Hamsters

[weeal]

My mate is buying a hamster for her nephew for his xmas, he will be so excited but what type of hamster should she get? syrian hamsters? russian hamsters?
Should she buy two for company or is this not advised.

It will have a posh cage and lots of toys lol

Any advice welcome from hamster owners please.

Thanks
Al

[jen78]

Hello :)

Big no to Syrian hamsters living together, they will more than likely fight to the death as they are solitary creatures.

Russian hamsters can be kept together but more if they were brought up together and, even then, care must be taken.

I find males can have better temprements.

Think about their natural instincts, they love a sandpit, somewhere they can dig, definitely need places they can hide away and feel safe and corners are a must as they feel safer with them.

They love to climb and swing and bite their bars.

Leave alone in the cage to settle for 48 hours (get some of their beeding so they have a similar smell) then handle gently but confidently often to get them used to being handled.

Be careful with the fluff like bedding as it can get stuck in their mouths (they will shove it in their pouches and move it around).

Make sure you get soft wood shavings not the think scratchy stuff as it's too harsh for them.

They love things they can strip and stash like the bars you can hang in their cages. They have a natural instinct to pouch up and store their food so treats like that are great for them.

Tubes are good as well as they are burrowing animals. From loo rolls they can chew as well to part of their cage.

Will see if i have a piccie of my Fluffy's cage on FB (if not will get one and put one on) as he has a large Rotastack creepy castle with one whole part dedicated to a sandpit.

[jen78]

This is the cage my hammy has...

http://www.ukpetsupplies.com/Details.aspx?CatI d=875&ParentId=612&ProdId=427

[weeal]

haha jen thats fab, what a lot of information there, just how many pets you got? does Heathcliffe the cat not try to eat Fluffy? lol

[weeal]

what a cage that is, i thought it has a tower of pencil sharpeners at first haha

[jen78]

Actually no haha :)

They were completely separate for a week then introduced but never left unsupervised (hamster is shut in the lounge overnight and when I'm out).

HC is facinated by his little friend and watches him. If he's asleep he goes and pats his paw on the plastic by where he sleeps to see if he will get up.

As you can see from the cage HC can't get to him but the hamster will come and stick his nose right up to the bars at the top, cat will do the same then, if anything, hamster moves and scares HC who legs it lol :)

[weeal]

hahaha that is soooooo cute, my friend is getting so interested now that she's buying one she fears she might keep it - she has a cat and dog who get on great but the cat is a good hunter (female)

[jen78]

It's a great cage though, for a first hamster I'd suggest a bog standard wire barred cage as it's easier access for getting them used to people and handling and for talking to them and getting them used to voices and smells and such.

It can take them a while to get used to getting up the tubes as well :)

[weeal]

youre full of good advice Jen, have you had a few hamsters?

[jen78]

Awww :) they are lovely little things.

They are very delicate though, they don't have very long life spans and if they do get ill they tend to go downhill very quickly. The best way I see it is to give the little fellas as happy a hamster life as possible while you have them.

Rat's make fantastic pets too, very intelligent and they bond to people.

[jen78]

Lets see, I've had, since I was a little girl...

Marty, Albie (an albino), Jerry, then Bailey the rat, Goth, Dennis, Dexter and now Fluffy :)

[weeal]

my god youre an old hand at this then, glad you were online when i asked the question.

thanks a lot Jen I will pass all this to my friend.

[jen78]

Fluffy

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=23m4v9j&s=4

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=et896p&s=4

The late, bless em...

Bailey

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=14v4n4&s=4

Dennis

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=34ou3h0&s=4

Dexter

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2rp2ngk&s=4

[x31tna]

i dont mean to be a meany here but my vert told me you shouldnt use those plastic cages the spaceship ones etc because if it gets too warm condensation builds on the inside and is really bad for poor hammy.

i had some russian hamsters once but they were a bit small and too fast for me and hardly ever came out of their cage...

syrian ones are lovely but i agree with jen that they should definately be kept on their own.

the problem with hamsters is that they only come out at night and i always used to feel bad waking mine up when i wanted to get him out.

i think you should consider getting a rat...people often think that theyre vermin and horrible but i can honestly say they are the best pets i have EVER had they are so lovely

the rats are best kept in pairs and mine used to sit on my shoulder and id jst walk around the house and they could always hear me coming when i came home and would come out and see me...they sleep a lot but come out during the day and are dead intelligent

hamsters are lovely but if your nephew is wanting a little friend then a hamster might be a bit boring

Dont let me put you off though its just personal experience xxxx

xxxxx

[weeal]

hi x31tna thanks

Rats do sound more 'sociable' but its taken so much persuasion for his mum to allow even a hamster lol, he thinks he isnt getting one for xmas but a rat would be a no-no

dont quite fancy the thought of it myself

So its a single hamster is best for a starter then in a not-too-fancy cage !

[weeal]

Jen those pics are ace !!
so cute, Im going "awwwww"

[jen78]

My mum wasn't keen on a rat either but she did love him.

Mine would sit on my shoulder as well and tightrope walk. They needs loads of space and mine had a huge cage built out of about 3 big hamster cages on top of each other.

They are very sociable as well, mine pined when I went volunteering and I'd have to get my mum to hold the phone by him so I could talk to him and he'd cheer up and eat then.

You can socialise hamsters more. By talking to them and giving them a reason to come out and be curious as who is about can make then come out in more sociable hours.

Most of my hamsters were like than and would come out when I came in to say hello and see what was happening.

Routine is good in that case though as a woken up hamster is not a happy hamster at all and is likely to bite.

They love stairs with carpet on, good exercise for them climbing :)

I had a bad experience with one plastic cage one as one hamster managed to chew his way out of it overnight!

[phillipa.d]

Hi everyone

Just thought I'd share my hamster experience...

I bought my daughter two Russian dwarf hamsters (Roborovskis) for christmas last year and was advised by pet store that two would be fine together, they even had a deal, like 8 quid each or two for 12 pound or something, but after six weeks they started to fight, and we woke up one morning to find the one had completely stripped the others bum of fur!!

They were sisters, and with the pet shop's advice, I thought they would be fine. But you could hear cookie squeaking as crumble held her down to bite her!!! It was horrible!!

When I phoned and asked them about the fighting, they said to separate them immediately, or they would fight to the death!! Very upsetting for a little girl. I had no offer compensation wise from the shop, and was miffed cos all they seemed to want to do was sell me another cage!!

In short, please dont buy two of these, I had since spoken to other people who have had a similar experience, and it caused my daughter so much upset, she now has absolulely no interest in them.

As pets they are really really fast, and difficult to handle because of their speed, also.

I think a rat sounds like a much better idea - much easier to handle, and prob more intelligent, so interesting too...

Anyway, hope that helps!! :-)

x

[bigmamma]

I love this thread weeal , jen what cute pics . I've had 3 hamsters through my sons childhood , the oldest lasting 3 years and the other 2 around 2 years. They 're just such delightful characters . The first one a syrian , was called Tilly Houdini , the latter name added when we discovered she could escape from any cage we tried . We ended up getting a large fish tank (without the lid ) and keeping her in that so she couldnt get out when we were out. xxx

[weeal]

hi phillipa, oh thats so sad a story I think one hamster will do at a time eh

Between you and Jen's stories maybe my friend would consider a pet rat !!??!!

mamma, thats funny bout the houdini name, its exactly what I would be afraid of - one escaping and getting under the covers haha

[bigmamma]

Tilly Houdini escaped from one metal barred cage and ended up in the kitchen wall , in the gap between inner and outer wall , she was in there for 3 days , just as I was about to give in and get the fire brigade in to take the wall down .