4 replies to this topic

[SolarEclipse]

I'm personally not too sure about this, so what do you think? Hamsters (or atleast Chinese and Syrians) were originally domesticated to be used as laboratory animals but over the years they've made their ways into our homes, which some people don't think is good as they say hamsters can't thrive in captivity. I don't think that's completely true, if you have a large cage with enrichment, and upgrade your hamster if needed, I think they can be pretty happy.

[Kikya]

I think many hamsters are very happy in captivity. It's bad breeding practices that keeps hamsters unhealthy and not adjusted to human interactions. If you get your hamster from a reliable breeder who cares about their hamsters and making sure they get socialized at a young age and cares about the health of the animal, you get a very great pet. Who isn't freaked out by handling and enjoys human companionship.

 

Unfortunately, the majority of hamster owners are not getting well breed hamsters, they are getting the sickly traumatized hamsters from rodent mills. I enjoy interacting with hamsters very much and I do my best to help them overcome their bad beginnings. But not everything can be overcome. It's kind of like we're all "fostering" hamsters in a sense.

 

Someday, I hope to own a well bred hamster and maybe breed some of my own but right now every time I take in a hamster, it's more like a rescue than a pet. Until more people are out there promoting good hamster care, it will be hard to break the cycle.

 

As to whether or not they should be domesticated, all domestication comes for a reason, a mutually beneficial one. A hamster in the wild has very little chance at making it to 1 year of age let alone 2 or 3. Soon, some hamsters will likely go extinct as millions of species have since the dawn of time but the ones we take care to bring with us, have a much better chance of survival.

[Little Hammy Moon]

Personally, I believe that any animal should not be domesticated. They end up needing humans to care for them instead of taking care of them self. Then again, we would have never had these cute rodents in our houses…

[HamsterLover246]

I'm not sure...
With proper care, a hamster in captivity can be happy, but so many hamsters owners don't care enough... i think its good that they are domesticated, bit I think there should be laws:
1. No animal selling in pet stores
2. A decent bare minimum of hamster cages sizes that are allowed to be sold, even though some may not follow it it will make things better.
These count for many animals, for example guinea pigs etc are often taken badly care of with cage size...

[a little furry thing]

No... 

 

I think it's rather selfish of humans to domesticate any  species, but at the same time I love having my pets. I can't give a true answer without being a hypocrite haha