i had a hamster a few years ago and she was just the sweetest thing ever. i did handle her almost every day though from the time she was a baby to make sure that she would be that way. you have to keep the cage clean or the smell can be pretty rancid but the good thing is that they tend to choose one spot to relieve themselves in and stick to it so it's not hard to keep up with. as for breeding them...now that is something i wouldn't do unless you have a pretty serious line of people waiting to take the babies off your hands. you would not believe how fast you can end up with 50 babies and then babys' babies and on and on... .