Hamsters

Barbara J. Feldman

My son (following, I suppose, in the footsteps of Abbott and Costello) named his first hamster "Guess" and his second hamster "Who." Funny banter aside ("What's the hamster's name?" "Who." "The hamster. What's its name?") the little fur ball bring smiles and laughter into our household every day. Hopefully these Web sites (which range from serious to whimsical) will do the same.

Complete Hamster Site

5 stars

"The Syrian Hamster is the most common type of hamster kept as a pet and is approximately six to seven inches in length with a very short tail. The Syrian Hamster has hairless feet with four toes on the front feet and five on the back feet. The Syrian Hamster has expandable cheek pouches which it uses to collect and carry food and bedding and it can carry up to half its body weight in its cheek pouches." Lorraine Hill, a hamster breeder from Oxfordshire, England, has created a very comprehensive hamster care site. Whether you are already a hamster owner, or are considering becoming one her's is "the ultimate hamster site on the Web covering all aspects of hamster keeping and care -- everything you want to know about hamsters and more!"

The Hampster Dance

5 stars

This is it. The grand daddy of all animated dancing pages. First I'll answer the obvious question. Yes, they know that "hamster" doesn't have a "p" in it. "Everything here is named with a 'p' because the original Hampster Dancer is Hampton Hampster, a little hamster from Canada." Hampster Dance is infectious. When I first saw it, I knew I had to show it to my son. That afternoon I learned that he had already seen it at school. Now I know what they really do during computer lab!

Hamster Trivia

3 stars

"Just a quick quiz to test your hamster knowledge - answers are at the bottom of the page!" These ten questions (from "How did the hamster get it's name?" to "How long will a hamster live?") provide a succinct educational overview of hamsters as pets. By the way, the answers are from the German "hamstern" which means "to hoard" � and about two years.

Ten Minute Bedtime Tour

5 stars

Created as a companion to the popular picture book "Ten Minutes Till Bedtime" by Peggy Rathmann, this site is just plain fun! With cute animated hamster illustrations, two Shockwave games, and several recipe and craft ideas, if you need to ask "What's the point?" you are either too old or too serious! "PLEASE NOTE: No hamsters were upset or otherwise inconvenienced by the concept, creation, or final development of this high-quality web site."

Vincent the Beautiful Baby Boy Hamster

3 stars

"Hi! I'm Vincent, the Beautiful Baby Boy Hamster! Well, I'm not really a baby anymore; I'm over a year old, but the name stuck anyway. I live with Trisha Pe�a in Nashville, Tennessee. She loves to play with computers and when she got on the Internet, she promised to make a homepage just for me, so here I am!" This fun page is a great example of the many homepages dedicated to hamsters. Check out the picture (near the bottom of the page) captioned "Sure is a funny looking mouse!"