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I'm getting a hamster!

2K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  Kiwibird08 
#1 ·
I work at a pet store that sells live animals. Sometimes though, because of various situations, we have animals that are looking to be adopted. We have a totally adorable hamster looking for a forever family right now and I've decided to take her home with me tomorrow. I've wanted a hammie for ages, so I'm really excited!

The last time I had a hamster I was too young to really do primary care for it, and all the small animals I've had since have been rats. Any tips for a new hamster owner? Oh, she's a Syrian (short hair, chocolate banded - so cute!). As a pet store worker and rat owner and after having done research, I know all the basics. But, if you have had hammies, what were their favorite toys and foods? What kind of chews work best? Stuff like that would help me out a ton!
 
#2 ·
Pictures! :)
 
#3 ·
Congrats! I have had 4 hamsters myself. Remember the basics, the Guaranteed Analysis on the food, the minimum cage size must be 360 sq. inches, etc..

My hamster loved bendy bridges, tubes, chinchilla SAND (not dust or powder) baths, ecoTRITION snack shack logs, 8-12 inch wheel, little grass huts, his bridge and toys like that.

Right now I have for him a bunch of apple orchard/willow sticks, cheesy chews (highly recommended!!!), bark chews, seagrass twists, Paragon Whimzees chews (made for dogs, but makes a great treat/chew for hamsters!), and a barrel roller.

Please message me if you need any more suggestions. <3
Have fun with your new hammy!
 
#4 ·
Also, what I do with the food is I get Vitakraft Vitasmart AND Carefresh Complete menu. I take out all the corn (GMO and all that bad stuff) then I mix it up and give a fair amount to my hamster every two days. I also have a few Oxbow pellets I put in because it is high in fiber.

I would highly recommend mixing two or more different kinds of food because otherwise there will not be enough protein, fiber, fat, etc. with just one kind as pet companies aren't the best at making foods.

I would suggest giving your hamster a large variety of different kinds of food so they don't get bored, and hey, in real life they are scavengers!

Some good hamster food brands are: (from the top of my head)
Vitakraft Vitasmart (stay away from all other vitakraft foods! treats and toys are okay though)
Hazel Hamster (you don't even need to mix this in with anything!)
Carefresh Complete Menu
Mazuri Pellets
Oxbow Science Selective Pellets

Please tell me if you need help!

Oh, and a really important thing to remember;
ALWAYS GIVE YOUR HAM 3-4 sunflower seeds daily. The oils and nutrients in the sunflower seeds helps keep their fur shiny and soft, along with maintaining their internal health, etc. :)

Hope this wasn't too confusing!

A really good forum in hamsterhideout. Check it out! I am "berryhamster123" on it ;-)
 
#5 ·
Thanks for all the feedback VeganSince12! I'm glad I got a chance to read through it this morning. I'm leaving in a few minutes to pick her up and go shopping for her stuff. Poor thing is going to be so traumatized before everything is over I want to make sure I have everything in place so I can just leave her be for a few days. The family that owned her last time bought her as a surprise gift for a child that ended up being terrified of her (because cute fuzzy hammies are sooo scary!).
 
#7 ·
So, I was wrong about her color - she is actually golden (is that the right color? The normal hamster brown color). I just remembered she was darker than the banded hamsters we have had lately which are bright orange. She's not really sure about all this cage-switching she's been doing lately, but she is a curious little girl and was all over her new cage checking it out. The cage itself is a bit on the small side (about 330 sq in), but it was the largest cage they had with 1/2 inch bar spacing. I guess I'll keep a lookout for a bigger setup, and in the meantime I'm thinking about installing a loft-style second story that will cover 1/2-3/4 of the cage (I figured if I do that I can move some of her stuff up there and let her have more of the bottom to run around in).

Oh - her name is Sunshine! Sunshine wasn't too keen on posing for pictures, but Arrietty (rat) got jealous of the attention Sunshine was getting and was like "take a picture of me too, mom!" so I'll throw that one in too.
 

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#8 ·
She looks adorable! <3
To me she looks like a mix between a golden banded short haired Syrian. I'm sure she will love spending time with you. My hamster was super sweet two days after I got him and he lets me know when he wants to spend time with my by trying to climb up to the lid of the cage and do a little ballerina move! :p
 
#11 ·
I have had 12 rats - they are the best pets! They are soo intelligent! I'm definitely not going to have trouble keeping my hammy busy because I'm used to keeping rats from getting bored.

Tom - I use paper bedding (a generic version of carefresh) so no issue there. It's what works best for rats in my experience and I don't see any reason to buy two different bedding types. Cute about the nut! If it didn't upset his tummy then I'm sure he was fine - sometimes it's hard to remember that small for you is still huge for small pets!

Sunshine is still settling in. My cat found her earlier and she squeaked like it was the end of the world until I took him out of her room. My rats worked out really quickly that he couldn't get at them from outside the cage, so I hope that Sunshine learns that her cage is a safe zone too.
 
#10 ·
I got my first hamster from the local shelter when I was 44. I've only known that one hamster so I can't tell you that much about them. You probably know to avoid pine or cedar bedding (the oils can make a hamster sick). Aspen or some other material is much better.

One Christmas, I got a fruit basket for a present, and I gave my hamster a pecan. He went nuts- he loved it (even though it was so slippery, I had to crack it for him)! It didn't make him sick, but I don't know if it was a good idea giving him such a big nut at once- maybe half would have been better.
 
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