# Hamster: Tell me your top tips.



## Whitehologram (Apr 28, 2012)

I'm a new hamster owner, I'd love to hear your top tips for caring for her. 

I know each hamster is different and will have his/her own likes and dislikes. That's ok. 

I'd still like to hear about the things you've gotten/done that your hamster loved or hated. Learning from others experiences is a good thing.


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## Whitehologram (Apr 28, 2012)

Anything at all, I'm very overwhelmed by all the different products and things I could get for her. I've been gotten some stuff but now I'd like to get tips and advice from the experts.


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## zany_toon (Jan 30, 2009)

What type of hamster is it that you have? I'm no expert, but as far as I know the different species have different requirements so if you let everyone know what type of hamster Daisy is then the experts can make sure you get the right advice  

Is there anything specific that you want to know? It might be a bit easier as well if we have an idea what it is you are wanting to find out - for instance:
1. Are you wanting to find out about the best diet to give her?
2. Are you needing advice on wheels (this can be an important one as a wheel that is too small can cause the spine to curve
3. Do you need advice on bedding? I use an organic hemp for my Chinese hamster because it absorbs urine and smells well, is biodegradable and good for tunneling in. The cotton wool type bedding is a universal no-no for all small animals as it can wrap around tongues, legs, toes and be very hazardous.
4. Are you needing advice on habitat? As in type of cage, best size for your hamster?
5. Do you need advice on taming?

Sorry if that's a bit much, but if you have a think as to what you are wanting to know it will be easier for people to give you a hand as otherwise it can be a bit of a minefield and we have no idea where to start! 

The only thing I can say is that mine loves walnuts  I treat Harry (who is a Chinese hamster) to a whole walnut every now and then but I crack it first. Harry then spends the rest of the night cracking what's left to get at the yummy bit inside


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## Whitehologram (Apr 28, 2012)

zany_toon said:


> What type of hamster is it that you have? I'm no expert, but as far as I know the different species have different requirements so if you let everyone know what type of hamster Daisy is then the experts can make sure you get the right advice
> 
> Is there anything specific that you want to know? It might be a bit easier as well if we have an idea what it is you are wanting to find out - for instance:
> 1. Are you wanting to find out about the best diet to give her?
> ...


This is her home.










This is her extra play area, I've only just gotten it...it needs different toys.










Running on her wheel









This is Daisy. As far as I can tell, from reading as much as possible on the web, she seems to be a black eyed, white Syrian hamster. Her ears are not totally flesh coloured and not totally dark...mostly light with a little dark on the edge. 









Mostly I'd like advice on things to use in her home. Which kind of bedding, litter, products to avoid (even if they look like they are marketed as being for hamsters), other tips like if she does xyz it's ok, dont panic.

She had me worried because she groomed for an extremely long time...I was worried she'd hurt herself and was irritated with her arm but it turned out to be the food treat she'd eaten was messy and needed cleaning up.

Last night she didn't go on her wheel at all and was really sleepy. She would come out for a couple of minutes but went back to bed. When I went to bed at 11pm last night she still hadn't gotten up or ran on her wheel. Other nights she's run for at least 2-3 hours before I've gone to bed. She's up and running now so I'm less worried about that but it was odd.

Cracked walnut is a good tip, I wouldn't have thought of that.


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## CRL (Jan 3, 2012)

ive always heard that wood based bedding are good for hamsters. they like to burrow and dig so a big ammount of bedding for digging. woods things are good for any rodents as the chew it and it helps with the teeth. i wouldnt know what else as i havent had a hamster since i was 7 and everyone ive met since (until last friday) was a vicious biting thing.


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## Whitehologram (Apr 28, 2012)

CRL said:


> ive always heard that wood based bedding are good for hamsters. they like to burrow and dig so a big ammount of bedding for digging. woods things are good for any rodents as the chew it and it helps with the teeth. i wouldnt know what else as i havent had a hamster since i was 7 and everyone ive met since (until last friday) was a vicious biting thing.


Did you meet a nice hamster on Friday?

I got her a 3 level step wooden toy with bells today and a ladder with a coconut too.....I need to rearrange the cage to set that up though.

Oh and I picked up some bath-sand for her. She didn't bath in it though, but she did dig in it.


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## Snippet (Apr 14, 2011)

I would pain anything wooden with Japlac or Plastikote. This makes it easier to clean, will stop urine soaking into the wood and makes it last longer.


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## Whitehologram (Apr 28, 2012)

Snippet said:


> I would pain anything wooden with Japlac or Plastikote. This makes it easier to clean, will stop urine soaking into the wood and makes it last longer.


Do you mean on the base? Where it sits on the sawdust/wood-chips?

That makes sense, but not on the top pieces though, where she might chew...that would likely make her sick.

Would an oil rubbed in do the same, I just worry about adding paint to anything she might chew.


