Hamster Cafe and Breeding Business

Hamsters are small and have nice furs which makes them cute. They are very docile as well to humans and don’t struggle much when being petted which makes them adorable. Many people including my family have them as pets. My niece in fact has four of them and loves spending money on them. My niece is just one example of a “hamster repeat buyer.”

This is true. There are hamster owners who after buying one tend to buy another one. Why is this so? Besides being cute animals hamsters are also cheap to buy as compared to other bigger pets. They also take up less space in one’s house and therefore owning a few more is not a big addition to one’s house.

What are hamsters

According to some information from Wikipedia hamsters are classified as rodents or of the rodentia order. They belong to the subfamily Cricetinae. Contrary to popular opinion hamsters are crepuscular. This means they are more active during the twilight hours.

Most people make the mistake that hamsters are nocturnal because many hamster owners see or hear their pets active during the nighttime but this is a wrong conclusion. They behave this way because in the wild they usually remain underground to avoid being eaten by much larger predators.

In the wild they feed primarily seeds, fruits, and vegetation. Occasionally they also eat burrowing insects. But hamsters are not picky eaters. They will eat most things edible. For example from time to time my niece would feed her hamsters with bread and sweet cookies. The hamsters especially love eating sweet cookies.

In appearance they have stout bodies with very distinguishing features. They have elongated cheek pouches extending to their shoulders. They use this to carry food back to their lairs. They also have short tails and fur covered feet.

What Makes Them Appealing as Pets

We already know that they are cute. We already know also that they are easy to pet. These factors alone makes them very appealing. But besides these factors one of their greatest appeal is that they are easy to maintain as pets.

Let us take dogs for example. Dogs can be big and small. But we are comparing dogs to hamsters so we will use small dogs as a comparison. To be specific, dogs that fit in a lady’s small bag. But even these small dogs need a lot of maintenance. They need to be groomed, you need to take them for a walk and you need to pick their waste.

The same thing is true for cats. Besides this dogs and cats might scratch you and even bite you. They can also be noisy. Anyone who has experienced the howls and barks of troubled dogs and cats would know how difficult it is to shut up these animals. Hamsters don’t do this.

The Downside of Owning One

As mentioned they are active during the twilight hours and this is normally the time when humans sleep. They are also active roamers. This means in confined spaces they can feel very trapped and could cause noise as they try to escape their cages with the intent to roam.

HAMSTER CAFE

There is a hamster cafe in Tokyo, Japan called Roppongi HARRY. Besides hamsters they also have hedgehogs in their cafe. There is also a hamster cafe in Singapore. Besides these two countries I have never found any other hamster cafe information online.

But the lack of online information about hamster cafes in other countries and even in the two countries mentioned could be a good sign for anyone interested in starting a hamster cafe. This means that the market for hamster cafes is not yet saturated.

We can even say that the hamster cafe industry is just starting. There are already several pet cafes in many countries like cat and rabbit cafes and I have found many information about them online as compare to hamster cafes

Their Size Could Be A Problem

Based on what I have seen in the Tokyo hamster cafe there is nothing very different in them from other pet cafes. However because of the hamster’s small size there is more space for hamster cafe owners to accommodate their clients as well as their merchandise.

But the size of the hamsters presents an entirely new set of problems for cafe owners. For example we own a hamster that is not only very active but also very fast. There was an instance where it got out of its cage and quickly hid in a cramped space where we could not reach it or pry it out.

I have never seen the exit doors of these hamster cafes but I would presume they have door protections which would hinder the small hamsters from slipping out the cafe’s exit doors. I would also recommend that these cafes should not have cramped spaces where the hamster would be out of reach.

Typical of many pet cafes you can pet the hamsters which are placed in containers open at the top. The walls of the container are sufficiently high to discourage the hamsters from escaping by jumping through these container walls.

How Cafes Can Make Money

Visitors pay by the hour to access the facilities of the hamster cafes and to pet the hamsters. You can follow this billing method but you can also offer wholesale terms. For example you could provide special discounted prices if the visitors stay for long hours.

The Tokyo based hamster cafe does not offer food or drinks for visitors as mentioned by some of them. But these would be good products to offer if you ever decide to open one. Just make sure that you maintain the hygiene of the cafe. You might be breaking sanitation laws if you do not provide proper dining and petting facilities in your cafe.

Typical of pet cafes you can offer hamster food to visitors. You could offer different kinds of hamster food that visitors can feed to the hamsters while they pet them.

Besides this you can also sell hamsters in your cafe. You can sell several of them because they are small and are largely inactive during daytime. This means they need only a small amount of space during the daytime.

Then there is the merchandise. You can sell hamster food to go with the hamsters you are selling. You can also sell hamster related merchandise. The Tokyo based hamster cafe sells small hamster dolls for example.

You can also broadcast and make videos of the activities in the hamster cafe. You can setup a camera to the cage of the most active hamsters and capture their day to day activities. Hamsters can be a delight to watch when they start running inside spinning wheels or when they enter the holes that decorate their hamster cages.

Even the sight of a hamster quietly sleeping and then waking from time to time can be a delight to watch. My niece for example would never miss to take a peek from time to time to observe her hamsters even though they are just sleeping still.

