i had hamsters when i was a kid, we had 4 total. i purchased my first one from a friend for $5 including cage and food and lots of wood chips. he died about 2 months later. we then went to woolco [before walmart came to canada] and got 3 more, 2 were brothers sandy brown in color, one was an odd ball one teddy bear. we had them all in the same cage for a while, until the 2 brothers beat up the teddy [all bloddy messy eye almost gouged out] then we split them up into separate cages. we have a shed/playhouse in the back yard, where we kept them in the summer, and one morning we went out there, and the screen on the windows was ripped, the cages were knocked over and the hamsters were gone. there was a pile of cat poop on the floor in there, i guess the neighbours cat got them.
right now, we have 2 guinea pigs. one buy, one girl. the girl is nuts [brain damage- starts to twitch sometimes and runs in circles] and weighs like 2 pounds all muscle. then we have the boy, and he's not got much time left i think. he is over 4 years old, and has had a tumer or something growing in his side for over a year now... he weighs well under a pound