Where to buy a Hamster, what do they need?

krlyr

Counting_Pennies wrote: »

Goodness so much to choose from.

I am not great with little beings, and I think it would be left to DH to deal with any break outs!

He is quite keen to go down the gold fish route first and see how we get on with that as our first pet.

Will see how I feel in the morning, if I break out in a sweat in the night with escaping rodents!

Thank you all for your advice

Don't assume a goldfish is an easy pet either. Don't know if you have any fish experience, but if you're thinking goldfish bowls and minimal care, I would think again.

Goldfish have been inappropriately kept in bowls in the past but fortunately people are being educated on their real requirements. Standard goldfish are quite 'dirty' fish, and tend to suit a pond more than indoors. If they are to be kept in a tank, it needs to be of a fair size and with a good filtration system to keep it in optimum condition for them. Goldfish grow quite large and live quite long - if you're thinking of childhood goldfish that lived a year or two, then it's highly likely it's just the stunted growth (fish don't "grow to their tank" but a too-small tank will stunt their growth, usually in a harmful way) and inappropriate filtration that's caused premature death. Goldfish can actually have a lifespan of 25 years+, and the longest goldfish measured a whopping 19 inches long!

Any fish tank also needs to go through a process called cycling, where you set up an empty tank and allow it a fair bit of time to establish. With fish, while you need to buy a mechanical filter for most of them, there's a biological aspect to getting the right conditions too - it's the bacteria in the filter that removes the toxins in the water, rather than just the filter which deals with the solid waste. There are products on the market you can add to a cycling tank to speed up the process, or people often use a second-hand filter sponge, add some water from another tank, etc. to speed up the process but it's definately not a case of pop to petshop, buy tank and fish, get home and plonk it all together.
http://www.oscarfishlover.com/helpful-articles/cycling-an-aquarium

There's lots of info on them online, quite a few fish forums floating around (sorry, no pun intended!) and your local fish shops may be able to give some good advice (moreso than your big generic pet shops like Pets At Home and so on)
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=0&aid=2650

Justicia

Catspajamas wrote: »

...after 2 years 1 died (or was killed...) and I opened cage to find just her fur and skull like one of those lion skin rugs, v disturbing and I couldn't look at Helga the same way after that!

Niiiiiiiice!! :eek::p

gibson123

As a rat convert, it took me well into a second bottle of chianti before I would handle my daughters rats ITS THE TAILS.... anyway fully converted now, happy to handle them and have them sit on my shoulder.

onlyroz

I've just made some enquiries with local rat breeders about buying a pair of females :happylove

Person_one

onlyroz wrote: »

I've just made some enquiries with local rat breeders about buying a pair of females :happylove

You won't regret it, now start looking for massive cages on ebay!

onlyroz

Well we've been thinking of getting a family pet for a while and rats seem like a good place to start. I'm hoping that the kids will want to help with cleaning and feeding etc

Person_one

onlyroz wrote: »

Well we've been thinking of getting a family pet for a while and rats seem like a good place to start. I'm hoping that the kids will want to help with cleaning and feeding etc

I think they're a fab first pet, because they're so interactive. In a lot of ways they're like miniature dogs.

When you get them, come back and start a thread and we can help you with socialising, cage customising and so on.

My only tip for now is to get the biggest cage you have room for. When they're young they'll ping around all over it and really appreciate a good amount of space with lots of different climbing options.

I used to have one of these:

http://www.cagesworld.co.uk/p/Liberta_Explorer_Rat,_Ferret_and_Chinchilla.htm

onlyroz

We've got space for a decent size cage. As a teen I had maybe half a dozen rats over the years but it's been a while since I kept any. Is it true that sawdust is not recommended any more? If so, what do you use instead?

kizzie_nikita

onlyroz wrote: »

We've got space for a decent size cage. As a teen I had maybe half a dozen rats over the years but it's been a while since I kept any. Is it true that sawdust is not recommended any more? If so, what do you use instead?

http://www.fancyratsforum.co.uk/ This is the best place to look up on diet/homes & health. Great community, with tonnes of knowledge.

As person_one said, i also have the same cage as they had, an explorer, great cage.

kizzie_nikita

onlyroz wrote: »

We've got space for a decent size cage. As a teen I had maybe half a dozen rats over the years but it's been a while since I kept any. Is it true that sawdust is not recommended any more? If so, what do you use instead?

Finacard. Sawdust is not acceptable anymore due to the phenols in it, can/will make the rats respy & ill. And you've got to remember, rats get ill quite readily, i've spent coming up to £250 on operations and other health problems, for just 2 of my rats, in the past 2 weeks. & had to have one PTS yesterday from really bad on-going resp problems. Best to be safe than sorry with bedding than chance a ill rat.

To anyone else-

I will also say if you're getting hamsters/mice/rats, then please DO NOT buy them from any type of pet shop, they're nutoriuous for selling ill and mis-sexed animals. Look for a breeder or a rescue center.

Another thing, rats do need atleast 1 hour of play time a day, out of their cage, if you can not give the rats atelast 1 hour a day/other time for you to handle them, then please do-not get them! If you also won't be able to afford vet bills, which will be often, and sometimes expensive, then again, please dont buy them!