HAMSTER RAISING

Hamsters Reproduce Fast

The good news is that hamsters become fertile at an early age. For example Syrian and Russian hamsters mature quickly and can start reproducing at a young age of four to five weeks.

Other hamster breeds breed longer but not very long. Other hamster breeds can begin reproducing at the latest in four months. Female hamsters have a reproductive life that lasts about eighteen months but the male hamsters remain fertile for longer periods.

Syrian hamsters breed seasonally and produce a litter of hamsters several times a year. The other hamster breeds reproduce all throughout the year. It must be noted that male hamsters have big testes in relation to their body size.

The preceding information means that you can easily build a large number of hamsters from just a few. If you are a good salesperson and sell a lot of hamsters then you can easily restock on them without waiting long for them to reproduce.

It is possible to have a new litter of hamsters every month. They can start to breed in three weeks. This means that in less than two months you already have a new generation of hamsters ready to be sold as pets.

This is probably the reason why they can be sold cheap as compared to other pets like rabbits and dogs. Even a pet owner can easily build a hamster pet business right in their own home. They just need to be sure that they can sell their hamsters more than they can breed them.

How To Breed Hamsters

It is important to note that hamsters are very territorial. They tend to attack other hamsters that stray in their territory. In the world of pet hamsters their territory is their cage. That is why if you are raising multiple hamsters it is wise that they have cages separating each other.

The female hamster can be very aggressive. Even noises tend to irritate her. They have been known to hurt and even eat their young when they are agitated with something like noise.

Females must be put in a male’s cage and not the other way around. This is because as said hamsters are very territorial and between the sexes the female is more territorial. If they start fighting immediately remove the female hamster from the male’s cage.

Repeat this simple process until both sexes mate. Then once they have finished mating immediately remove the female hamster once again from the cage of the male hermit.

How do you know if the hamsters are mating instead of fighting? If one hamster is standing on its hind legs behind another while mounting the other hamster is moving back and forth in a thrusting motion.

Best Hamster To Breed and Sell

When it comes to choosing the breed of hamster to sell your best choice is the Syrian Hamster. It is currently the hamster of choice. It is not only one of the most cutest hamster but is also very docile and very easy to pet.

It is even called as the Teddy Bear Hamster. It is no surprise therefore that this hamster is popular as a child’s first pet.

What About Hamster Food?

There are commercially made hamster foods sold at pet shops and online. Many come as pellets or as a muesli-style mix. It is however important that you do not forget to provide them with their actual food in the wild.

This means providing them with edible plants like fruits, vegetables, herbs and so on. Be sure to give them plants that would provide for their nutrition needs. So it is essential that you do not give them only one plant source as food.

They also need their protein as they are not strictly herbivores. Nuts, boiled eggs, mealworms and other meat protein sources are essential food for them. You can give them small live insects as well to feed on.

Occasionally it is not hurtful to them if you give them food treats made for humans. As I have mentioned from time to time we give them bread and sweet cookies. But do not overdo this. These foods should be given to them sparingly.

Most important of all you have to give them fresh clean water. Hamsters drink a lot of water as compared to their size.

This is also a good thing to hamster breeders. This means that hamsters can eat a lot of types of food and is not very picky. This could mean your food budget for hamsters could be small if you have a backyard that is full of edible vegetation and small insects.

Hamster Grooming

Just like all animals with furs, hamster will groom their furs themselves. There is no need to bathe them with water as they can be very neat animals. They can however have lice infestation so it is important to check their furs before the problem gets serious.

Hamsters also eat their poop. Sometimes their poops comes out very soft and hamsters eat it for nutrients. The hamster’s digestive system is weak and sometimes they need to eat their poop to fully digest their food. There is no need to worry. Hamsters can safely eat their poop and it is healthy for them.

Hamster Cages

Hamsters like to roam and are well suited for large areas where they can freely move about. That is why large cages are well suited for them. That is why hamster cages normally have spinning wheels. This accessory helps to drive down the need of the hamster to move quickly for a long period.

You should be aware also when using plastic cages. Hamsters have been known to eat through plastic cages to escape. They also use plastic cages and other solid objects to sharpen their teeth which is normal for many animals.

Another thing to consider is the strength and the security of your hamster cage. This not only meant to prevent hamsters from escaping but it is also meant to keep other animals from reaching your hamster.

Cats are known predators of pet hamsters. It might seem impossible but cats can reach small animals like birds and hamsters even though they are inside their cages. Dogs have also been known to eat hamsters.

Speaking of cages, this is another area you can make money on. There are already a lot of manufacturers of cages for hamsters as well as accessories. However there is still a market for very big and custom built cages for hamsters and other pets.

The pet industry is growing. The projected growth for 2020 onwards is between 6.5% to over 7%. This is great news for anyone involved in the pet industry especially in pet accessories.

Conclusion

There are many ways one can make money off hamsters. I enumerated two of them. The first one is to own a hamster cafe business. The business has the advantage of not being saturated yet. Just like all pet cafe businesses you can sell pets as well as merchandise besides your petting services.

Another way to earn from hamsters is to raise them and then sell them. Hamsters have the advantage of being able to breed almost monthly and also matures in weeks. They are also easy to feed, clean themselves and are very docile. These are very distinct advantages over raising other pet animals.

You may be interested in my Cat Cafe Article which has some similarities with this article. It is titled: Cat Cafe Business.