Caring For Your Hamster
Caring for a hamster can be the key for its health, longevity, and happiness. First, you need to master the art of caring for its home. Next, adhering to its diet is key to keeping it fit and healthy. Finally, playing and handling is essential to its bond with the owner. If you can do these three things well, your experience with your hamster will be very rewarding.
Obviously, the habitat of your furry friend is probably the most important thing to your hamster. First, you must decide on a suitable cage. Purchasing a wire bar cage, a large glass aquarium or a plastic cage are your best choices. All of these cages would make a great start to your hamster kingdom. Second, you need to decide on the type of bedding to use choosing from shredded paper, wood shavings, paper pellets or soft, oddly shaped paper balls. Please avoid using cedar shavings. Most hamsters are allergic to cedar, and it can cause splintering, chapped feet and stomach problems since cedar shavings are almost entirely non-digestible. Even worse cedar shavings can react with urine causing toxic fumes called phenols to be released in the air if it has contact with the ammonia. Remember, choosing the right habitat is essential since it will be your hamster’s home for the rest of its life.
After you layer in the bedding, you must decide on a hamster wheel to be used for daily exercise. A small or medium wheel should do fine. The wheel is important since it will help keep your hamster fit and happy. Next, you will need a shelter or a place your hamster can sleep, store and hide such as a small plastic hamster box, a little wooden hut, a mini ceramic pot on its side or even a cleaned out coconut with a large entrance. Any of these will do. Your hamster’s cage should be set up as follows: Looking into the cage from a bird’s eye view, the top left corner should contain your hamster nest or mini house, in the top right should be a wheel, the bottom right can be left empty since that should be a potty spot for your hamster, and the bottom left should house the food bowl and water bottle. You can reorganize any of these to your hamster’s liking. Use the remaining space in the cage to for toys and other entertainment items. Now that you have made its living quarters comfortable, you should turn your attention to the diet of your hamster.
The diet of your hamster is what can help keep your hamster healthy and vet visits at a minimum. Your local pet store should have plenty of reputable brands of hamster feed such as Nutriphase, Kaytee Fiesta Max, Mazuri pellets, and Carefresh Complete. Depending on the size of your hamster, 1-2 teaspoons of mix for each hamster per day should suffice. Hamsters will store most of their food all around their cage to eat later, so check to see how much they have before giving them more. Their daily feeding should occur at the same time every day and while they are awake that way over time they will come to expect when dinnertime is. