Hamsters are rodents belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae. They have become established as popular small house pets and partly because they are easy to breed in captivity.

In the wild, hamsters are crepuscular and remain underground during the day to avoid being caught by predators. They feed primarily on seeds, fruits, and vegetation, and will occasionally eat burrowing insects. They have elongated cheek pouches extending to their shoulders in which they carry food back to their burrows.

Hamster behavior varies depending on their environment, genetics, and interaction with people.

Pet hamsters are known by many names, including dwarf hamsters, teddy bear hamsters and golden hamsters.

Hamsters have been immortalized in children´s books, television shows, video games and movies.

Once a hamster is added to the family, hamster owners soon realize that learning all about hamsters and becoming familiar with hamster facts helps in caring for hamsters.

Hamsters are crepuscular, being most active at dawn and dusk, but their schedule can be modified a few hours either way if lighting conditions are right and food is offered at set times. A good rule of thumb is never to wake a sleeping hamster, because that usually causes a grumpy hamster.

Although patience and proper training can get a hamster to perform simple tricks like begging for a treat or running an obstacle course, hamsters are mostly a pet to enjoy watching. When awake, hamsters always seem to be busy doing something, be it tunneling through bedding, rearranging bedding, running in an exercise wheel, sniffing and just ambling or running around their habitat. Even the way hamsters eat can be fascinating.

Hamsters are prey animals, so owners usually must work to gain their trust. Hamsters also seem to be masters at hiding and escaping, so keep them in a secure habitat and take care whenever you let them out to play.

Hamster cages, hamster tanks, hamster habitats – many options are available for housing hamsters. The ideal hamster cage is safe and kept clean, and once those qualities are met, choosing which hamster cage or habitat is best for you and your hamster is often determined by available space and budget.

A safe hamster cage prevents escapes and injuries. Hamster owners play a vital role in their hamster´s health with proper hamster housing maintenance. Different types of hamster cages and housing require varying degrees of difficulty to clean. If lifting a heavy, glass aquarium once or twice a week for cleaning isn´t your thing, then avoid that type of hamster housing. Hey, no one said caring for hamsters came without a bit of work!

Once the type of hamster housing is chosen, it´s time to outfit your hamster´s abode with bedding, toys, water bottles, an exercise wheel and other fun hamster home accessories. The choice of hamster beddingis important, because hamsters enjoy digging and burrowing in it.

Where you place your hamster´s cage is also important. You don´t want it in a room that gets too hot or too cold, and it shouldn´t be in direct sunlight or a breezy area. And always keep in mind that a hamster´s cage is its refuge. It should be a place of safety that´s secure from other pets or unexpected visitors.

Besides a hamster being lost, nothing strikes fear into the heart of a hamster owner more than hamster health problems. Hamsters are so small, that it seems impossible for a sick hamster to overcome its illness.

The best way to treat a sick hamster, of course, is to take preventive action to avoid hamster illness or injury. Feeding the proper food and providing safe, clean housing are two major steps to keeping hamsters healthy.

Although hamsters are pet rodents, they often can´t eat the same food as other pet rodents. Hamster nutrition needs might be similar to gerbil nutrition needs, but don´t ever feed a hamster food that´s made for a rat, chinchilla or other pet rodent. Hamsters need to eat hamster food.

The basic hamster diet in the wild includes seeds, fruits, greens an occasional insect or other form of protein. Many pet owners offer their pet hamster a seed-based hamster food or a lab block type of hamster food, which keeps the hamster´s constantly growing teeth worn down. Fruit should only be offered as an occasional treat and fresh greens should be in small quantities. Any fresh food offered should have leftovers removed that same day so they´re not stashed by the hamster and spoil.

Hamsters enjoy treats, but take care that a hamster doesn´t fill up on treats and eat only little or none of its hamster food.

Hamster owners can share some table foods with their hamster pets, but not everything that´s safe for people to eat is safe for hamsters.

Don´t forget the importance of water for hamsters. Water must be fresh, clean and always available.

Part of the fun of caring for hamsters is interacting with them. Keep in mind though that most hamsters enjoy doing their own thing and don´t often like to be cuddled or held.

Learning how to interpret hamster body language is just some of the hamster information you need to know to interact with your pet. Knowing how to handle hamsters is another important step. There is a right and a wrong way to handle hamsters.

Introducing hamsters to people and other hamsters is also important information. Remember that Syrian hamsters must always have their own home; housing them with another hamster could lead to deadly hamster fights. Dwarf hamsters that are introduced at a young age might be able to share housing.

Your goal as a hamster owner is to learn all about hamsters to make both your life and your hamster´s better.