Last updated on January 22nd, 2023 at 06:48 pm
Pet stores sell hamsters, and we wonder how old the hamsters they sell are.
Are hamsters too young or too old when buying a hamster?
Hamsters are usually about 6-8 weeks old when they are ready to sell in pet stores. Hamsters should never be sold if they are less than 3-4 weeks old. After 4 weeks, the hamsters can be separated from their mothers and sold in pet stores.
All these questions are of course of interest to all those who have decided to buy a hamster.
What age are hamsters sold in pet stores?
Usually, when hamsters are brought to the pet store they are about 6-8 weeks old, although it is a little more difficult to know the exact age.
Hamster shops are best suited to keep younger hamsters because if they are older they will have to keep them all one by one in a separate cage.
Hamsters must be separated after 6 weeks of their life because otherwise they will start fighting, and some of them will die during the fights, which of course does not suit those who sell them.
At what age should hamsters be sold in pet stores?
As a general rule, hamsters should be at least 3 weeks old before they can be sold in pet stores.
Some animal experts point out that 3 weeks is too little, according to them, it takes 5-6 weeks for hamsters to age before they can be sold.
It takes 6 weeks for hamsters to be mature enough to separate from their mothers and start living elsewhere in a new home.
Pet stores should not sell hamsters younger than 6 weeks old.
How old are hamsters when they come to the pet store?
Hamsters are generally brought to pet stores when they are 4 weeks old because before that they have to be with their mothers.
Then the hamsters are separated into cages where there are only male or only female hamsters so that there are no fights or pregnancies of the female hamsters because after 4 weeks the hamsters can reproduce.
The next thing is a short adaptation without their mothers and then they are taken to pet stores where they are sold.
Many times in stores you can see how many hamsters are together in one cage although there is a danger of fights that can end fatally.
How old are the hamsters you buy from pet stores?
It is difficult to determine the exact age of the hamster you will buy in a pet store, but most often they are between 6-11 weeks old.
Sometimes the pet sellers themselves forget which hamster has been in the cage for how long before selling it because hamsters sometimes hide in the bedding.
Hamsters that do not hide in bedding or elsewhere in the cage sell the fastest.
The ones that hide can’t be seen by buyers and stay longer in the pet store.
Do pet stores sell old hamsters?
Generally, hamsters that are more than 12 months old are not sold because they have little life left in their short life of 2-3 years.
National pet stores donate hamsters when they are a year old to charities or pet centers that then try to find them a new home.
While local pet stores sometimes sell older hamsters.
Since they bond more with the hamsters and don’t want to give them away so easily, they want to provide them with a good home to live in.
How to choose a healthy hamster when shopping at a pet store?
When purchasing a hamster at a pet store you must examine the hamster to see if it is the right choice for you.
Look at the cage where the hamster is located to see if there are too many hamsters, next is to make sure that the cage is clean and that there is access to water and food.
The better the conditions in the cage, the better the chances of buying a healthier hamster.
Try to handle the hamster you want to buy to see if it is aggressive, then make sure it is neither thin nor too fat.
The fur should be soft and smooth and see if there is moisture on the back, if there is, then it may be suffering from diarrhea.
The teeth should not be overgrown and should be well aligned when the hamster is healthy.
Let him walk a little in front of you to see if there are any problems like limping or anything like that.
Choose a hamster that is calmer than others, such a hamster is a good choice to buy
Do pet stores sell female hamsters?
Yes, pet stores sell both male and female hamsters, although sometimes the employees themselves cannot determine whether they are male or female hamsters.
But that’s not so much a problem because you yourself can recognize which gender it is if you look at the hamsters and recognize them by their genitals.
Male hamsters smell better than female hamsters because their scent glands are more pronounced.
In some stores, male and female hamsters are sold together, while in other places they are housed separately.
If they are housed together they can breed while still in the pet store.
How can I determine the age of the hamster I am buying?
When buying a hamster there are several ways to find out its age. One of the ways is through its fur, the thinner it is, the older the hamster is, and the fur is thicker in younger ones.
Another way to determine age is through the teeth of hamsters. As hamsters age, their teeth change shape and develop more and more.
When hamsters are 4 months old, their teeth are fully developed, while when they are smaller, then the teeth are still not big enough, especially since the upper tooth will be smaller than the other teeth.
The hamster’s eyes are also a sign of its age, the older the hamster is, the bigger the eyeball is.
In any case, a veterinarian can best determine the true age of the hamster.
In which pet stores can you buy hamsters?
Hamsters in the United States can be purchased at local pet stores, PetSmart and PetCo.
Big companies have their pet stores, although sometimes it can happen that they don’t have hamsters at the moment, more precisely sometimes you have to wait a few days for the new hamsters to arrive.
When you buy a hamster from a pet store, it is a bit risky whether the hamster you will buy is completely healthy, and whether it has any genetic problems or similar health problems.
Unfortunately, sometimes hamsters are kept in very cramped conditions during their breeding, which affects their health and behavior in the future.
It is best to buy a hamster from a reputable breeder even though those hamsters are more expensive, you will still know that the hamster has been properly bred and raised with very little chance of animal disease and disease.
Read more: What Are the Signs of a Happy Hamster? Let’s Discover
At what age are PetSmart hamsters sold?
In Petsmart, the hamsters sold are 6-10 weeks old.
The good thing about PetSmart is that hamsters sell quickly and it’s rare to see an older hamster still unsold.
The only slightly problematic thing is that there are many employees there, which is sometimes a problem for everyone to know which hamster was brought, when it was sold, etc.
However, we ourselves can recognize the age of hamsters by looking at their fur and their size.
The older the hamsters, the thinner their fur.
We must mention that PetSmart does not sell hamsters to minors, you need to be at least 18 years old to buy a hamster.
Read more: Do Hamsters Need Sand Baths? Complete Guide
