so a common question that I get is what is the best hamster species for a first
time hamster owner so I wanted to talk about that in today's video if we're
being completely honest here I don't actually really believe there is a
perfect species for a first time hamster owner but if you ask a lot of people
they're probably going to say that the Syrian hamster is the best species for a
first time hamster owner and I actually kind of disagree with this
so to start so there are five species of hamster there is the Syrian hamster the
Chinese hamster roborovski dwarf the winter white dwarf as well as the
campbells dwarf many people will recommend the Syrian hamster as a first
time hamster because they are the biggest species so that makes them
easier to handle and easier to tame and a lot of people say they're more friendly
towards humans but this isn't always the case with every single Syrian hamster
you have to keep in mind that every single hamster no matter the species
they're going to have their own individual personality just like any dog
just like any human they're not all going to be the same they're not all
made in a factory like robots so they're all going to be a little bit different
some Syrian hamsters will not be easy to tame some will be aggressive and some
may not be calm some may have a ton of energy so it's not always the case of
yeah Syrians are going to be the easiest to tame it's not always the case another
reason that I wouldn't exactly recommend a Syrian for a first time hamster owner
is that they tend to be a hard species to please now when I talk about this I
mean that they never seem to completely be happy with what you give them a lot
of people often come to me and they say hey I'm giving my Syrian like a really
large cage I've given them this and this I've tried everything they
still are not happy they still try to continuously try and escape bar chew, cage
pace no matter how larger the cage is so this kind of should go to show you that
Syrian hamsters really do need large enclosures and for a lot of people they
need so much more than just the bare minimum and if you can't provide
something that's maybe at least 800 square inches of floor space or you
can't continue to keep upgrading their enclosure until they actually are happy
you may end up stressed because your syrian hamster may not be happy with
what you're able to provide and then it's just not a good situation because
you're stressed because your hamster stressed because they seem to be very
hard to please now it probably sounds like I have something against Syrian
hamsters I don't they actually are my favorite species of hamster for my own
personal reasons but this is just the reality of them and a lot are very very
hard to please so if you really don't have the space and you don't have the
means to be able to give them more and more because they always seem to want
more I probably wouldn't suggest one as a first-time hamster the next species we
have is the Chinese hamster now this is the only species I have not gotten to
personally own and I hate it I would love to own a Chinese hamster but they
just aren't available in my area at all I've literally never even seen a Chinese
hamster in person so it kind of hurts my heart but from other people's
experiences I have heard that they tend to be a little bit more shy / timid but
of course once again it really comes down to their individual personality the
next species we have is the roborovski dwarf now this species is going to
be your least recommended for first-time hamster owners many people say because
they are the smallest species they are going to be way too hard to tame or not
friendly towards humans or way too energetic which I don't necessarily
agree with that I don't think a robo can't be for a first time hamster
owner robos do have a lot of energy and they can be a little bit harder to tame
or handle but once again not the case for every single roborovski you can get
a friendly Robo it also may just take a little bit more time and patience to
actually tame them I believe that robos are a lot less
friendly than Syrians because roborovski's have not been domesticated
nearly as long as the syrian species so syrians obviously have been around
humans for a lot longer than the robo has so that kind of would explain why a
robo is a lot more timid and skittish than a Syrian hamster maybe surprisingly
robos can be tamed with just a little bit of patience and time so if you are
someone who's really really wanting a robo as your first hamster then you kind
of just have to keep in mind it may take a little bit more patience it may take a
little bit more time and you might not end up having a super cuddly hamster
who's going to sit on your hand and want to cuddle with you they probably will
want to run around a lot more but it shouldn't discourage you from wanting to
own one as long as you keep those things in mind and the last two species we have
I'm going to actually lump these two together and that is the winter white
dwarf and the Campbells dwarf and unfortunately these two species are the
only two species that can interbreed with each other and then unfortunately
someone did that and ever since then we now have hybrids which are all over the
world and it's very very very uncommon to find a purebred winter white or a
purebred campbell's dwarf because most of the
time they're all hybrids these two species oftentimes get a really bad rap
a lot of people will say they are mean and aggressive and they only want to
bite you but I really think the people who say that have just had a bad
experience with dwarf hamsters which is fine you can have a bad experience with
anything but that doesn't make the entire species like
that I myself have actually found it easier to tame my dwarf hamsters then it
has to tame my Syrian hamsters and in fact I've actually been bitten less by
Dwarfs than I have been by Syrians so you can actually end up with a very very
sweet dwarf hamster who is going to be fairly easy to tame and fairly calm
they're not always energetic some will be pleased to just sit in your hand and
groom themselves and eat treats from your hand so in conclusion what you
should take from this video is that every single hamster is going to have
their own individual personality and that is what matters most
not the species so when you're looking into getting your first hamster I
suggest looking at all the species and going with which one you're most drawn
to and then go and visit some and actually interact with them and pick
them up and see what their personalities are going to be like one thing that you
should always remember is if you see a hamster on Instagram and you see them
being super friendly and cuddly and affectionate please keep in mind not
every hamster is like that because if you think that certain species is going
to be like that you are going to end up disappointed when they don't act like
that some hamsters are way friendlier than
others some will very much enjoy human interaction and some just won't and you
can't really tell that until you kind of bring them home and tame them and bond
with them so please keep that in mind so I know this video probably didn't answer
your question because there's no right or wrong answer for this question
it it depends on the hamster so I hope this video has maybe helped you narrow
down what species you'd like to own as your first hamster so yeah guys thank
you for watching bye