Hamsters (merged)

Fiver29

picklepick wrote: »

Also i dont let me gerbils run in the ball near my cats because the balls have been known to come apart when they crash into the skirting...... cue one dead hammy if that happens and kitty is watching!! :eek:

I've actually had to tape up some of the tubes on the hamsters cage because the cat can pull them apart :eek: She still can't get into the cage, but I was worried about her doing it during the night and then the hamster making a break for it.

trudij

I had to sellotape mine shut too - but its amazing where they will get themselves.... we found one of mine down the garden having bounced down the steps and rolled down the drive !!!

Hintza

Befoer I read the thread I thought 20 mins would be more than enough.

Fiver29

trudij wrote: »

I had to sellotape mine shut too - but its amazing where they will get themselves.... we found one of mine down the garden having bounced down the steps and rolled down the drive !!!

:eek: Good job you found it before it got out onto the street!

sarabe

I've always assumed that they are running around trying to get out as oppossed to having fun.

trudij

Fiver29 wrote: »

:eek: Good job you found it before it got out onto the street!

no chance of that at all with how our house is - good job we didnt have the pond at the time though!!

hethmar

pmsl - I thought this was a wind up when I read the title

samboette

We don't have balls for our hamsters, we prefer to let them run on the bed or the floor. We don't have cats though, so don't have that to worry about. Maybe lock the cat out of your bedroom for half an hour or so and let the hamster have a run around on the floor, it would be much more satisfying for him/her. Obviously make sure you don't have any holes or nooks and crannies they can escape into.

If you can only let them out in a ball, then limit the time spent in it to 10 minutes at a time.

Mankysteve

I may have accidental left my house mate hamster cage open. Came in the next morning it was happily asleep in its bed. No cats in our house though.

I dont think they do get scared in balls as his hamster will happy run around, stop clean and if any fabric or paper c comes along happy pull it though the gaps in the ball, that's not teh behaviour of animal that is panicking for trying to escape.

We usually just wait for him to stop running around the room before returning.

Silaqui

Our hamster seems to really enjoy it in her ball but I'd never leave her in it for more than 10/15 minutes at a time before putting her back in her cage for a wee and a drink.

She was once in her ball dashing around, I was putting a pair of shoes on and at the EXACT same time as I put my foot down she went underneath my foot and I stamped on the ball :eek: Luckily I reacted fast and didn't stamp all the way down but the ball shattered, I panicked thinking I'd killed her or given her a heart attack or something but she ran out of the wreckage and promptly tried to stuff my shoelaces into her pouch :rotfl:

Now that it's a bit warmer, we have a long hallway with no plugs or wires that I block off at one end and give her a free run (we did buy a 'playpen' type thing but it only took her 5 minutes to figure out how to escape. She seems to love that, I scatter bits of food around so she can forage, make piles of shoes and things for her to climb over, I much prefer that now to having her in her ball. She loves it if you go and lie on the floor out there with her so she can climb all over you!

xx