buying a hamster

Thephantomsmask

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone might be able to recommend a reputable shop or breeder for hamsters in Cork city? I've heard poor things about a certain shop in the city & I don't know anything about the maxi zoos, Midleton's page say they carry live animals but nothing about Ballincollig? I'm out of Ireland until next week so I thought I would ask for any advice or personal experience Boardsies might have before phoning around.

Cherry Blossom

Sorry I can't recommend somewhere as I'm not in Cork but the one piece of advice I would give you is ask to see any hamster being handled before you buy it, you should be able to tell straight away if it's tame or not.

tatabubbly

I'd advise you shop around, look at a few pet stores, most will keep hamsters i'd believe, ours does...

I'd watch how it behaves in the cage along with the others, siberians prefer to be on their own, while little dwarf ones like being in groups. Make sure you get it sexed, in case you want to buy another one. It'll take a week before the hamster gets to know your scent and learn it's not harmful, so if the hamster tries to take a wee nibble, don't be put off it's probably just frightened..

Thephantomsmask

Thank you for the advice guys. It's been a few years since I last kept a hamster so I've a big cage on order along with lots of acessories, it's a case of finding a friend to live there! I'll be giving the shops a tour next week as I've never been to any in Cork so hopefully there's one that's good with rodents.

Sigma Force

If you buy a hamster from a pet shop it's not that likely that it will have been handled all that much and in general they are pretty nippy so they'll need time and handling etc. when you get them anyway.

One thing I would do though is ask them, whereever you go, where and who they get their hamsters from, and once you find a shop before you buy find out if anyone else has bought animals there and see how they have faired, some pet shops sell pregnant hamsters, ill hammies etc. so it's a lottery really.

Look for bright eyes, lively, if Syrian ensure they are all housed alone and find out how long they have been housed alone and their age before you buy so you can be sure the ham isn't preg, or get a male.

A new and unused soft toothbrush makes a good hair brush for a hammie plus it gets them used to being gently touched without your fingers getting nipped, allow hammie to sit in your hand with food and eventually move on to handling enough to you can examine teeth etc. without getting nipped..too much lol.

Loads of hamster toys etc. out there now I've tried lots but the best ones for me I found was the old Habitrails, the new ones are much much smaller and you need to reinforce with sellotape but any Syrians I had loved them.

An aquarium tank with a wooden/wire hammy proof lid can work out cheaper zooplus.co.uk should have some decent sized cages, the bigger the better, if it doesn't dominate a part of the room then the cage is too small that's the best way to judge size, it should take over a part of the room to be big enough to keep a hammy happy.

Carefresh bedding is fab as well.

Zapperzy

Id recommend the hamster heaven cage on zooplus (I think the .co.uk site is cheaper for this cage at the moment), it's huge so you'l have loads of room to add wheels and toys.

Are you thinking about getting a syrian hamster or dwarf hamsters?

Avoid the cotton wool type bedding, carefresh is brilliant but expensive so I use a mixture of carefresh and shavings (mostly carefresh), and then I use toilet paper and hay for the bed area.

Silent spinner wheels are brilliant, not even a squeak out of them. Whatever wheel you get make sure it's not too small for them, if the wheel is too small the hamster will have to bend it's back to run in it and in the long term it will cause back problems.

I find wooden and cardboard toys are best, rodent's teeth never stop growing so they are constantly gnawing things to wear them down. Plastic or wire bars aren't really the most suitable things to be chewing on so I always have use toilet roll inserts and cardboard shoe boxes in the cage along with some wooden toys (again zooplus have a nice selection of wooden toys).

I have no experience of pet shops in cork so can't recommend anywhere. Just don't make the same mistake I did and buy from somewhere that they needed to use a thick glove to remove my hamster from her cage, she's still unpredictable and bites a lot.

Thephantomsmask

Sigma Force wrote: »

If you buy a hamster from a pet shop it's not that likely that it will have been handled all that much and in general they are pretty nippy so they'll need time and handling etc. when you get them anyway.

One thing I would do though is ask them, whereever you go, where and who they get their hamsters from, and once you find a shop before you buy find out if anyone else has bought animals there and see how they have faired, some pet shops sell pregnant hamsters, ill hammies etc. so it's a lottery really.

That's why I was hoping someone may know of a breeder or a good shop, I don't really want to find myself with a pregnant female at some point in the future. Google brought up a breeder in NI but not much else. Making sure I get a healthy hamster is top priority.

Zapperzy wrote: »

Id recommend the hamster heaven cage on zooplus (I think the .co.uk site is cheaper for this cage at the moment), it's huge so you'l have loads of room to add wheels and toys.

Already on order with a new wheel & all the other necessaries I'm planning on getting a Syrian so went for the biggest I could find.