The Hamster Handbook (Barron's Pet Handbooks) [Paperback]

Patricia Bartlett (Author)

Book Description

Series: Barron's Pet Handbooks | Publication Date: July 1, 2003

Barron’s Pet Handbooks look very much like Barron’s Complete Pet Owner’s Manuals, but the Handbooks are larger—more pages, more text, more color photos, and more detailed pet-care advice. This brand-new title will be of special value to parents of younger kids who are keeping hamsters, to older children who can read the book on their own, and of course, to adults who keep hamsters as a hobby. The author explains everything hamster owners need to know about the animal’s life cycle, traits, breeding, feeding, caging, treating health problems—and simply keeping hamsters happy with appropriate toys and exercise accessories.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

back cover
The Information You Need to Keep Happy and Healthy Hamsters

Facts, advice, and fascinating insights tell you all you need to know about

Purchase

Housing

Nutrition

Health Care

Toys and Supplies

and much more

Filled with color photos and instructive line illustrations

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764122940
• ISBN-13: 978-0764122941
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 6.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #598,476 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Only Book for your Hamu that you'll ever need, August 22, 2004

By 

Timmie (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hamster Handbook (Barron's Pet Handbooks) (Paperback)

I was so lucky to come across this book! It's deceptively small and thin because in fact, it is chock full of information on every single subject pertaining to hamsters! It takes the basic tenets of any hamster care guide and expands on it tremendously. You get a FULL history of hamsters, a FULL guide to nutrition and health, exercise, hamster language, breeding . . . it even has information on showing your hamster and on hamster clubs and organizations. This book has absolutely everything you will need to know! You are mistaken if you think you can get through it in one sitting!

A very attractive factor also, is that the author has had tons of experience with making lots of tools/habitats/toys/wheels/breeding shelves herself, and gives you all the information you need to make your own! She does not endorse any product or suggest you buy certain things the way other books do - she will tell you what your hamster needs, and more often than not, she will tell you how to make them! For example, you can make a hamster litterbox out of a juice box (instead of buying an expensive one like I did).

MOST IMPORTANTLY - it is very evident that the author LOVES hamsters. She writes with affection, care and passion. It was as though the book was written out of love! She talks fondly and sweetly of her own hamsters (she owns and breeds over 70 with her husband) and really makes you feel "okay" for being hopelessly in love with your own hamster :).

Oh, and, it's got the most adorable, beautiful hamster photographs you've ever seen.

Buy this book, and you will never need another, or if you insist on buying more than one, this is a *must* for your collection!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Any other hamster book is just a lie., January 20, 2004

By 

"lovelyincognito" (LA, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hamster Handbook (Barron's Pet Handbooks) (Paperback)

There is so much information in this book, it tells you everything that a hamster owner should know with out fluffing it up with jargon and trade terms. It is a book that everyone, from an aspiring veternarian to a child, would enjoy. It makes you an instant expert! The best part about it is that it doesn't assume the reader is a seven-year-old kid prone to smashing his or her new pet. It assumes that the reader has a thirst for knowledge (not to say that it is too much for a child to understand). Bartlett also includes some anecdotes and makes the book very fun and easy to get through. It sorts through all the information on the internet and in other books and boils it down to what a new hamster owner needs to know and what they want to know. It would be wise to save yourself the trouble and buy this book rather than look online for hamster information or bother with another book, I think that I can say very confidently that ANY OTHER HAMSTER BOOK IS A LIE!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best care guide for dwarf hamsters, December 28, 2006

By 

A. B. Ward (Central California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hamster Handbook (Barron's Pet Handbooks) (Paperback)

I care for 10 Roborovsky dwarf hamsters, the world's smallest and fastest hamsters. So naturally I look for information that will help me care for this specific species of hamster. Although much of the information in this book is good, there is some info in here that is just plain wrong. For instance, it lists the Roborovsky as a "large" hamster reaching 4 inches in length, when it is actually the world's smallest hamster, reaching a maximum of 4-5 CENTIMETERS (2 inches). So I have to rate this book as just OK, since it contains some erroneous information. I also rate it lower because the author makes few distinctions between large/standard and dwarf hamster care. But there are key differences that should be noted in any hamster care guide. For example, dwarf hamsters, especially Campbell's, are prone to contract diabetes. So any source of sugar, including fresh fruit, should be very limited or avoided entirely. But the book makes no mention of this, showing the same list of recommended foods for all types of hamsters. Therefore, I would not recommend this book as a good guide for dwarf hamster care (or use it only as a supplemental guide to something better written by a vet, like "Dwarf Hamsters" by Sharon Vanderlip DVM). Since I have no experience with standard hamsters, I would use other people's reviews as a guide for how well this book covers care of standard hamsters.