Post 1 : Online Reading (Reading for Information)

This is my hamster--Remy.

Hamster As Pet

Cute Hamster, which belongs to rodent family, is one of the most popular and tiny-winy pets around the world. Hamsters are cute, clean and easy to take care of, which makes them favorite pet for people of all ages. Hamsters can be real entertainment for his/her keeper if proper care of his mood and diet is taken.

The only sad thing about hamsters is that they live only up to 1000-1100 days (i.e. about 1-3.5 years), which can be a real heartbreaking thing for children. But few people think it as an opportunity for children to understand and learn the responsibilities and other important things in life.

There are mainly three type of hamsters found, i.e. Syrian Hamsters Dwarf Hamsters Chinese Hamsters.

Consider what will happen if you are confined in a very small place with no room for you to at least walk through it? You will surely get frustrated and would wish to get out of the place as soon as possible. Same is true with hamsters. The first and the most important thing to take into consideration is that house for hamster should be as large as possible, with a proper, dry and hygienic bedding. It is found that if hamster is not allowed to exercise (play around and run throughout the home), there is a high risk of his/her getting paralyzed, so you should consider buying/building a home for hamster that is enough to allow it run through, it should have a running wheel (hamsters really love it and cover up to few miles of running using it every day).

Hamsters can eat variety of food which you will never find hard to grab for your pet hamster. Hamsters can eat vegetables (cabbage, carrots, collie-flower etc.), fruits (such as grapes, apples, raisins, small, cucumber etc.), seeds and even worms. Now a day, there are many food mixes available which you can buy for your pet hamster. These food mixes are prepared using corns, sunflower seeds, cereal, alfalfa etc. which hamsters eat happily.

Whatever you feed your pet hamster, all you need to understand is that it should be fresh and you should not give everything (fruits, vegetables, cereals, seeds, food mixes etc.) all at once. If you put everything in the food plate, possibility is that your pet hamster might eat only those items which he/she likes, leaving behind spoiled food. You should also understand and note down daily food habit of your pet hamster, which will help you in feeding him/her right way and also monitor any unusual activity that can help you find out if your pet hamster need special attention.

Hamsters are best known for their cuteness and also for their sharp teeth. Although very easy to tame, they need special handling until they are tame. Initially you may need to use a hand-glove to pick up the hamster that bites (and is not completely tame). You should be careful not to stress or frighten him/her, as hamsters often start biting once they are under shock/stress or frightened. You will also have to learn how to hold your pet hamster without making him/her feel uncomfortable in your hands.

If you are planning to set your pet hamster free inside your room/home even for a couple of minutes or hours, be careful as it easily can be stepped over by someone (by mistake) or might get into some corner from where you will find it very hard to bring him/her out. Make it sure that your pet hamster gets enough space to play and run in order to meet his/her daily exercise requirements, he/she should get enough privacy, there should be no harmful element (such as electric wires, any harmful chemical, anything that might choke him/her) within the reach of your pet hamster and the hamster home should be very hygienic.

If suddenly you find your pet hamster has left the hamster cage without you getting a hint of it, all you need to do is to set a tempting trap and wait. There are many ways you can set a trap, but the most common things you will include in the trap are: your pet hamster’s favorite food, extra cushioned bedding (in case if your trap has a mechanism of making your pet hamster jump into something deep) etc.

By Nilesh ParekhPublished: 3/5/2007
Reference:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/hamsters-pets-care.html

My points of view

First of all, I would like to introduce that the type of this article is ‘reading for information’ based on online reading and its title is ‘Hamster as pet’.

The most important objective of ‘reading for information’ is to get more information on the topic we are interested. Sometimes in our offline reading we are looking for very specific information. We may have certain beliefs that we want to confirm or perhaps to reconsider. Or perhaps our curiosity has been aroused by a newspaper headline or the title of an article in a magazine, and we want to satisfy that curiosity. In this case, I would like to gain more information on hamster; so, I had search for this article ‘Hamster as pet’ which fix the type of ‘reading for information’.

Without the extra information, we may not know very well or lack of information of the topic we are reading on books or somewhere else. In my case, before I have read this article, I do not know how to build a ideal house for my hamster, should I give what food to my hamster, how to handle my hamster, and what if my pet hamster escapes?... But I can find all the answer through this online reading.

Furthermore, it will enrich or enhance my writing skill as well when I do online reading for information. I can gather information on the techniques, theory and mechanics or writing as required from the online module provided.

Some activities can be carried out with the online reading. Let's start by asking the question: Are hamsters suitable to be a pet? The fact that we start with a question is interesting in itself. It provides one reason for reading: to find an answer to the question. But it is also likely that the discussion will raise more questions than it answers like which type of hamsters are not suitable? Are most hamsters suitable, or is it only a small minority? How to raise them? Where do they live?

To sum up, online reading especially reading for information benefits us a lot. So, be an active online reader.

For your extra information, it’s really sad to tell that my hamster, named Remy, had died in two months ago.