1. A cage
The National Hamster Council recommend a wire top cage no less than 35cm long x 25cm wide x 23cm high if you're keeping a Syrian hamster (and remember only one Syrian to a cage!). Dwarf hamsters, on the other hand, can easily squeeze through a wire top cage when there is over a centimetre between each bar. They’re far safer in a rotastack system, or in a glass tank with a small gauge mesh lid.

2. A water bottle
Hamsters need a ready supply of fresh water. Suspended water bottles, which you can attach to the bars of a cage, are far better than bowls inside the cage, which are quickly contaminated with sawdust and food.

3. Sawdust and bedding
Sawdust will do as it soaks up their urine shredded paper. Fluffy bedding that is NHC approved will also make a nice nest. Never, as some books advise, put newspaper beneath the sawdust – hamsters will nibble it, and the ink can be poisonous to them!

4. Food
Hamsters will eat almost anything – however, that ain’t necessarily good for them. Their basic diet should be a proprietary dry hamster mix containing seeds, crushed oats, flaked maize, sunflower seeds, locust beans and peanuts, with some hard dry biscuits. Hamsters also enjoy tiny quantities of fresh vegetables.

5. A hamster
Really, the best place to buy your hamster is from a National Hamster Council convention - dates are available on their website. Otherwise, try a reputable pet shop. Make sure the baby hamsters are clean and healthy-looking (eyes open, no limps, no bits missing).