Hamsters are gorgeous creatures, and make fantastic pets. However, when buying a hamster, it's important to purchase from a place that will have treated the hamsters well, and which also takes care to ensure its hamsters are healthy, happy, and used to having human contact.

These are the best 3 places to buy a hamster, to ensure a long, happy life together:

1. Hamsters Breeders

The best place to buy a hamster is from a specialist breeder. Usually, breeders will also be hamster owners themselves, and as such they will know how to look after a hamster to ensure it is healthy and well cared for. Breeders are also well-versed in how best to raise a baby hamster, and so they tend to produce robust animals with a good temperament.

Many breeders will keep one or two animals from the litter, to take them to hamsters shows, or to keep as their own pets. This is an excellent sign, as it means that they will have done everything they can to produce a strong litter.

2. Rescue Homes

Rescue homes specialise in taking in abandoned or surplus animals, and helping to find them a new home. We often hear about this in relation to larger animals such as cats and dogs, but these homes also take in smaller animals, such as guinea pigs, mice, and hamsters.

Rescue homes will assess the health of their hamsters before attempting to re-home them, so you can be fairly confident that your animal will be healthy. The downside is that these centres also sometimes require you to fill out several forms, or even undergo and interview. However, this is nothing to be worried about - it's simply to ensure that the animal will be going to a loving home.

3. Pet Shops

Finally, many pet shops sell hamsters. This is a bit more hit and miss, since many of their animals will have come from farms designed specifically to breed pets for selling. This means that they are not always looked after as well as if they came from a specialist breeder. This usually means that information about their breed and background is a little harder to obtain, and the animals may not always have a good temperament.

However, pet shops still have to abide by strict animal welfare rules, so their pets should be very healthy, and you are unlikely to have any problems with them.

As you can see, buying a hamster can be a complicated affair, but by following the above advice you are giving yourself the best chance of finding a healthy, happy animal, which will give you a lot of pleasure and affection.