Patricia Bartlett - The Hamster Handbook

Acknowledgments

There are many people who deserve my sincere thanks for this book. First of all is my husband Dick, who shared my enthusiasm for these creatures, and the ever helpful Linda Price of AAA Hamsters; Anie Hansen; Helen Brinkworth; and Dymph Lapp. I owe a special debt to the hamster keepers who post details on hamster care and rearing on hamster websites. Their concern and involvement with the hobby demonstrate to others how to care for these pocket-rodents.

About the Author

Patricia Bartlett is an author who writes about historical and natural history topics. Before turning to writing, she worked as a museum director, a book editor, an Asian studies coordinator, and a magazine production manager. She has written for Web sites, trade publications, newspapers, and popular magazines. She has authored or coauthored some sixty books on history or natural history.

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eISBN: 978-1-4380-6725-4

Cover Photos

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Anastasia Solovykh: inside back cover

Kuttelvaserova Stuchelova: back cover (bottom)

Stanislaw Sulica: inside front cover

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Vishnevskiy Vasily: spine

Photo Credits

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Long Ago and Far Away

A ctually, the long ago equates to somewhat more than sixty five years ago, and the far away land was my boyhood home in western Massachusetts. As I sit typing in my north-central Florida office, the Connecticut River valley is pretty much a faraway land. But a little hamster, re-arranging the bedding in her cage next to my desk, brings back some memories.

Even as a lad I was enamored of all manner of animals, and fortunately, my parents indulged my interests. The nightly reading of the Pets for Sale ads in the local newspaper was pretty much a ritual. One night, while reading the usual ads for dogs and cats, I recall my father stopping and asking, Whats a hamster? I was all of ten years old and certainly had no idea. My father read the ad to me. Syrian golden hamsters, $10 each, and then added a phone number. Lets call, he said.

So we did and were told that a golden hamster was like a little teddy bear. My father asked the seller if hed take anything less than $10 (after all, $10 was a lot of money in 1948). After a little dickering, a price of $16 for a pair was agreed upon, and we went to see what a golden hamster really was.

The seller was across town, so of course we tried to figure out during the drive what it was we were actually going to see. I guess we came up with something, but it certainly wasnt at all like the little creatures we ultimately saw.

When we arrived, the seller took us down into his cellar, and there in a half-dozen 10-gallon terraria were a couple dozen baby golden hamsters. Although they didnt look much like bears to me, it was love at first sight. I knew that my allowance, both saved and for the foreseeable future, was going to be spent that day. And when we left, half an hour later, we had a cardboard box that contained a pair of young golden hamsters.

That pair of hamsters thrived and bred like the rodents they were. Only a matter of weeks after I got them, they had bred and produced their first litter of babies. A few weeks later those babies begat babies of their own, and soon all my neighborhood friends had baby hamsters. We put our own ads in the paper and were able to sell a fewbut only at reduced prices. Some went to pet stores, some to other breeders. Eventually all I had left was my original pair. And after a time they were too old to breed. Although I cant remember for certain, I imagine that my entire family breathed a sigh of relief.

A hamster wakes up.

But I do remember that from nearly complete obscurity, Syrian golden hamsters became a veritable pet rage. The little critters were in every pet store, as well as in the pet sections of what were then called five-and-dime stores, which were sort of tiny Walmarts. I thought it phenomenal that a little rodenta member of a group not particularly liked by peoplecould become so popular.

A dozen years later, golden hamsters still held pet appeal. I then was managing a pet distribution company in central Florida, and our hamster sales stood at about two thousand of the animals weekly. This was when hamsters of odd colors were making their debut. We were able to offer a fair percentage of the unusual banded hamsters, which were snapped up by our customers.

I still find hamsters among the most endearing of rodents, and as they wander from place to place, cheek pouches full to overflowing with seeds and fruits, they remind me of Mr. Magoo, the myopic bumbling cartoon character who always seems to come out on top. How could one not fall for such an enchanting creature?

Dick Bartlett

Preface
(A Word for Parents)

A cquiring a hamster may be part of a purposeful act, or it may just happen. Hamsters certainly have all the points when it comes to being cute, small, and furry, and they can be hard to resist. When you realize that their basic care isnt all that complex or expensive, the temptation grows.

For many people, owning a hamster is part of being a parent, and part of helping a child learn responsibility. The first decision is not What kind of hamster do we want? but rather Who is going to take on which part of this creatures care? Sometimes kids are just too young to regularly deal with set tasks. Once everyone agrees on which responsibilities belong where, you can proceed to the best way to acquire the new pet.

One way or another, either through your childrens friends, a neighbor, or a school project, a cage with a hamster appears on the kitchen table, rather like a conjurors trick. You regard the cage with faint surprise and a little bit of suspicion. Was I part of this decision? you ask, although no one answers. Was I awake at the time? Theres still no answer, nor do you expect one. You already know that hamsters are legendary for their prowess in reproduction, and youre not fooled for a moment that the hamster in the cage before you has been in solitary confinement all its life, even if your child assures you its a male and could not possibly be pregnant. You rather expect to wake up early some morning to your kids delighted squeal, Fred had babies! Look! What you may not expect is a litter size of twelve.

This book is designed to take some of the work out of hamster keeping and to make the process enjoyable. Hamsters are far more than short-tailed mice wannabes. Hamsters are actually a group of about two dozen related species, all lumped together under the term hamster, like all dogs are lumped into the dog group. Some types have a well-developed social environment, living cheerfully together in underground warrens they excavate themselves, and even live with other species. (A pika! Cmon in! Theres plenty of room!) Others want absolute solitude except for brief sexual contacts.

A classic banded Syrian hamster.

Hamsters are by nature wanderers. If necessary, the Syrian hamster (once called the golden hamster) may travel far from its burrow each night in search of food. As it travels, the hamster will shove seeds and other bits of vegetation into his capacious cheek pouches. Once back in his sleeping area, hell use his front feet to help empty the pouches, shoving the contents busily from behind with much the same distracted Im late! attitude of the March hare, before heading out again. Whether a hamster is from the wild or from the Bronx, once dawn breaks over the horizon, its bedtime and the hamster is horizontal and gently snoozing.