Why Hamsters?

When I graduated from undergrad, the first thing I wanted was a pet. I knew a dog or a cat would be a big responsibility, and fish are a lot more complicated to care for than people think, so I settled on a rodent. Similarly to dogs and cats, rodents have lived alongside humans for thousands of years, but they weren't domesticated as pets until a few hundred years ago. In the 1700s, "fancy mice," domesticated in China and Japan, began being bred as pets in Europe. Around the height of this craze, a rat catcher in 19th century London named Jack Black started keeping and training rats. He would even dress up these "fancy rats" and sell them to women as pocket pets.

Hamsters have an even more recent history of domestication, having just come onto the scene in the 1930s, less than 100 years ago. Hamsters can be found in the wild all over Europe and Asia, but their domestication began in Syria when a biologist named Israel Aharoni set out looking for the animal to bring back to the lab for medical research, thinking it might be similar enough to humans to be valuable. He was able to track down a litter of 11 hamsters in a wheat field. Syrian hamsters now found in pet stores are the descendants of this litter. There are over 20 species of hamster, but only five have been domesticated -- the Syrian, Chinese, Campbell's Russian Dwarf, Winter White (Djungarian) Russian Dwarf, and Roborovski Dwarf. Although pet stores will often create their own names for marketing purposes, and many will breed Campbell's and Winter Whites together to create hybrid dwarfs, these are the official domesticated breeds.

What I love most about hamsters (besides how cute they are) is their connection to nature. Because they were domesticated so recently, they still look and act like their wild counterparts. It's so much fun to watch them burrow and forage and explore their environments. They also require taming, which takes time, work, and patience, and results in such a rewarding bond. If you've ever wanted the Disney Princess experience of taming and befriending a wild animal, hamsters are a safe way of getting that. Hamsters are solitary creatures who don't crave human interaction, so when you know your hamster loves you, it feels really special. They only truly bond with one or two people, so they're very loyal once they get to know you. The biggest lesson I've learned from all of my hamsters is how to build mutual trust and respect with an animal.

I'd had hamsters growing up, but I had never taken responsibility for them on my own, and they were more so my mother's pets. My long-haired, golden Syrian hamster Hamtaro was the first hamster that was truly mine. While caring for him and the two others I've had since (a Russian Dwarf named Penelope and a Syrian named Cookie), I've learned a lot about hamster care and the realities of a "pocket pet," and this series will dive into everything.