Richard Gere made hamster. Totally.

people assume bathing a hamster is like a human or dog being bathed, and that simply is not true, they are very very susceptible to get fatally sick from being bathed. any expert will tell you only to bathe them in an emergency, such as them rolling around in something poisonous. even if you keep them warm and dry you are still stripping their fur of natural and necessary oils. use chinchilla sand if you are concerned…just please…don’t do it again.

It’s so weird, I don’t even think it’s because of that story, but that hamster TOTALLY reminds me of Richard Gere.

dont bathe it regularly..it can get sick that way and die…dont ask how i know

Extremely cute! But why do you bathe your cats, rats, hamsters, mice… ? They are clean animals who keep themselfs nice and tidy with their little tounges! I know nothing cuter than a mouse cleaning it’s pink tail by licking it with the pink little tounge!!!

To brinnann, I know your question was directed to anitacanita, but I thought I would help you out in case she doesn’t make it back.

A russian hamster is just a dwarf hamster (the little ones you see that are gray and live in groups) and a Syrian hamster are the bigger ones you commonly see that live alone. Our Cristinel friend here is a Syrian.

Anyways, I would personally advise against bathing, but my hamster always slept under her water bottle and woke up soaked everyday and was fine.

As for personalities, she was the sweetest little thing. We would take naps together and play for hours. But near her death, she got grouchy. She started biting me more regularly and I just didn’t want to play with her as much anymore (would you?) I read somewhere that hamsters are the meanest of the pocket pets but there’s no way I would believe that after my experience with Bella. Hamsters are so great if you get the right one!

About the aggressive hammies, it depends on the hamster. My first one was sweet as could be, the second was a little unsocial, and my third was a terror. My sister’s two have both been sweethearts. I’m not sure exactly what causes this. I just try to watch them before I buy. If they look really aggressive or are skittish when people try to touch them, it’s probably not a good choice.

In reponse to someone else’s question about the other pets, all I’ve had are rabbits and guinea pigs besides the hamsters, and they tend to ignore each other. Except for when my sister and I had hamsters at the same time. Then they fought if they ever got near each other.

As for the fridge thing, I actually did put my cousin’s hamster in the fridge for about a minute when I was six and it was fine. Kids really shouldn’t have pets like that if they haven’t been taught how to treat animals.

anitacanita, are all common hammies Russian? Or are you from Russia?

Now I miss my little russian hammie Matilde…:(

hammies are sooooo cute

Also, anner, I have known some hamsters that bite aggressively, some that are timid and avoid being touched, and some that love to cuddle.

I think it partly depends on how they’re handled from an early age — the crazy ones I’ve known have mostly belonged to kids who didn’t really understand how to play with a small animal.

The sweetest hamster I’ve ever known belonged to my mom, who fell in love with him at the pet store and treated him with tons of patience and gentleness. He liked to sit in her lap and be petted. Sometimes he found ways to get out of his cage (he chewed into his water-bottle holder to turn it into a little ladder, honest to God) but he was so tame that after a day or two he’d come out of hiding and let us put him back in.