Life with a Hamster

Life with a Hamster

Life with a Hamster
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	3.95

Vocabulary

challenging words:

captivity, chewed-up, dropper, housekeeper, merrily, soiled, running, stale, survival, spotlight, mystery, heater, nothing, escape, exceptional, nocturnal

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Life with a Hamster
By Colleen Messina

¹     Nothing makes a hamster happier than running around and around and around in his wheel. He's getting nowhere, but he is cheerful about it. If you would like a small, furry pet to cheer you up, try a hamster.

²     Hamsters are easy to care for and fun to play with, but it is helpful to learn about any pet before you get one. A hamster is a small rodent that loves to stay up at night because he is nocturnal. They have sharp front teeth that keep on growing. That is why hamsters have to gnaw on things. Gnawing helps keep their teeth short. Hamsters are full of energy and can run up to five miles a night in the wild to look for food. They love to climb over and under things and could be nicknamed Houdini because they can also sneak out of their cages.

³     One hamster named Charcoal had an exceptional escape that mystified his owners. Charcoal had an unusual home. He lived in the bathtub. His owners filled the tub with a layer of wood chips. They added tunnels and cardboard tubes so Charcoal could play. One morning, Charcoal's owner had a surprise. Charcoal was gone! It was a cold winter day, and everyone looked all over the house for the missing black hamster. Three days passed. Then, a neighbor found Charcoal outside in the snow. How did Charcoal escape? How did Charcoal survive? It is still a mystery.

Paragraphs 4 to 10:
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