Treating hamsters right.

Question
Sry if this is a bit long.

About thirteen years ago I got a hamster as a pet for my birthday. I named the syrian hamster "Squeaks".  I tamed the hamster the way all the books say to tame them, although I didn't know that at the time. It was just common sense. It was the kindest hamster in the world after a week or so, running over to me to be played with. Unfortunatly, the cage I got contained an external wheel, and Squeaks ran the wheel so much that the plastic bolt deformed and the wheel fell off, allowing the hamster to escape. It found my bag of sunflower seeds (which I used as treats) and began stuffing them into it's mouth. The noise of the hamster trying to get the seeds out of the bag woke me up. Not wanting to reward it for escaping, I squeezed it's pouches until it spit out every single seed, invented a crude fix for the wheel, and went back to sleep.  The next day the hamster would no longer come to me.  This made me a bit mad, that it would blame me for not letting it keep it's "reward" for misbehaving via escaping. Believing that hamsters lived in sewers like rats and not in the desert, I gave it a bath to try and make it understand that it was it's fault. The next day, when I came home from school, I knew it was dead as soon as I saw it.  It was lying outside of it's nest at the side of the cage.

I got another hamster named "Chocolate".  I had heard that it was wise to get the most active hamster in the cage, and that is what I did.  When the worker reached into the cage, the hamster bolted so fast I knew he was the one I should get. Unfortunatly, I had confused "active" with "terror".  The hamster was impossible to tame. If I gave it a chance, it would bolt out of my hand with a running jump, even after three days of being kind to it.  Then I came up with a brilliant idea.  What if I stood on my bed, held my hand up high, and let the hamster fall to the ground when it jumped?  The fall would hurt, and it would learn not to do that.  I did this about ten times (a eight foot fall, about)  Believing the problem to be that it landed on it's feet (and hence wasn't in pain) I lifted my hand up as it jumped so it landed on it's face or side. After about twenty more falls, I was tired of jumping on and off the bed and put the hamster in it's cage.  The next day the hamster was the tamest thing in the world.  It would walk around my hand slowly and let me play with it.  Two days later it was dead.

I honestly don't have a clue how I killed my third hamster but I'm sure it was my fault, too.

My fourth hamster bit me on the ear the first time I tried to cuddle it. Unable to pull it away, I spanked it until it let go.  In the long run, this caused more biting, which I met with more spanking.  At the time (I was eight) I had believed that letting Chocolate hurt itself had tamed it and spanking this hamster would teach it to behave.  Once in a while,  I would convince myself that this behavior was illogical and the correct course was to offer treats, etc. However, upon getting a single wiff of the smell from the hamster, my aggressiveness would come back. (They say preditors can smell fear and become more aggressive, does this work in humans?)  

After it died, probably from a broken butt bone, we bought a dog.  I have always been kind and loving with all animals except these hamsters.

Now a college student, I miss the dog we had at home and was doing research on hamsters as pets for my dorm when I came to this site.

The main reason why I am writing this is I believe several questions from several writers have been answers incorrectly. For example,

http://experts.about.com/q/Gerbils-Hamsters-2005/BBH-biting.htm

If, I as an eight year old, raised the hamster to human-like intellegence and treated it the same way my parents treated me (spanking when it bit me), even thought I knew this was illogical, then a 3 year old would have been several times worse.

If you are reading this and thinking of getting a hamster as a pet for a yound child, make sure you explain how stupid and fragile they are to your little one.

However, I would also like to know if you agree with my stated causes of death for these hamsters. I feel kinda guilty about it now.

Answer
Hi Mike,

Well, I have to admit, I was shocked at the types of things you did to your hamster.  Hamsters *do not* respond to negative punishments.  In fact, when you harm them, that will only make their behavior much worse.  Hamsters are tamed by the owner handling them frequently with gentle hands.  If they bite, wear gloves or spray Bitter Lime Spray on your hands so they will stop.  Spanking will do absolutely nothing but hurt the hamster.  And by dropping a hamster repeatedly, you're basically trying to kill it.  Dropping a hamster once, accidentally, is bad enough, as that can kill a hamster, break its leg, or give it brain damage.  Also, hamsters never need bathing.  Bathing only strips the hamster's coat of natural oils and gives the hamster a high risk of getting chilled and thus becoming sick.

As for the link to the question and answer you gave me - I don't agree with his answer.  If I had the question, I would plainly state that a 3-year-old should not be given a hamster.  It's true that hamster are good for teaching responsibility to children, but *not* 3-year-olds.  In fact, I think a child should be at least 9 or 10, and I would hope that the child's parents encouraged him/her to do research so that they can properly care for the hamster.  A 3-year-old child will only squeeze the hamster and handle him too roughly.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.

Kelly