Life Span: 2-3 years with Proper Care.

Earliest Breeding Age: Male is 6 weeks and Females are 4 weeks.

Behavior

Hamsters are nocturnal; therefore they are most active at night. They have keen senses to aid them in the dark. They must be woken up very carefully or they will easily become irritable. They are fairly intelligent, very active and friendly. They should always be provided with toys to play with when awake. They have poor depth perception and may walk off of tall tables.

Housing

Hamsters can adapt to any type of small animal cage. The most important thing to remember that the cage needs to allow plenty of room for the Hamsters to play and burrow. So a wire bottom cage is not appropriate!  But if you can afford it, the best cage for a Hamster is a long aquarium, such as a 20 gallon long tank or a 10 gallon tank.. The 20 Long will house up to 4-6 Hamsters and the 10 gallon will house about 1 -2 Hamsters. This will provide the hamster with a chew proof cage that can be filled deep with a layer of comfy bedding that they can dig and burrow through. You can hide pieces of PVC pipe/ or SuperPet Tunnels in the bedding for them to run and play through, satisfying their natural instinct. You can also purchase a tank top to secure on top of the tank. Tank tops are wire tops that secure to the top of the aquarium. 

Diet

Hamsters need Seed Diet (Kaytee, Sunseed or Higgins) containing a minimum of 16% protein and 4 -5% fats. If the food is more than 90 days old or has been exposed to moisture, then it should be discarded. Hamsters also need a pellet rodent diet as an supplement food (Rodent Block). 

Supplement pellets with fresh fruits and vegetables such as pesticide free broccoli, peas, carrots, grapes, apples, strawberries and bananas. Hamsters also like grass, clover and dandelions.  You can also offer small pieces of bread and Hay (such as Timothy). When feeding fruits and vegetables, make sure food is always fresh and any uneaten veggies or fruits removed at the end of the day..

Feeding lower quality brand of seed/food: Many people think that a cheaper brand of food that Superstores and Grocery Stores carry are just as good as Pet Stores. Well that is not exactly true. I am not telling you this to get you to purchase food from us, I am telling you this to help your Pet to live a longer healthier life! The Food you purchase from a Pet Store is high in Nutritional value and higher Quality of Food. Most of the brands of Seed that Pet Stores carry are not sold in Superstores & Grocery Stores for a reason. When you purchase a low end cheap food from discount store you are getting nothing but fillers in it, nothing good and nutritional for your pet is in that mixture!

By feeding a lower/cheaper seed/pellet diet to your pet can cut your pets’ life span in half! It is like you only eating candy everyday of your life and not eating meats and vegetables. That is the difference in quality of food sold between the Superstores/Grocery stores vs a Pet Store!!!

Needs

Hamsters need dry food complete with proteins, carbohydrates, fats and vitamins. They need a clean living area with fresh food and water daily. They need good bedding (Carefresh or Aspen/Pine shavings that is made for Small Animal) that they can burrow in. Never use cedar shavings. Cedar Shavings can kill an animal!!!

They need chew toys like dog biscuits, untreated fruit tree branches such as plum or apple, or hard bread crumbs. They need to be held when brushing. Hamsters are very destructive and love to chew on things. Make sure that you give them plenty of chew toys!

Things to remember when you take a new animal home: