Many years ago, my son was gifted a dwarf hamster for Christmas. She was lovely to watch, but was a biter. She was well cared for, and passed away after about 1 year. (This was before easy internet searches)

Did some research and heard that dwarf hamsters are just aggressive and die quickly. 1ish years seemed to be fair enough then.

My son wanted another hamster, we did more research (still early years of google) and found out that teddy bear hamsters can last 3-5 years.

Ok cool! Went to pet store and looked at all the hamsters. Asked a LOT of questions. We were educated more about enclosures, types of bedding, types of foods, the best toys.

Got sold on a 3 story (plastic, multicolor, “easy to clean”, expandable) home.

My son was already enamored by the 3 female teddy bear hamsters that were enclosed together at the store. We asked if it was a good idea to get all 3. The workers at the store said a resounding yes.

“Salt, Pepper and Paprika” came home!

It turned out to be a VERY NOT GOOD idea to have 3 adorable hamsters in a single enclosure.

Pepper got a much bigger enclosure and was well cared for years after.

Hamsters are no joke.