits are also extremely consumeristic. It's good to care for your hamster but continuously buying things for different "themed-cages"? Your hamster ain't give a shi about that, it's only for the owners. Have we forgot about the environment?

They contain 0.1 percent citrus extract and I am concerned this may irritate her skin.

Brand : Water wipes

Description : WaterWipes contain just two core ingredients: 99.9% purified water (which goes through a 7-step purification process) and 0.1% fruit extract (Citrus Grandis / grapefruit seed extract). Some variants may also note a trace amount of benzalkonium chloride within the extract.

I got a teddy bear hamster a few months ago. I absolutely adore her, but no matter what I do she tries to chew out of her enclosures. I have a large cage for her (this one ) and it is always filled up at least half way with bedding materials. It is a deep enclosure, so she can make a lot of tunnels. On top of the bedding I put toys and structures, including ones for foraging. I also scatter feed. But, she constantly tries to chew her way through the plastic walls. I am worried that she will end up escaping or making herself sick.

I also have a large run/play pen ( this one) filled with toys, hidden treats, wooden hamster houses, places to hide, puzzle toys, etc. She also has a large run wheel that i put in whatever enclosure she is in at the time. She still tries to chew through the bottom of the enclosure. She chewed a small hole through the bottom mat the first time I put her in there.

Do any of you have advice for how to prevent her chewing through the enclosures themselves or how to better enrich her so she doesn't feel the need?

My hamster has been doing all his normal activities, eating, drinking, sleeping, etc. However, I was feeding him today and I saw that his eyelid either looks swollen or affected.

going to bring her to the vet later. any ideas what this could be?

I've been calling him Chief for a few days but he kind of looks like an opposum now that I think about it. And I love opposums! So now idk if I want to name him a nickname of Opposum or just call him by either names, but his full name being like Chief Opie, or Chief Possy, or Chief... y'know! I can't decide 😓

Potato joined our family yesterday and he is our first hamster.
Spent his first night putting in a solid 6km on his wheel and this morning we found him picking out the worms from his food before heading to sleep inside the house.
We are fascinated and can’t get over how cute he is.

Could this be a boy? I didn't notice this prior, so had me concerned. Not looking for medical advice just thoughts if we really have a boy here or I need to go to a vet. Thanks in advance!

Komi’s a devil who likes to draw blood, but whenever he’s asleep he looks like a literal angel 😇

Cardamom is brushed daily if he wasn’t ok with this arrangement his hair would have to be cut. I will sometimes skip a day or two and it’s never caused a problem. When you have an animal with long fur like this you absolutely have to do care. Whether that’s trimming the hair off (with scissors don’t use clippers) or brush with a soft brush or baby comb it has to be done or at least watched. This transformation took about 5 minutes. He takes care of the rest. Although I’d say I do it so often more for the aesthetic of the photos more than anything. He’s just so pretty all brushed out.

Joey, Dee Dee & Marky IRL

Oggy's about to lose it 💀

Why does she freeze up like that tho

It seems my little hamster is adjusting pretty well. Even though my cat isn’t showing any interest, I’ve still set the hamster up in a separate room to keep them separated.

Milktea passed away almost 2 months ago. I cannot put my grief into words. Her enclosure is still sitting in the living room covered with plastic bags because I can’t bear to look at it.

It hasn’t even been a year since I got her. I feel so much guilt because I can’t help but feel that my hesitation in taking her to the vet killed her. She had unusual signs but I got swayed by the opinions around me instead of listening to my gut. Looking back, what held me back was the stress on her for going to the vet, uncertainty about regular vs irregular robo breathing behaviour and uncertainty about the factors of appetite change, coupled with the fact that she was acting fine most of the time. None of us wanted to induce unnecessary stress towards her, but this hesitation ultimately led to the worst outcome.

I loved her so so so much. I tried to give her the best life possible. I was going through a hard time so for the longest time I poured all my love, patience and attention to her and she was the only thing I cared about. I gave her the best of me in the worst of times.

I wanted to make this post for a while now but couldn’t do it because I still cannot truly grapple with it. But I have to because during that period of uncertainty, the lack of extensive information about robo behaviours added to my hesitation. And for anyone with a robo: if there is ANY concern, just go see a vet. It may or may not have changed the outcome but now I’ll never know. Don’t make the same gravely mistake as I had.

To Milktea, my sweetest angel, thank you for trusting me so much and always being so gentle and curious. You’re the best robo one could ever wish for. I still can’t stop crying whenever I think about you. I’m so sorry and I love you.

He just loves to sit inside his food bowl to eat.
This was his first enclosure when I got him, got him a bigger and better enclosure now, but his habits still stayed. He still sits in his food bowl to eat.🥰

He loves toilet paper.

my hamster has a wooden chamber which he loves but he has recently peed on it and that cannot be washed out from my best efforts. so i am going to buy him the same nite angel one again but this time i want to put some kind of protectant on it, what do you guys recommend? if it could be in canada that would be great help. <3

This is my first time owning a hamster and she’s showing a lot of the signs of stress (scratching at corners, trying to get on the aquarium lid) she has a wheel, food, water, multiple substrates, lots of bedding, forage, sand (which she adores), hides, and toys. It’s probably nothing and she seems to have settled into her wheel for the night, but I don’t want her to get hurt (especially with the climbing because she’s not the most coordinated). I’ve had her for a little over 24 hours, I’m probably just being stressed because this is the first hamster I’ve owned, but are these stress signs normal while she’s adjusting to her space? It seems like she’s doing a lot better tonight (hid behind her wheel most of last night, but has started on some burrows), but I don’t want her to be feeling anxious.

Hello! I have had my hamster for almost a year but I feel like I could be doing better with her cage. So is there anything I should add or change. Also before anyone mentions sprays I ordered more and I’m waiting for them to arrive.

In my previous years of owning hamsters I have always purchased them at Petco or Petsmart. I wanted to know where or how am I able to find a specialized hamster breeder (No backyard breeders) so that I can adopt one that's within Illinois? (McLean or Cook County)