As some of you may know, I work in a pet store. I'm on my third hamster now (since I've had my own place) and this time I decided on something different. I have a male (white/brown, short hair) and I recently got a female. She is black (short hair) and I'm going to breed them this Tuesday. The babies should be ready at the end of January!! I'm excited. I am prepared if the first litter doesn't make it, but usually breeders start mating their female(s) at 4 months and that's her current age.

CC, have any hamster stories?

[edit] R.I.P Austin (white/brown, short hair). You left me too soon.

I used to have hamsters when I was younger. I had one of those huge Sammy Hamster setups for them, with all the plastic tubes and things. I'm not sure how I feel about breeding hamsters...I guess as long as you're responsible and not overbreeding them or selling them for snake food, it's cool. Are you going to sell the babies for pets? Or keep them?

Wonder what colours/patterns they'll turn out to be :u And what are you going to do with them, just out of interest?

I refuse to get another hamster after my last one, because they'll never live up to him. He never once bit anyone, and was so beautiful with soft cream/white banding and heterochromia. And once he learnt how to open his cage and walked all the way downstairs and stood in a doorway until I noticed him, the little shit.

NO! I would never sell them as snake food, but once they're grown up and handed over to work, you never know what people are buying them for. I like to think they'll get a nice loving home.

If I can keep every single hamster, I would. My boss is interested in them. Once the babies are born ('round Jan 3rd), I'll post pictures of them every 7 days C:

My first hamster would actually greet people. He would come out, stand on his house, sniff and then go back to bed. He died on my chest and I cried for weeks. My second one I knew was sick. She had a great big tumor on her chest and I was debating if I should put her down or not. My dad and I were going to be gone a few days back in July and I dropped her off at my parents house. She died not too long after I left. I cried, but I didn't take it as hard.

I had a hamster when I was a kid, his name was Peanut. He lived a long life and I made sure he lived as comfortable and spoiled as possible.

I have a large variety of treats for them. They don't go without hehe. They also like oranges.

I had two golden males that we won at my parish's annual feast...we won them 3 years apart. Both lived their 1,000-day lives to the fullest, including taking secret pleasure in annoying my cat when they were in their ball. Ah...those were fond memories, especially when they used to hide the sunflower seeds in their house or under the wheel (they ran on top of it, silly things :) )

I had a hamster from hell when I was little, named Creampuff. I got her from a friend when she moved away, and it started out great... until we found out she was an escape artist. No matter what we did to her cage, she'd figure a way out of it. She ate patches of carpet, got into the walls, cabinets, occasionally food... She was never gone long, but it was bad enough that we ended up giving her away. She was even worse for the people that we gave her to - they had a huge house, and when she got out she'd disappear into the walls for full weeks. They'd be trying to sleep at night, and then suddenly they'd hear a scratching noise in the wall above their head... Strangely enough, the only thing she couldn't figure out how to escape from was those little balls that they run around in. We were half tempted to just leave her in there sometimes. :b

The only hamster I ever had got out of her cage once. And my cat picked her up, carried her out of my room, down the hall, and all the way downstairs. I had the hamster for years afterwards, until it lost all of it's hair and died XD

aaa thats so exciting ive never bred pets before but it must be such a fun and adorable experience!

my brother and i owned hamsters as children and his was named hamtaro while mine was named oreo. we had them for a long time and they were friendly critters and that mightve been their downfall. i also owned 4 cats and one day we let our hamsters play in their little run around balls and somehow both of them got opened, and got loose and our cats happened to notice before we did.

but now im older and i have bunnies which our cats are afraid of P;

I used to cut fresh vegetables and fruits for my hamster.. And put vitamin drops (for rodents) in his water so that he could stay healthy. He also loved nuts..Peanuts were his favorite.. Hence the name, aha. I never did give him oranges though.. He probably would have liked them as well.

Oh god, the cat. I am so glad that your hammie walked away from that fiasco, wow. None of my cats ever managed to catch my hamster, surprisingly... although when I was seven or eight, one of my cats did manage to get to my frog tank and eat my frog. Or part of it. I was horrified when I found what was left, and I still have no idea how she maneuvered herself to get to it... Poor frog. What a way to go. ;___;

Eeewww that would be so gross to find.

I'm not totally surprised that she hadn't killed the hamster yet because she's a particular kind of sadist when it comes to mouse catching. Or she was before she got old and lazy lol. She'd leave them alive foreeeever

LOL and here I was thinking oh, what a sweet kitty, letting the hamster live. My cat is like that with bugs though, it's kinda terrifying. Like, thank god you're just a cat and thus can't destroy society with your disturbing predatory ways. Assuming people don't do that already, of course.

My cat is the opposite of sweet hah. She does the glare eyes and only cares about you when she wants attention or wants food. Otherwise leave her alone or risk your life XD

I used to love cats but I'm learning what little assholes they can be now. I have a cat who just seems off, like the lights are on but nobody's home, and he seems so sweet with people! But he is such a little shit to the other cats, one moment seeming to be uninterested and unintelligently blank, and the next he's attacking - not playing, but attacking. Sigh. Cats.

I handle all the hamsters at work. They call me "the hamster whisperer". We had this hamster from hell two years ago. We called her "Godzilla". We actually thought she was blind, hence the reason why she was so mean. I worked hard on her and turned her from a mean to a nice hamster. I adopted her after my first one died. She was very independent... didn't like when you put your hand in the cage or tried to pick her up out the carrying container from cleaning. She always had to get out on her own.

My poor female will be without her ball and wheel for a month. She loves them both, but I spoke to a small animal breeder today and he said it's best not to let her run because the babies may experience trauma. I have two balls for them and they both roll together.

I bred them tonight. They were at for 30 minutes. I'll probably pair them up again to make sure she's 100% done with him.

Aww.. Baby hamies. Cute. I remember when my friend's hamster (which was female) and mine formed a ball, and you could literally roll them around.. I don't think they were mating though.. It didn't seem like it..I could be wrong though, aha. I'm always reminded of Hamtaro whenever I think of hamsters, haha.

When I got her, I went to Pets Mart to get her a cage. Since my male has a big cage, I thought she deserved one too. I bought a two story rat cage and the platforms and ladders were made out of real wood. After I had help assembling it... she absolutely hated it!! My mom finally ended up persuading me enough to return it (I was going to keep it for a rat). I bought a new cage today at another pet store. It's a little bigger than her current cage, and she approved it. It's two stories with a bridge that spans over the connecting platforms. The only feature I don't like is that the platforms, bridge and ladders are metal bars.

I had a rat as well! They are great pets to have. Very smart...very nice..overall, a fantastic animal to have. Seems to me that your hamster likes the cozy little home instead of the bigger one, which is still good. I like it when the ladders are that hard plastic or wood..the metal bars aren't ideal, but they are not terrible. Good luck with your new cage! I'm sure your little hamster will enjoy it.