Hamster
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A hamster is a small furry animal (a rodent) that is a bit like a mouse or a ferret. Wild hamsters live in the desert, but people all over the world keep domesticated hamsters as pets. There are four main types of them: the Syrian hamster (the kind most people have as pets), the Russian dwarf hamster, the Chinese hamster, and the Roborovski hamster. One kind of Syrian hamster is called the golden hamster. All golden hamsters are the descendants of 12 baby hamsters found in Syria in 1930.
Pet hamsters like to live in cages with wood shavings or sawdust on the bottom, and eat mostly special hamster food sold at a pet store, but they will also eat almost any vegetables. They need a special water bottle to drink from and something to chew on to trim their teeth, which grow constantly. Wooden blocks can be used for this, but toilet paper rolls and pieces of cardboard will also work. Most hamsters also have a wheel to run on for exercise, although some people get other kinds of exercise equipment for their hamsters, like an empty ball that the hamster can roll around the floor or a long network of tubes for it to crawl through.