First Hamster

Question
QUESTION: Hi, my name is Betty! I have 1 ferret, 4 parrots, and over 20 fish! My family loves animals and we decided to have a hamster. we want to know how much everything will cost including the hamster and accessories. And then monthly money. If you would have time, give us the links on petco of what cages, accessories, toys, and food our hamster should have! Thanks!

ANSWER: I will assume your getting a syrian hamster, the typical large pet hamster, and not a dwarf. Get only one syrian since they can't live in groups when they age.
  I recommend an aquarium for your hamster instead of wire or plastic cages. Wire cages are a favorite chew toy for hamsters, which is loud, dangerous, and drafty. Plastic cages are tiny and hard to clean, also they tend to have poor ventilation. An aquarium has plenty of space, good ventilation, and is not drafty. 10 gallon size is the minimum, I have mine in a 20 gallon long right now, and he loves it.
   You will need something for the hamster to hide in, I use a plastic igloo because it gives him plenty of room. Choose something big enough for your hamster to comfortably sleep and hide in, since this is where he will spend most of his time.
  Depending on the size aquarium you get, you could furnish it with some plastic tubing in any arrangement. A wheel is a must, since hamsters need exercise. I have tried both plastic silent type, and wire mesh type, my hamsters preferred the wire mesh type, and rarely used the plastic one.
   For an aquarium you will need a rounded water bottle with a loop at the top. They sell bottle holders for aquariums, but stay away from these. My hamster would climb up them and escape. What I use is a small paper clip to hook it to the outside, but even a string could do the same job.
 For food, the more ingredients the better. Dried fruits, veggies, seeds, pellets, crunchies, and more. My hamster personally hates pellet rods, so he picks out everything else in the blend he eats. If there wasn't as much variety, he wouldn't be able to select what he would like.
  Litter should be aspen if you can find it, aspen is great for nesting, and is good on a hamster's lungs.

At the moment I have to go, but if you would like me to send you links of products I like, just send a reply with all the different pet stores in your area, and I will get back to you on prices and such.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Yeah I would really like the links. I need the prices too. All I really want you to do is go on petco.com and give me some links of products you would recomand!

Answer
For an aquarium, which I couldn't find any links to on their page, just stands, go with either a 10 gallon (usually 10 dollars) or a 20 gallon long (30-35 dollars).       
   As I said before, aquariums are the best bet. Depending on the size of the tank you will need a lid. There are 2 different ones, one that has a latch to open and one that doesnt. The non latched one for a 10 gallon starts at 10 dollars, and 20 gallon long is 15 dollars.

http://www.petco.com/product/4357/Four-Paws-Metal-Tank-Tops.aspx

The latched one is 12-20 dollars depending on size, its just convenient so you won't have to remove the lid every time you want to take something out.

http://www.petco.com/product/15193/Kritterz-EZ-Access-Screen-Cover.aspx


If you choose a 10 gallon, you can get an add on like this to give your hamster double the space, I have considered getting one for a while, but I've never used one. It's not needed, but if you want to give your hamster more space, its a great option in place of a larger aquarium.

http://www.petco.com/product/10806/Small-Animal-High-Rise.aspx

For aspen bedding, the type of choice, an almost 5 pound bag will be 9 dollars, and 5 pounds tends to last an awful long time depending on your weekly cleaning. Smaller bags exist. My hamster uses one area of his cage for potty, so I tend to remove that clump of litter as needed, so my 5 pound bag lasts at least a month. Stay away from fluff bedding or colored bedding.

http://www.petco.com/product/10047/Premier-Pet-Scent-Free-Aspen-Bedding.aspx

Food bowls on the site ranged from plastic .99 cents
To nice ceramic ones for a dollar more. The 3 inch ceramic one for 2 dollars is your best bet, your hamster won't be able to chew it up, and it shouldn't get knocked over.

http://www.petco.com/product/8826/Small-Animal-Kingdom-Ceramic-Bowls.aspx

I didn't quite find the type of water bottle I liked, but this is my hamster's bottle in a smaller size
http://www.petco.com/product/6154/Oasis-Bell-Bottle.aspx
It has the loop at the top to affix a bent paper clip to hook it to the outside of the cage. The alternative is a bottle like this with the wire cradle to hook it to the outside
http://www.petco.com/product/8798/LM-Animal-Farms-Water-Wells-Water-Bottles.aspx

Stay away from holders like this, which when I used it with my first hamster, he climbed it an escaped.
http://www.petco.com/product/5334/LM-Animal-Farms-Bottle-Guards.aspx

For food and treats, I have 2 recommendations from petco, I use a bulk brand by the name of Mardi Gras from pet supplies plus that I love, the closest blend I can find at petco is called fiesta by kaytee

http://www.petco.com/product/10389/Kaytee-Fiesta-Fortified-Gourmet-Food-for-Hams

2 pounds for 5 dollars isn't bad, mine was 4 dollars for 2 pounds.

Treats are up to you, the sky is the limit. My hamster likes vitakraft raviolos, since they are hard for gnawing and wearing down his teeth, and it takes him about 2 days to get through 1, so a box lasts a while.

http://www.petco.com/product/3004/Vitakraft-Raviolos-for-Small-Animals.aspx

As long as the treats are hard, they are great for gnawing, which is the only real purpose treats serve.

The best hiding place I came across, as far as size and comfort go is a standard igloo home. The 3.99 one in any color will do

http://www.petco.com/product/9190/Super-Pet-Igloos.aspx

A metal wire exercise wheel is around 7 dollars for the large size, they come in small, medium, large, and jumbo. I believe mine is the large, and jumbo is for rats.

http://www.petco.com/product/14900/Small-Animal-Kingdom-Royal-Exercise-Wheels.as

If you would like tubing, I did not find a set of tubes on petco that was like a value package with different size and shape tubes, there might be some at the store, I believe the value package of tubing I got was from SAM or LM, they were called bubble tubes and had plastic ribs on the inside for easy movement. These are the tubes I found on their website.

http://www.petco.com/product/5301/Super-Pet-FerreTrail-Bubble-Wave-Fun-nels-Acce

Going with the larger, 20 gallon cage, it should be no more then 85 dollars before tax start up cost depending on if you get tubing or a different toy. It will be less if you get a 10 gallon by about 25 dollars. This doesn't include the hamster themselves since different stores will charge different prices on hamsters, even different prices within the same store for different colored hamsters. 16.99 is the highest price I have seen anywhere for a hamster, most range for 6.99-9.99. Petco in my experience is more expensive then say pet supplies plus or pet supermarket.

Depending on your food usage, litter usage, and treat usage, your looking at roughly 15 dollars a month, but personally I only fill the food bowl once every other day (since it takes him about 2 days to eat it all) and his treats I give maybe 2 a week. And with my sporatic cleaning of problem areas, I only spend less then 10 dollars a month on my ham.

Good luck, feel free to ask more if you need to.