Introduction / Hamster Facts (Hamsters Information)

Hamsters, rats, mice, gerbils or guinea pigs…. Which pet is the right at the top of the small-animal pet polls? You’re right… it’s the hamsters. They are cute, they are fluffy (that’s why my daughter named our first pet hamster as Fluffy), and they have big and intelligent eyes. 

Hamsters are easy to look after. They are small, thus, they fit into any home. They are cheap to buy and not expensive to maintain. They are quiet and won’t disturb your neighbors. My little hamster, Roof, only made some squeaking sound on the first two days when we brought him home, most properly scared of the new environment. Nowadays, we seldom, or can say never hear any noise from him.

Hamsters are mammals. Like other mammals, e.g. dogs and people, hamsters have hair on their bodies. Hamsters give birth to their young and feed them with milk from their own bodies.

Hamsters, like mice and rats, are rodents. They are nocturnal. They are active at night and sleep during the day. My little Russian dwarf hamster sleeps almost the whole day in his shoe house and is supper active at around 11 o'clock near midnight!

Wild hamsters live in dry places such as the deserts. They make tunnels and live in the burrows. They need to travel great distances to find food such as seeds and plants. When they find food, they will eat as much as they could and carry the rest in their pouches back to their burrows. Likewise, their relative, the pet hamsters do the same even through they live in cages. My little Hamster, Roof, greedily finishes up the fresh vegetables or leaves during feeding time everyday and hide all the dry food in his “warehouse” for future meals.

Fast Fact:

• “Hamster” comes from the German word “hamstern”, which means “hoard” or “store”.
• Hamsters live for around two to two and a half years
• Syrian Hamsters can grow to about 15-20 cm (6-7 inches) long, Dwarf hamsters from 5 cm to 10 cm.

Dwarf Hamsters

Since young, I am fond of animals and wanted to take dwarf hamsters as pets or a small kitten. But my mother is allergic to furry animals, so what we (my siblings & I) had were some fighting fish and guppies.

The BIG day finally came when my girl asked for a dwarf hamster as pet for her birthday. At first, my husband refused, stating hamsters are smelly bla bla bla.... But he had to give up after persistent pleading from my daughter. Hooray!!! We had a dwarf hamster finally!


Our first dwarf hamster stayed with us for 2.5 years. Fluffy was only 1 month old when he became our family member. He was very active and liked to run in his exercise ball. His favorites were rolled oats, sesame seeds and sweet corn.

One month after Fluffy went to heaven due to old age, we brought home another dwarf hamster, Roof. Roof likes to eat broccoli and cooked brown rice. He is an active little guy which made a lot of squeaking noise on the first 2 days at his new home. My husband said Roof is more smelly than Fluffy..... Maybe because of what he eats?