Since the advent of Hammy in my life one thing has become very apparent, contrary to popular belief these little creatures are not always easy, cute and fluffy they might be but cuddly they are not, or at least in some cases.Any information will tell you they aren't always easy to handle, they have a penchant for grumpy-ness, are very fast, adept at making good their escape and maintaining their liberty and most significantly of all have a set of teeth from hell....which they are way too fond of utilising!
I had never had a hamster before, as a child I had guinea pigs and mice, both of which by comparison are a push over. When I was told that hamsters should be chosen with a view to being treated as fish i.e. for looking at not cuddling, I was sceptical....how can something so small be so difficult? The answer is simple, they are fast, very squirmy and bite like the devil when they chose too, as Lisa will testify having spent a half hour stopping the copiously bleeding when Hammy decided to greet her with teeth!
They are in many cases pretty hard to tame, despite months of doing all the stuff recommended and with a degree of patience that is unusual for me, Hammy still will not tolerate being picked up, though we have progressed to being allowed a small stroke once in a while!
It wasn't long into my hamster 'parenting' experience that I began to say that I found it strange that these little animals are so often owned by small children, their behaviour just doesn't seem to be conducive, even as an adult I am far more wary of the lightening speed of the biting end than I am of any cat or dog!.....and now my thoughts seem to be echoed in this article in the Guardian, not only do they have the teeth from hell but they are also considered unsuitable for children from a health point of view!
Ok, so like many of these articles it is probably a little OTT, let's face it, if we listened to all the health advice that is bandied around in the press we would do nothing but it is interesting to me to read that the apparently cute little hamster is 'officially' not quite as cute as it would have us believe.
All that said, Hammy is lovely if treated with a reasonably high degree of respect, she follows me around the flat, she is very amusing, she will always come to greet me and she does look very cute....she is however never, I suspect, ever going to be a cuddly creature.
8 Comments:
I've had 3 in my time. Two were lovely, one was evil but ALL of them tended to wee on me.
I think I prefer Rabbits but then I've never had much luck with them either, one escape artist who we never found again and one that I think was the spawn of Satan!
What a cool house thing that Hammy has got!
I wonder if you can get larger versions to keep children in?
Hamsters can be terrifying to tame, I still have the scars from mine, but when they do it they are fun to have. Mine used to greet me when I came home from work to squeaks of delight when I produced a nugget of hamster chocolate.
Trick to hand-taming : never handle the hamster after food on your hands they see/smell the food and think you are the source and test out with a bite (or two)
I've kept many many hamsters over the years and they all have different temperaments and personalities. I have had the odd one who was untameable, but I've also had a lot of cute, cuddly ones. One especially comes to mind who used to love going to sleep curled up between my neck and shoulder as I lay on the sofa watching tv. She was a little darling.
Hamsters are like humans: They all have different moods, likes, and dislikes. I had a few growing up, one that was adorable and loved it when I fed him peanuts. He would fall asleep in my hand sometimes.
As for the Guardian article, look, it seems that whenever you turn around someone is trying to tell you what is good for you. Myself and so many other kids grew up with hamsters, guinea pigs, and other small creatures and we came out just fine. Any animal has its set of issues, and as long as you keep the little thing's cage clean, odds are nothing is going to be transmitted. Sheesh! everyone is an alarmist these days.
Well, I have to admit that I like to give the Bitey, too. But I almost never make bloods come out. Unless I get All Wound Up and act crazy.
My kids had a hamster but I'm not sure how long it lived - it was their rabbit that ate my curtains. Damn wabbit - grrrrrrrrrrrr.
Hmmmm...seems like it might be 'this' hamster that is particularly 'bitey'...must persevere (sp?) more...I want a cuddly version! Thanks for the taming tips guys :o)
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