AboutHeather S Expertise ***PLEASE READ EVERYTHING BEFORE ASKING, IT WILL SAVE US BOTH TIME AND FRUSTRATION***
NO DWARF OR GERBIL QUESTIONS I REPEAT NO DWARF OR GERBIL QUESTIONS!I CAN'T answer them, even if I'm the only expert available. I specialize in SYRIAN HAMSTERS ONLY like black bears, goldens, teddies, and more. I'm an experienced breeder and raised hamsters for the past 10 years. I can help with how to buy your first, how to house and care for your hamster, nutrition, showing, and other general questions. I can help with most behavioral problems too. I am the longest running hamster expert on this page, since 2001. ***I WILL NOT answer questions regarding:
Gerbils
Dwarf hamsters(Robo and Russian are dwarfs!!)
Taming
Illness, Cause Of Death, or "My hamster is dying please help me"
I can't fix your hamster. If your hamster has a broken leg PLEASE TAKE IT TO A VET don't bother asking a question to anyone because we obviously can't repair it, we don't like the animals to suffer. If you can't take the time to read this then I don't take the time to read your question and may write you a rude response because your too impatient to read!***
Experience I have worked with hamsters all my life.
Question Hi Heather! Nice to meet you. I have a question. I was planning to get a black bear hamster after seeing how cute they are and I started doing 4 weeks of research on black bear hamsters. I found out all the facts and all that stuff. I was going to get the hamsters at my local pet store but before i did, i read reviews about them on yelp.com. I found out that they get their puppies from puppy mills, they don't care if the hamsters are sick or not and i decided not to get it from ANY pet store. I was just wondering where else can I get it? I tried to look for a breeder in my area but no luck. I tried petfinder, craigslist, kijiji, and google. Also angelfire. So many things and I'm going crazy! You're my only hope. My last resort is to go to that pet store and just wish for the best of it. Do you have any suggestions on what I can do? By the way I live in Daly City, Ca. It's near the bay area and it's really hard finding good pets. I tried to look for animal shelters but i can't really go to sf. I'm only 12:(
Thanks Heather!
grace
Answer It's very noble of you to want a hamster from someplace other then a pet store. You've tried all the usual outlets I would have suggested for hamster litters, but I'd really reconsider having a parent take you to an animal shelter, or give them a phone call. You'd be surprised to find that people do give their hamsters away when they can't take care of them anymore. I'd check all the ones around you possibly can, and if you can wait for a hamster, give them your contact information and have them call you if someone drops a hamster off.
There doesn't seem to be any hamster breeders in your area, but they may not have a website. You should check your newspaper classifieds to see if someone has hamsters for sale.
If all else fails, not all pet stores are bad. I know you want a black bear, but a black bear is just a black colored Syrian hamster. Syrians come in all sorts of interesting colors, and all make great pets. If my experience I recommend Petco for hamsters. The ones around here separate Syrian hamsters by gender so there is no fighting or inbreeding. This is what you want to look for when you buy a hamster from a store. Any place that houses their hamsters in one giant tank encourages fighting and inbreeding.
If there are no pet stores around you that separate by gender, I'd buy a male from a communal tank. If you buy a female from a store that houses them all together, she may be pregnant. At least with a male what you see is what you get. Make sure he doesn't have any wounds or unusual lumps, and handle every male you can to find which one tolerates being handled the best. Also don't rely on the store to tell you which is male and which is female, they usually don't know. Males have large testicles that look like a pink buttocks, and females don't. If they are very young they will look similar, but use this picture to tell the difference: http://www.hamsterific.com/HamsterUniversity/SexingHamsters.cfm
