Mr Nibbles Diary

Mr Nibbles seems to be settling in and getting more adventurous. I made him some toys out of wooden beads with some string through and knots on the side (so he couldn’t catch his paws in the holes). He loves them he drags them through the cage and plays rather rough games with them. He also comes running up for a treat, far more confident than he has been so far. I will post of foto of the toys if anyone is interested. I made sure to sterilise them in very hot water and let them dry before putting them in the house.

I never mentioned where I bought Nibbles, I was a bit afraid as here in Germany it is frowned upon.
I was originally trying to either find a good breeder or adopt a hamster. I had already bought all necessities. One day I went to the nearest pet shop to look for cork bedding and they told me about Nibbles. He was 12 weeks old and no one seemed to be interested in him. They don’t have many hamsters, but therefore a variety of robos, teddies, dwarfs and Syrian. They get them at 6 weeks and keep them for 14 days in quarantine. I kept thinking of Nibbles and was worried he would stay there for a long time. So the next day I decided to buy him and went together with my friend. He had very little interaction with humans but seemed healthy and very lively. I guess that’s why it’s taking a bit longer to tame him. Strangely enough he was not really afraid of me from the beginning, he never hid away (only when sleeping) and comes out every evening and most mornings. He’s very curious, a bit wary but not shy. I know many people condemn buying pets at pet stores. But I couldn’t leave him there…
I just don’t know where he came from and hope it wasn’t a breeding farm.

These smaller pet shops sometimes aren't as bad as the large stores, and that is how we got our first hamster - from the local small pet shop. I'm not surprised you felt you couldn't leave him there. He has probably been used to being clean out every day and handled so maybe friendly as a result of that Sometimes breeder hamsters are actually harder to tame as they've only been in the one place with the one carer and their siblings.

Socks comes from the same background. He has always been very energetic. When I first saw him he was climbing onto everything in the cage while his brothers, who were still with him in the pet shop cage, slept soundly It's lovely that Nibbles is outgoing and friendly

They did seem very nice there and one girl said she had three hamsters st home as they were also one that nobody wanted. They said Nibbles was difficult to find a home because he was rather sassy and not the colour that people are currently interested in. I think his colour is beautiful

Black hamsters are gorgeous

Socks' Mum said:

Socks comes from the same background. He has always been very energetic. When I first saw him he was climbing onto everything in the cage while his brothers, who were still with him in the pet shop cage, slept soundly It's lovely that Nibbles is outgoing and friendly

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They both have quite a bit in common

I've had: First one - local pet store (we knew no different and that's how pet stores operate - someone sees the hamster and wants to take it home). Second one - NHC breeder hamster. Third one - NHC breeder hamster. Fourth one - one year old rescue. Fifth one - rescue - unexpected litter. 6th one Rescue. Current two - breeder hamsters. In my location it is very hard to find any hamsters and I've always refused to go to the big chain pet store. It's almost impossible to find one to rescue without traveling very long distances, and also quite hard to find an ethical breeder with hamsters.

That’s true, the only breeders I found here were just hobby breeders. The local rescue center told me they don’t get hamsters, the last one they had was years ago..