Hamsters

I have the sudden urge to get another hamster just thinking about Oreo.
Oreo the hamster came home as my big 12th birthday present. I had done my research, got everything ready early, and was super excited for a furry friend. Oreo was perfect. 

It definitely wasn't having a pet that I could pick up that was incredible (I had owned fish before), rather, it was creating things that Oreo could interact with that I found the most impactful. 
I made many a cardboard house, chew toy, and climbing wall for Oreo, and it was beyond rewarding to see her enjoying them. 
Because of the lovely experience I had with Oreo (she died 3 months after we got her and was buried in an oreo minis container in our backyard flower patch), I would say hamsters are one of the more crafty pets to have. Of course, anything in a hamsters cage will be devoured, so my love for hot glue had to be replaced with safe, dissolvable glue paired with the popsicle sticks and cardboard. A huge part of the craftiness is the scale at which something can be built for a hamster. Detail after detail can be added in such small projects, and the hamster will appreciate every bit... and then promptly eat it.
​Make sure to get pictures right when they are first exploring! 

Of course we musn't leave Cocoa out of the hamster talk. Cocoa recieved a lot of pampering, toys, and buildings, but none of the petting Oreo did. In retrospect, I was too friendly too early, when I should have gotten familiar with Cocoa first, as I did with Oreo to start. Too late to realize this, we returned Cocoa to the store, ending my hamster ownership indefinitely. 
When building something for a hamster, just know it will rarely be used the way it's intended. The perfect door can be right there, but the hamster will use the window every time.
I would absolutely recommend a hamster as a pet, but only to people I know wouldn't treat the hamster as a toy, but rather a living creature. Everything I built was for the enjoyment of my hamsters, rather than my own entertainment, and having that mindset is incredibly important for the safety of the animals.