hamsters bad pets?

Hamsters are nocturnal and do sleep all day, and many bite when they are woken up (wouldnt you?) but I do enjoy them as pets mine now, Goldie sleeps from about 6AM- 8PM but she is one of the nicest hamsters ever and she doset really bite, many do though.

I am a "night" person and usually up until midnight anyway; do you think waking up at 8 is a typical time?

It all depends on the hamster and the season. Sometimes mine is up as early as 6pm and sometimes she sleeps as late as 9:30pm.

We have a dwarf and it's not as nocturnal as syrians, as I understand things. He wakes up many times during the day, and is happy to come out and play. At night, he runs on his wheel. Do not keep a hamster in your bedroom!

My daughter got a hamster for Christmas last year. She is the sweetest little animal. She is nocturnal and often we have to wake her up to run in her hamster ball before my daughter goes to bed. She bit my daughter's finger one time but it was because she smelled like fruity shampoo. She has never tried to bite anyone out of meaness. She is very neat actually and always pees in her litter box. She has running space made out of one of those small animal playpens and she doesn't even poop down there.

I have a sister in law that told me horror stories about her hamsters though. She said they would come at any hands in the cage and bite and not let go.

I guess it all depends on the one you get.

thanks to all who responded. I think I am going to wait a few weeks and get a couple dwarfs (dwarves?) After stopping at a pet store tonight (a clean, independent, sex-separated knowledgable one that even so I don't buy from, just play there hehe) and playing with some russian dwarf hamsters that were awake and active, I think they are the sweetest and most fun to watch, plus will sit in your hand if you get them young and tame them. I want to get small animals (PLURAL) because i love watching them together, and I want to be able to hold them, and I've had gerbils, they do NOT sit in your hand lol. And Syrians need to be alone.

ALL my 7 hamsters don't mind me waking them up ion the afternoon to handle them provided you don't touch them immediately. Mine doesn't bite once tamed; since they are Syrians and surprisingly my Drawfs won't bite after not handling them for quite a long time during my exams period too.
It depends on each hamsters themselves, some just hated handling and will bite when they are really scared, but some are simply loving the handling process.

Newpiggiemom: Hamsters don't bite without a reason. They only bite when they are scared or you suddenly touch them.

I think hammies get an undeserved reputation as bad pets because of what the expectations are. People get them as little furry things for their kids and then pay no attention when the kid never cleans the cage or pokes and provokes the hamster. Hamsters (and other small animals) are generally not naturally mean (I reserve my opinion on some mice). Hamsters make great pets but they aren't necessarily great pets for irresponsible, provoking children.

Alusdra, I think you make a great point. The ones I have spent time with are sweet, active animals that make great pets, but like any pet they need social time and a good environment. If the caretaker is a kid who never cleans the cage and just pokes at the hamster......I mean dang, I'd bite too.

We had both a dwarf hamster and a black russian one. The dwarf bites some, but that's only if you stick your hand in her cage. To get her out, I just open the cage and let her climb out. Once she's on the table, I can pick her up with no problems. The black russian was very sweet, and never bit at any time.

My hamster passed away last summer. His name was Mr. Cuddles. I miss him so. He was a good pet. He was awake here and there throughout the day. He did spend time sleeping during the day but more like cat-naps. Of course he was more active during the evening. He never bit me. He was not a good lap pet as he was always scurrying. But I enjoyed him very much. He was 3 yrs old when he passed. If you decide to get a hamster, please be sure he has a nice large house and plenty of space and a cozy hidey house. I had a large ball he would go in for exercise. He went in everyday with close supervision. I loved watching him eat-his cheeks would puff out. It was so precious. He was so loved by me and my family. Just please be sure you set time aside every day for some hamster love and have him or her to be part of the family. Animals deserve as much love and respect as people do. If you decide to adopt a hamster, please check your local spca for those looking for a home. I suggest also that you make several visits and observe, you'll be amazed at how much you can learn just by taking the time to watch. Ask questions and go on line and do some research. This will also help in your decision making.
Good luck
love Lynne

I looked after a friend's Syrian hamster for a week. She wouldn't stop moving! They are the opposite to guinea pigs when you have them out because they are always on the move.. whereas piggies sit still on your lap. She bit me once when I wanted to hold her but she wanted to sleep. So like you said in your post... yes, it seems they do get cranky when you wake them up! She only bit me the once though.

Our dwarf hamster almost always bites when you try to take him out of the cage for some reason (even if you didn't wake him), but then is perfectly friendly after he's out of the cage. We just use a toilet paper tube to get him out (he crawls into the tube, then we take the tube out and he come out into our hands). But like others have said, he's always on the move!

Dwarf hamsters are more for watching as opposed to the slower, friendlier Syrians. I personally preffer Syrians but that is because I like to handle my animals, if you get one dwarf it is only fair to get two because they are social with other hamsters. I have had seven hamsters and 5 of them were drafs they are also very cute, and sweet, but they are much faster. Now if you don't mind that by ALL means get a dwarf, either way, just have fun with whoever you wind up with.

Dwarf hamsters are wonderful hands on pets. They can be extremely friendly, love to be handled, are active but not to the point of being difficult to hold (compared to something like gerbils or degus), and rarely bite. However there are some things to watch for. Occasionally you do just get a dwarf hamster with a bad personality (usually comes with some inbreeding and health issues) but in my experience it's no more than 1 in 50 that are naturally that way. The most common cause of nippy dwarf hamsters is poor handling while young. How a dwarf hamster is handled as a baby pretty much determines how it views humans from then on. It takes something extreme to change their opinion once they've made it both for good or bad. Well handled baby hamsters that were never picked up wrong, squished, dropped, swung around by kids, etc... will be easy to handle as adults. A hamster that has had a bad experience takes constant work for an hour or 2 every day to have any chance of rehabilitating them and 2 out of 3 that I've tried it with died of old age before I could trust them enough to pick them up without gloves. I've had dozens of others that only nipped when your hands smelled like food. Otherwise they ran to the front of the cage when you came in the room and starting climbing the front trying to get out to play. All could be scooped up out of their cage without biting. I'm really not sure where the idea that majority of dwarf hamsters will bite ever came from because my experience is very strongly the opposite. I would place syrians well above dwarf hamsters on chance of biting. I've handled more syrians that bit than ones that didn't and only the rare dwarf hamster that would. I've even had alot more nipping from gerbils than dwarf hamsters.