I used to use Living World pine bedding because that's what most petshops use for their hamsters *shrugs*. But since many hammie owners advocate pine-free bedding, I switched to Breeder Celect. But I hated it because the color is horrid (dark gray) and it's not exactly dust-free as mentioned in the website. And my Bella had trouble running around on hard pellets.

Now I switch to using disposable paper towels that you can buy in a huge roll (exactly the same as those you find in hotel toilets, you pull pull pull the dispenser handle and tear as much off as you like haha). I just line the base of the cage with two layers of paper towers every week. I don't have to worry about pine, Bella moves easier on the smooth surface and she enjoys shredding the paper, so it's all good.

For smoothie, you can read up this thread: http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...&#entry20178286
Cheras do not have good pet shop selling hamsters. Syrian is a good hamster to start off as a newbie. Do read up the first page to have more info on how to take care and etc. I'm currently having 6 Syrians and 1 fat tailed gerbil, house is like pet shop already. 

Do you think pet shop will use extra cages/tanks to store each syrian? Also the space needed for each cage/tank required. No right? This will cost money to use the cages/tanks and space. The pet shop does not care about syrians being solitary and all that crap.

Alot of petshops are like that, space.... so they just dump every syrian into 1 tank, they do still fight, as sometimes there are dead bodies in the tank.

As Hun said, yes they do fight and die...

Betta (fighting fish) are different. You compare how much space does a betta takes and a syrian takes.

Syrians can stay together until they are about 4 months old. After that they will get territorial and fight.

yaya, i know cannot bath with water...
ok la, i will wait for the things to arrived

Well depends. Some are very young syrian as young as less than 1 month old. And their are not weened from their mom yet.

Coz the suppliers sell them young. The suppliers do not care how old or how healthy they are, as long they can sell to petshop is fine.

I actually saw a supplier dump a shipment of Syrians at a petshop... the worst thing! 10 babies that haven't open eyes! I managed to take 2 and nurse them on milk. Now they are ok. I wonder what happen to the rest. Poor things. Even the petshop owner cannot do anything coz supplier don't want to take back.

Well, the best brands of food for hamsters would be Prestige and Harry Hamster. The OVO comes with a bottle and wheel. So far the OVO loft is good, as it is 2ft in length, suitable for a Syrian. The normal OVO suite is small, a bit too cramp for a syrian and ventilation is bad. The OVO loft has better ventilation.
Money loh.... all is about business.

It was not easy to feed those 2, had to use syringe and pets own lactose milk. But then they grew up super tame coz 1st thing they see when open eyes is me and they know my voice and smell.

Ovo Loft is about RM200+. You sure you want to get that? You can get a zoozone2 (3 feet) for RM140 if you can still find it as it is no longer in production. Waiting for new zoozone models now. Get a 2 feet guppy tank for RM30-50. Easier to take care of.

You can get Harry Hamster or Prestige Hamster for their food. Bedding you can try corncob, breeder celect, back 2 nature, or chipsi (can't remember which suitable for small animals). All on the 1st page.

Sand bath is for hamster to bathe in to get rid of the extra oil and smell. Depends on which breed of hamsters will need sand bath.

You don't feed can dog food to hamster. It's the kibbles. Search for those without garlic in the ingredients. Pedigree are low quality brands. I think crazymouse got mentions some brands to get in the last reply. Please read.

The price of syrians? It depends on pet shops. From RM10-30. Yes only these few breeds in petshops. Syrians, WW, robos and RC.

It's seer-ee-uhn from dictionary.com. Can listen there on how to pronounce.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/syrian

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Added on September 29, 2008, 11:30 am

Some hamsters will eat the sand to replenish minerals in their body. So it is safe.

But remember not get those clumping kind as it the chemicals for clumping is bad for them in the long run.

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Added on September 29, 2008, 11:32 am

Syrians don't roll in the sand bath. That is why we pour some sand bath on their backs and they will shake it off.

I think those that roll in the sand bath is robos. Not sure about RC and WW though.

my rc hammies love to bath also.they love to roll in the bathing sand.
i hv 1 fren,her mom bought her a pair of hammies.N den she bath the hamsters by throwing them into a big pail of water,jz like wat my grandma did to kill da longkang mouse.Until she saw da hamsters struggling in da water den she assumed they r clean ady,n den she use a cloth 2 cover n wipe da shivering cold hamsters.Den she put the cloth v da hamsters inside on the floor n her bro accidentally step on it.Da hamster jumped out v his nose bleeding,n died.Den she go n burried it outside da house.Da nxt day she saw thr's a hole thr,n da hamster was gone.Jz left it's head.Ady korek by da cats n makan =.="
Damn pity da hamster

ya,in da end her mom brought da other hamster back to the pet shop.haha
but da dead 1 really pity,die ady body also kena makan

SAD!! The ham ham so cute die without body left :-(

our syrians are really weird..
we have 6 n we used to house them together in 1 cage..
but they get along reaallllyyy well..no fight..

yalo.she still hold da hamster n poke his stomach v her finger n tell her mom 'mian mian liao'

yeah..coz they're so fat fat..
we have 3 cages n put 2 syrians in each..
the daddy is already neutered..
till now they never fight..

yup.but costly lah..
we neutered Koko at Animal Medical Center for rm200..
n he was kept there for 1 night for supervision after the procedure..

they breed very frequently u know..
mentioned in the 1st page,they can reproduce every 20 days or so..
very true..

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Added on September 29, 2008, 12:55 pm

really ah?but they get along very well..
once my bro forgot to close the cage n they escaped..
the daddy (Koko) helped us find the young ones..

anyway,they're in separate cages now..
so hope they'll be fine..

erm, i plan to give my hamster eat corn...need to cook it (boil) or raw will do? carrot can o?

btw, all the raw food must be cook o?