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## Snippet (Apr 14, 2011)

Whitehologram said:


> Do you mean on the base? Where it sits on the sawdust/wood-chips?
> 
> That makes sense, but not on the top pieces though, where she might chew...that would likely make her sick.
> 
> Would an oil rubbed in do the same, I just worry about adding paint to anything she might chew.


Both the paints I mentioned can be used for childrens toys so they are safe if chewed. I would paint everything wood including toys and shelves.


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## Whitehologram (Apr 28, 2012)

This is the set up now. I added the steps and the coconut.


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## Whitehologram (Apr 28, 2012)

Snippet said:


> Both the paints I mentioned can be used for childrens toys so they are safe if chewed. I would paint everything wood including toys and shelves.


This stuff?

So the shelves would be wipe-able?...good Idea.


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## Whitehologram (Apr 28, 2012)

Goodness me...it's all go with these hamsters. 

She just got up from her sleep and one of her eyes wouldn't open. 

I managed to catch her (she's getting better and better about being handled each day) and take her to the bathroom and gently wet it a tiny bit with a cotton-bud. Then I had to gently pry her eye open. It seems her eyelashes got suck inside her eye. 

I'm not sure if she'd have sorted it out herself or not but I worried it would get infected if left too long so I decided to handle it. 

She's fine now.


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## zany_toon (Jan 30, 2009)

I'd say you have a pretty good set up but I've never had a syrian  Snippet is right though, painting wooden toys and shelves will make them last longer and with them being child friendly you won't need to worry about Daisy having a chew - it also means you can go crazy with the colours :lol:

Avoid any wood toys or bedding that are scented, I'm sure that they would be bad for their respiratory systems (the hamster's.) I think a lot of people use aubiose - which is a hemp type bedding - as you can get it in huge bales for a lot cheaper than buying bags of the pet shop stuff every month. And with it being such a big bale you can pile it really deep for digging 

Have a look on this thread for a list of safe and not so safe hamster treats, it should give you a whole load of ideas  http://www.petforums.co.uk/rodents/33677-hamster-treats.html

I hope it was a one off with Daisy's eye though. I'd keep checking it though to make sure.


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## Whitehologram (Apr 28, 2012)

I hope it was too. I'll keep checking her for it though.

She's fine now though. Tired though, too tired to make it to her bed a lot of the time. She's falling a sleep in her wheel now.


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## Acid (Aug 8, 2011)

white syrians are my absolute favourite :001_wub:

for bedding megazorb, paper based cat litter (not clay based), hay (although dont use hay as the only substrate as its bad for absorbing moisture and is quick to mould, use it in small chunks as enrichment and variety), grey carefresh (not the coloured or white as these are bleached then coloured) and aspen woodshavings are good. Avoid pine and especially cedar as they are soft woods that cause resp infections

how big is the base of her cage? syrians need around 80x50cm of floor space minimum to run around as they travel up to 8 miles each night in the wild. i wouldnt worry about plastikoting her toys as hamsters are generally very clean animals who have a designated pee corner/area and have never (in my experience) peed on their toys, like everyone else said the shelves would benefit from it though.

dont worry about her eye being stuck shut as long as its not a regular occurance or looks sore and puss-y. mine get them sometimes from lying on their faces as they sleep haha 

mine love scrambled egg with mixed veg once a week and they each get the small plain bonio dog biscuits to chew on, do you know if those hanging seed feeders contain syrup or sugar? theyd be very bad for her teeth and health if so.

i do love your general set up though!


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## Whitehologram (Apr 28, 2012)

Acid said:


> white syrians are my absolute favourite :001_wub:
> 
> for bedding megazorb, paper based cat litter (not clay based), hay (although dont use hay as the only substrate as its bad for absorbing moisture and is quick to mould, use it in small chunks as enrichment and variety), grey carefresh (not the coloured or white as these are bleached then coloured) and aspen woodshavings are good. Avoid pine and especially cedar as they are soft woods that cause resp infections
> 
> ...


It's a little smaller....70x40 but we will be getting a bigger cage when she grows a bit. She's still little.

I gave her a little scrambled egg the other day, she loved it.

The one treat is with honey.....funnily, that the one she rarely eats. The other one with dandelion is the one she really likes (and makes her have to groom for ages) has egg.

Dog treat is new to me but I'll get her some, thanks for that.

And I will look into getting the shelves coated. It seems that stuff takes a while to dry so it would be better to spray them in the morning so they were dry and back in her cage for the night time.

Interesting (and affirming of my thoughts about joining a forum and not just trusting the petshop  ) about the wood chips. I just saw both pine and cedar wood chips on sale in the expensive pet shop in town. I didn't get any because I wanted to check first. I'm glad I didn't.


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## metame (Sep 25, 2009)

sounds like shes a very lucky hamster to have you


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