Worried about my hamster (or just overprotective?)

RebekahR

I have always fed mine through the bars since they were new and never once had a problem with being bitten. Guess it depends how chunky your fingers are and whether you can hold the food through the bars without your fingers going through also. I always tend to have the problem if shoving my hand in there when they are new with food on it. They can be taken by suprise then nip you through fear when they are new. So I always do the bars first and then after a week or so pop my hand ever so gently in at the opposite end of cage from where hammy is. I have kep hamsters and gerbils since I was tiny as a kid and wouldn't live without the cute little souls. :-)

RebekahR

The biting at the bars thing in my experience has mostly been through boredom or just wanting attention. Rather odd as my babies always have tons of toys and exciting things in there to play with! I have a spare set so every time I clean her out I put in the other set so we alternate toys every week to help with the boredom and put something new in. Most days I try to get her out and into her ball or into the bath with some toys for a change of senery. (I so cant spell lol) Try getting one of those wooden bridges or the bit of tree trunk with holes in. My baby loves this as its something natural like from the wild. The other thing she may like although I think dwarfs like it more than syrians is to pop in some chinchilla sand. In the wild they live in sand and they like to roll over and wash their fur in this. In the wild it gets all the mites and bugs off of their fur. But if you have a syrian she might not do this. You will only know by trying. But dwarf loves her sand to wash in and she hides her food in it in a corner too. Cute! Although I have saw dust she tends to wee in the corner where I put some carefresh (can be brought in [EMAIL="pets@home"]pets@home[/EMAIL] but is quite pricey £3 a bag i think) mix with other bedding if you wish. Thats all I can think of for now. I'll come back with more i'm sure!

ClareEmily

Oooo that's a funky cage, haven't seen one of those before.

Like us with time and experience of looking after your own hammys (you will get more in the future believe me) you will learn what works and what doesn't, what is a waste of money and what isn't.

Hamsters spend their whole time trying to escape and because her cage has lots of bars, she will at first have a nibble at them all. Once she has settled and made it her own home she should be better.

One of the best things we ever bought was:

Terracotta Salt Pig
http://www.countryloversstore.com/acatalog/M_Terracotta_Salt_pig.jpg
Like above, ours has an opening that is a bit lower, found in a houseware shop, and you can get ones which are idea hammy size, this this one looks massive.
They love to sit in these and the terracotta is good to wear their nails down.

---

This is kinda cool, if you are having trouble getting hammy out of cage:
http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=446&pf_id=8017

We have one of these for our newest hammy, will probably be too big for your cage, but something to think about later on, he has one section he makes a bed in, one to keep food in and the other droppings, he is a very tidy hammy.
http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=446&pf_id=8016

Just stick to wooden type hidaways and toys. What does your hammy sleep in?

For treats they have cooked rice, corn on the cob, scrabbled egg and a hard bit of unbuttered toast.

ClareEmily

RebekahR wrote: »

The biting at the bars thing in my experience has mostly been through boredom or just wanting attention. Rather odd as my babies always have tons of toys and exciting things in there to play with! I have a spare set so every time I clean her out I put in the other set so we alternate toys every week to help with the boredom and put something new in. Most days I try to get her out and into her ball or into the bath with some toys for a change of senery. (I so cant spell lol) Try getting one of those wooden bridges or the bit of tree trunk with holes in. My baby loves this as its something natural like from the wild. The other thing she may like although I think dwarfs like it more than syrians is to pop in some chinchilla sand. In the wild they live in sand and they like to roll over and wash their fur in this. In the wild it gets all the mites and bugs off of their fur. But if you have a syrian she might not do this. You will only know by trying. But dwarf loves her sand to wash in and she hides her food in it in a corner too. Cute! Although I have saw dust she tends to wee in the corner where I put some carefresh (can be brought in pets@home but is quite pricey £3 a bag i think) mix with other bedding if you wish. Thats all I can think of for now. I'll come back with more i'm sure!

Very good advise above, yes I had totally forgotten about the sand, both of mine have sand baths and love them, they are syrian. My gerbils have a sand bath too.

I will also try putting in bath with some toys, I did get a pen for them but they just hopped right over the top, rubbish it was.

Thanks

Clare

Silaqui

Well the cage came with a little plastic house but she rarely goes in it and she doesn't sleep in it - she sleeps in the tunnel bit, right at the top!

Oh I didn't think of alternating toys around, thats a good idea! Her cage is very full... I did see sand in the pet shop and was gonna get some at the time but I had to rein myself in lol.
How much do they need to roll about in? Do you keep a dish full in the cage or do you give it to them when you get them out? I can imagine its maybe a bit messy? I know someone who owns a chinchilla so I'll nick some of her sand before I fork out for a whole bag (Moneysaving )

I like the idea of the terracotta thing and that little wooden house looks well cute! I was wondering about her nails because its all plastic and shavings in the cage, nothing really to wear them down.

I know I say this every post but thank you so much for all your help! I've never had a hamster as we've always had cats at home (plus my mum hates anything remotely mouse like) but I really missed having pets so finally took the plunge. I'm not strictly speaking allowed pets in this flat but I thought I'd risk it! I'm rally glad I got her though she's so cute, at the minute she is fast asleep at the top of the tunnel, lying on her back with all four feet clutching onto the grippy bits in the tunnel! Bless!

ClareEmily

You can get special sand baths for hamsters in bigger pet stores, has quite high sides and about the size of a saucer, they race around in it on their side very cute.

We were the same, we were renting so had to hide the hamster everytime we had a house inspection. You will find that they sleep in the strangest places, it is probably lovely and cosy in the tube and she feels safe there, she sounds adorable.

ClareEmily

Here are our two

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3367450&l=6949d&id=716085393

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3506008&l=eef72&id=716085393

Silaqui

Aww they are so sweet! Did you rescue Spike then? What had happened to him? Last time I went to the local RSPCA place there were quite a few small pets that were in there.

I'll have to try and get a picture of her when she comes out next, I've been concentrating on the actual getting her out bit so far!

Silaqui

I just noticed the bit up there about the toast, they can have that then? Also are they allowed popcorn (obviously plain, just popped in a bit of oil?)

aliasojo

Hamilton. What a brill name for a hammy.