Pets have been a massive part of human life. Humans started domesticating wild animals for agricultural purposes, but along the way, we started treating these animals as our loyal companions who relies on us.
Many people would go for a dog or cat when they think about pets. However, hamsters have been in the mix for a while now. Many people nowadays have more than one pet, often we would get both a cat and a dog which we already know most likely can co-habit under one roof.
But, how about a hamster? Which other pets are compatible to have in the house if you already have a hamster or you already have one but thinking to get another pet. Would this stress your hamster? Is it safe?
In this article, we will talk about which are compatible pets with a hamster. Our goal is to guide you with the help of 19 other experienced hamster owners and what helped them figure our about cohabiting different pets under one roof.
COMPATIBLE PETS WITH A HAMSTER
I guess the biggest question and concern would be cats and hamsters, right? Cats are natural predators, even after years of domestication and breeding, it’s something they never lost. The same goes for hunting dogs.
Is it safe to have a dog or cat if I already have a hamster? Can I have a hamster pet if I already have a dog or cat? We will discuss and answer these questions. You can also check out our guide on things to know before getting a pet hamster.
We asked 19 hamster owners with various questions. The first question was what other pet you have apart from hamster.
- Dogs: 17 our of 19 (some people have more than 1 dog, some are hunting dogs)
- Cats: 10 our of 19 (some people have more than 1 cat)
- Other rodents (guinea pigs, rats): 5 out of 19 (some have more than 1 rodent)
- Fish: 2 out of 19
- Rabbits: 2 out of 10
- Exotic/Unique pets (gecko, snake, snail, bearded dragon, turtles, tortoise): 6 out of 19
- Bird: 3 out of 19
In this question, we were right to assume dogs and cats would be the usual secondary (or main) pet most people have. We’re also not surprised to see other rodents and even fish.
Dogs and Cats
Most people who answered our survey don’t see the harm in having a dog or a cat if you already have a hamster. However, many of them highlighted that it all depends on how you introduced them together.
For example, a puppy is easier to introduce to a hamster. A grown dog or cat will be harder since they will already be developed in many ways. We will talk about how to safely introduce your dog or cat to your hamster later on.
Rodents
We are not surprised to see rodents compatible pets with a hamster. They share a lot of behaviour, instinct, and general characteristics. Some food or habitat supplies or toys can even be shared together.
Animals in Terrarium or Aquarium
If you already have a hamster pet but thinking to get another pet yet are worried about compatibility, your first thought would be, how about a pet that stays inside the cage or terrarium all the time? Like a fish?
This is also a good idea since there are almost no chance hamsters and these animals would have to interact. Wild pets like bearded dragons and geckos shouldn’t be a problem either since both of them mostly eat vegetables and insects. On the other hand, you should make sure to place the hamsters and these pets (except fish) in different rooms without access to one another.
How about a snake? Well, this is easy, snakes would definitely attack or eat a hamster and most likely can smell them. Which will stress both the hamster and the snake. Bottom line, snake and hamster under one roof is a bad idea.
Birds
Birds would be a tricky one. Many birds are predators of hamsters while others only eat insects and fruits. Choosing the right bird would be the first step, then making sure that they can’t see or smell each other, meaning hamster and the bird (if you choose a bird that hunts hamsters), should be in separate rooms.
BEFORE YOU INTRODUCE ANOTHER PET
IMPORTANT: Please remember that while there are safe ways to introduce your hamster to another pet, we would still recommend NOT to do it. It’s best to simply keep your hamster in a room that no other pet can get into.
Should They Be in the Same Room
This depends, for example, fish and hamsters shouldn’t have a problem being in the same room. While a cat would always be curious and luring around the hamster, which in result will stress the hamster altogether.
Safety Measure to Take for Both Pets
Here are some tips on how to safely introduce your pet to a new pet.
When introducing two pets to each other, make sure one of them are in a cage that is tightly shut. For example, you can place your hamster in a vet travel cage or hamster ball (read the pros and cons of hamster ball) while letting your other pet look around.
On the other hand, you can keep your dog or cat in their travel cage (make sure the doors are tightly locked) while you are holding the hamster is inside its own travel cage or hamster ball.
REMEMBER: Never let the hamster be around the other pets without a safety cage. A dog might kill a hamster just because it wants to play with it. A cat might act with its instinct, a guinea pig might feel stress with the presence of the hamster.
WHICH PET CAN GET ALONG WITH HAMSTER
Using our survey, we were able to tell which pets can get along with a hamster, here’s our conclusion:
Dog
According to our survey, some dogs either get too curious about the hamster or do not care at all. While dogs will likely not attack a hamster, they might hurt them accidentally. If you have a hunting dog or thinking to get one. it’s best not to have them in the same room without supervision or a safe cage for both animals.
Cat – with strong precautions
Personally, I’m on the fence on this one. However, with my own personal experience, my cat didn’t bat an eye and never tried to get near my hamster when I brought one home. On the other hand, some hamsters and cat owners can see that the cat can get super curious with the hamster which stresses the hamsters.
Having these two as pets, it’s best if you keep them away from each other at all times for everyone’s peace of mind.
Fish/Reptiles
A pet that stays in a cage that is 24/7 locked is also not a bad combination with a hamster pet. AS long as both pets don’t see each other or smell each other, there shouldn’t be any worry.
Birds
Again this depends on which kind of bird you have or thinking to have. If the bird stays in the cage 24/7, you shouldn’t have a problem especially if the bird is the kind that doesn’t prey on the hamster.
WHICH ANIMAL SHOULD NEVER BE AROUND A HAMSTER
Personally, I would never have a snake if I have a hamster (but that’s also because I just don’t see myself having a snake!). Again, a cat and a hamster should not be taken lightly because of the cat’s instinct. If both the cat and the hamster are in the same room, make sure that one or both of them are in their respective locked cages.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON COMPATIBLE PETS WITH A HAMSTER
What I learnt from this research and survey is with the right precautions, you can have a hamster pet if you already have other pets or you can have other pets if you already have a hamster. Do big and deep research, ask forums and people who are experienced in this situation (don’t just rely on pet store “experts”).
Every pet owner and household is different, every pet is different. You are the only one who knows your pet well enough. Before jumping on this idea of having a different kinds of pets, you should conduct a risk assessment for each pet taking into account their personality, needs, and quality of life.
For example, if your cat needs a lot of areas to roam around, do you have enough room to place another pet in your household? Can you afford to financially, physically, and emotionally support both pets? It’s important that you do not sacrifice your other pet’s wellness for your own personal reasons.
If the only way for you to keep your hamster safe is by implementing strong precautions sacrificing the time to bond with them or their life will be full of stress because of other pets around, perhaps, a hamster is not a fit for your household or maybe you should only have one kind of pet in your home at the moment.
We hope that you found this compatible pets with hamster article helpful, there aren’t many articles available, hence, we decided to run a survey instead. We are very happy and thankful to our readers who helped us gather all this information.
We tried out best to provide all this information but if we miss something or you have something to add to help other hamster owners or aspiring hamster owners, let us know in the comment section below and we’d love to add it to the list.
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