Like many people I had a hamster growing up, his name was Rusty Brown. Crazy as it was he knew his name. He got out of his cage one day (sure my fault) & I was looking all over for him. Our cat was in the hallway & I was so scared he got him. I was calling his name & low & behold he came out from under a laundry cabinet, stretched & yawned & looked at me. Some of my siblings had them at times also. Hamsters are good first pets for kids if the parents are ready to really take the responsibility for them. I do believe kids should be involved in their care, but supervised by an adult. I remember how lazy & forgetful I was as a kid & allowing all the other fun things to take me away from my responsibilities of caring for my pets. Thank the Lord I had a mom who was good at reminding me to feed & water my hamster & other pets over the years. My mom was scared of my hamster to some extent, so she wasn’t going to do it for me. She actually was not an animal person at all, but knew I was an animal lover thru & thru.
Hamsters are adorable “pocket pets” but they do require daily care & cage cleaning at least 2-3 times a week. If the cage isn’t cleaned regularly it can smell (due to their strong smelling urine output). Finding safe absorbent bedding will go a long way to reduce the odor. Having a cage that is open will also help, fish tanks or solid cages are not good because the hamster then has to breathe in the urine smell. Smelling this regularly is not good for a hamster’s respiratory system. Cages like the two shown below are some better choices, as they are well vented.
Hamsters are small, so they don’t take up a lot of space, but still need things to climb in & explore in such as tubes & ramps. Hamsters like to run on a wheel & I prefer the type that are not metal & more solid is the important part. One of my siblings had a hamster get its paw caught & it hit its neck on the metal bar & sadly it lost its life. This might have been a freak accident, but I prefer to be safe rather than sorry.
A hamster’s lifespan is usually 1.5-3 years old, 4-5 years with exceptional care. It also can vary on the breed variety, dwarfs verses, teddy bear or a regular short haired hamster. I hope I can say this next part delicately & not sound insensitive: when a kid has a hamster & it passes away, this gives parents an opportunity to talk about the natural order of life & death. I know it helped me to understand better, so when I lost a human loved one I understood it.
I personally found it best to have one hamster at a time, at least one per cage. No chance that the pet store got it wrong when you were told they were both males & then a few weeks later you have more. My sister had this happen with dwarf hamsters & her male (wrong it was a female) was already pregnant when she brought it home. My sister kept allowing the same pet store to sex her hamsters & they kept getting it wrong & they multiplied quickly. She had a heart of gold & loved them, but they got to be a lot of work & a lot of cages to house them.
There are a variety of hamster breeds & personally I found Teddy Bear hamsters to be the tamest & dwarfs are adorable, but some can be not so nice. I am sure this is not true across the board. I fostered a regular sized short haired hamster he was a sweet little guy.
Hamsters should eat a diet of pellets, that include oats,barley & seeds to prevents selective eating. Like many of us they will tend to eat the sweet & fatty things more. Small pieces of fresh foods such as broccoli, carrot, cucumber, Dandelion greens, kale, or cauliflower approximately every other day. As an occasional treat they can have small amounts of fruit, such as apple (no seeds), banana or berries. Be sure & remove any uneaten fruit/vegetables before it molds.
Hamsters are little hoarders so it might be a good plan to clean the cage on the days you give fresh foods.
Things to avoid feeding are: citrus fruits, raw beans, onions, garlic, leeks, chocolate, sugary, salty or human processed foods. Also apple seeds & potato eyes.
Hamsters should always have water available & some food (feeding about a tablespoon of pellets daily) as they will hoard away some extra food. Seeing their cheeks stuffed with food is so cute. A water bottle such as the one below is far better than a small ceramic crock like you would use for their pelleted food.
In order to keep your hamster tame it is important to handle it gently daily. Allowing your hamster to run around in an exercise ball can be fun for your hamster & fun to watch. I recommend you block off an area where your hamster can do this, using a small animal pen or box in an area away from stairs & heat vents. Monitor your hamster when it is in the ball, the lid could accidentally fall off & you need to be near by so you can retrieve your hamster.
I personally recommend a hamster be housed in a cage that is not kept in a bedroom someone sleeps in. Hamsters are nocturnal & can run on a wheel at 2:00 AM when you need to sleep or just be up & about & wake you.
I also suggest that they are not kept where a cat cannot stalk them or get near them. A cat’s saliva is deadly to many small critters & also it can be very scary to such a small critter to see this critter that is 50 times bigger than they are watching them & licking its chops.
I highly recommend you have a carry cage for your hamster, in an emergency evacuation you will need something secure & available so your hamster will be safe with you. It is also good if you need to take your hamster to an exotic Vet. If necessary it also could serve as a hospital cage if your hamster was sick or injured.
I recommend you find out if there is a Vet near you that sees hamsters, as not all see the real small pocket pets.
I hope you are enjoying my blog posts & learning a thing or two to help you better care for your pets. I have 132 other posts on my blog & you can find the list on my home page under the show tab. Then if you go back to the home page you can scroll down to the posts you want to read. I would appreciate it if you can help me get the word out about my blog, click the like button at the bottom, subscribe to my blog, share my blog with friends & family, comment on posts, visit often.
I have decided I am going to post only once a week (probably Mondays). There are things going on in my life that helped me to decide this is something I need to do. I look forward to posting soon & if you have any ideas for post topics please let me know. My email is echoinggreatpetcare@gmail.com Thank you, Debbie
Echoing Great Pet Care 