Guinea Pigs And Hamsters?

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Freela

Freela

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My 11-year-old daughter has been asking for a hamster for her birthday. She wants a pet that is 'just hers' (the guinea pigs are 'everyone's pets,' according to her.) She's super-responsible for her age, and of course I would never take on a pet that I don't want to care for, so I would be checking up on the hamster's well-being as well. She wants to keep it in her room, so it would be living on a whole other floor than the pigs, who are downstairs in the family room and never go upstairs at all. My main concern is the possibility of passing illness, parasites, etc. If they are on different floors and I insist on handwashing after handling either animal, is there a risk of a hamster passing illness to the guinea pigs (or the other way around.) Other than the potential of residue on clothing or hands, there would be no contact between them.
 
Not sure about passing illnesses on, but I would say that after owning hamsters for many years, they are nocturnal and can be VERY noisy at night!
We used to keep ours in the living room and slept in a bedroom at the end of a reasonably long hall way, and we still had to keep the door shut.
Unless your daughter is an extremely deep sleeper, I would give some serious thought to keeping them somewhere else.
 
I agree on the hamster keeping your daughter awake. I have had hamsters in the same room as my pigs for years with no issues.
 
At the risk of upsetting any hamster owners (sorry in advance!)... I would say I don't really understand having them as pets, given that they are nocturnal!
I definitely would not recommend keeping them in a bedroom because if you have all the enrichment/stimulus things in the cage that you need, they will be noisy as they explore and exercise.

We recently took in two hamsters at the shelter I volunteer at, I work there twice a week and have never seen them during daytime. So in order to see them or 'play' with them, you'd need to wake them up and therefore have quite the grumpy hamster! And on that note, not every hamster likes being handled. We were told that both the hamsters have issues with biting, but so far we've not seen that - basically it's quite likely that the biting the previous owner was experiencing was due to poor handling, like grabbing them rather than tempting the hamster to walk onto your hand or a blanket.

Again, purely personal opinion, I think they have the potential to be very smelly. Hamster pee is potent, very much more than any guinea pig smell, so another reason why you might not want them in the bedroom.
 
Hamsters are officially nocturnal but they will come out in the evening as well go about their business at night. Mine have often been up at around 7pm. Essentially as soon as she hears the telly go on she is up and about! So you do get plenty of playtime with them, maybe not for a young child but for most others (given that a little one would be in bed by 7?)

They don't smell if you keep them clean and on good bedding. Fitch or care fresh is fine and I have never had issues but I do agree their pee is very smelly!

As others have said, there is no way I would have a hamster in the same room as me at night, not in a million years! Ours is in another room across the landing with the door closed and we can still hear her when in our room, which is quite a way away. They are very very noisy in their nighttime activities!
 
I second the opinion about hamsters in the bedroom.I kept hamsters and they were extremely noisy.What about degus or rats?They are awake more during the day and can become very tame
 
I have two hamsters in my bedroom which I also share with two piggies- and it's the 6am breakfast call from the pigs that disturbs me more than the hamsters! One of the hamsters doesn't tend to get up until 11pm unless for a drink but the other one is up throughout the day and will often wake up to say hello when I get in from work. My little sister's hamster (who is in her bedroom) wakes up as soon as you speak to her and will be up from about 5 in the evening running round.
I've had hamsters for 20 years and love them as pets- they're fun to watch and can be really friendly plus you can get silent wheels now!
 
Bella used to be strictly nocturnal but in the last coup!e of months has been out during the day a lot. I had her in my bedroom but even her 'silent' wheel is noisy. She lives in the living room where she gets much more interaction and I've had no problems her being in close proximity to the piggies
If you do get a hamster I would advise a Syrian as they are easier to handle. Bella is robrovski and after a year I still can't pick her up x
 
I will second the opinion about rats, I had one and they are extremely clever and loving. Mine was like my best friend, I got her when I was 8 and loved her so much, they do need a lot of handling and stimulation though as they are so clever they get bored easily, they are very entertaining and make excellent pets. I have heard that they like living in pairs but mine was happy enough on her own as we had her out all the time.
 
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