Hamsters (merged)

bluenoseam

Hamsters are awesome, but the best advice i can give, quick hands - cos them furry lil things can turn nice > nasty in 0.487 seconds! I got nipped by one of ours (a Russian i think) and that stung for a while, but most of the time it was quite happy just to chill & run around me when not hanging upside down like a bat in his cage!!

Oh and if you have kids, would be an idea to tell them about the nippy bites, fingers nowhere near the cage kiddies, for all intents and purposes, its a mini lion and WILL go for your finger thinking it's a big ol porkchop!

tinktinktinkerbell

i have had countless hamsters in my time, i currently have 12 syrians

IMO syrian hamsters are the best for a first time owner, i have had 1 from pets at home, 4 from a local pet shop, 1 from another local pet shop, 1 adopted and the rest are litters that have come out of two shop bought ones


the pets at home ones round here are not tame, you are best off trying a local pet shop, a breeder or adopting one from a small animal shelter if you can

if you do get one from pets at home then it will take a lot of time and patients to tame, when you bring the little one home leave it alone for 2-3 days to get used to its cage, then let it see you filling up its food dish, then try and feed it a bit of food (it probably wont take off you at this stage) if it does and it its the food try gently stroking it, do this a few times to get it used to you, eventually the ham will feel safe enough with you to come out

NEVER put your hand in the cage to pick it up until it is fully tame (hamster bites are NOT nice :rotfl: ) once it fully tame you will just be able to pick it up straight from the cage

something you can do to get it used to your smell is to carry a biy of kitchen roll (the pain stuff, not the stuff with the pattern on) around with you all day and then pop it in hammys cage, it will have your smell on to get hammy used to you, talking to the ham also helps it get used to you, calling it by its name will help as well

clean its cage once a week, check the pee area every other day and scoop if needed, fresh food and water daily and daily time outside the cage either in a ball or playing with you, if you have no wires or holes you could give it the run of the floor but i would only advise this when the hamster is 100% tame

the cost of a hamster is not a lot at all, i have 12 (and a mouse) and i spend roughly about £15 a month on them (saw dust, food, bedding, treats) the main cost is the cage but thats a one off cost

my hams have either rotastak cages or bin cages (plastic storage boxes, yes they are suitable for hamsters believe it or not lol)

feel free to ask any questions either on here or via PM, hope i have been of some help

claire21

just wanted to join the hamster thread, we have had Buster for a month now and he's lovely.

momoyama

claire21 wrote: »

just wanted to join the hamster thread, we have had Buster for a month now and he's lovely.

Enjoy him and love him. I miss my hamsters.

scooby088

I have a chinese dwarf hamster who is 3 years old, he is showing signs of old now, anyway the question i have is can hamster go senile.

Mice_Elf

I'd imagine so, yes. 3 years is very old for a Dwarf hamster. What are it's symptoms? Why do you suspect it's going senile?