Well, I figured someone out there would feel that way. And you are right- a hamster does not have to have every single thing listed on this site to be happy.
This site is to inform hamster owners, especially new/potential ones, that hamster owning is more than just sticking your hamster in a cage with a wheel- and feeding it every day. If that is what you are doing, I don't care how long you have owned hamsters- you are emotionally abusing a wild animal -with WILD NEEDS- and you should give the remaining one(s) to someone who will educate themselves and make this hamster's remaining days worth living.
Although that sounds harsh, I am also speaking to myself. I once had to admit to myself that I was not giving my 10 dwarves the attention they needed- I gave away 4 to really good homes, a few more passed away in the months after, and now I am down to 1 dwarf. The ones I gave away are now with people who can give them more attention, and my remaining 5 were then able to get alot more attention from me- everybody won.
I knew there would be one or a few people out there that would feel that I am just trying to put people on guilt trips if they don't "do it like I do"-- but that is not the case at all. Consider the following scenario:
You have a friend that owns a poodle. From the outside, you, the neighbors and whoever else, adores and covets this adorable, fat, and friendly little poodle. But, what you and the neighbors do not know, is that unless someone is looking, your friend keeps this dog locked up in a cage at all times, day and night. The dog's need for human companionship is not being met unless someone is looking. The dog's need for space to run and play is being stifled. Your friend is denying that dog the right to do anything but to simply... exist. It's lonely, miserable, bored, and it's health is failing because it is depressed and inactive. Yet, it's instinct to live keeps it eating, because your friend is providing it's physical needs (food, water, shelter) the dog prolongs it's own miserable life by eating and keeping itself alive.
Well, it's even more true with hamsters. Although a hamster's needs are different from a dog's, they still need way more than a cage, food and water, and a wheel. Those things are a start, but a hamster is a W-I-L-D animal!! You must realize that their need to be stimulated far OUTWEIGHS that of a domesticated dog or cat- because a hamster can NEVER truly be domesticated. So if it is abuse to deny a dog the right to a certain amount of freedom, how much MORE do our hamsters suffer when we not only cage them, but within the walls of their cage, we deny them the basics of the SIMPLE pleasures God provided them in the wild? CRIMINALS BELONG IN PRISON- NOT ANIMALS! (and the law even provides criminals the right to come o-u-t for atleast 30 minutes a day!)
Harsh as it is, it's the truth. It's neither hard, nor expensive to give a hamster what it needs to be happy. If you have just a little bit of time, and true love and concern for what your hamster needs, you can stimulate your hamster's enormous wild curiousity daily with little or no money. If you are not able to even give that, why buy a hamster- knowing it has needs beyond a cage?! Get your ego out of the way and ask yourself that. Then do the right thing and meet those needs. Your hamster's happiness is in your hands.
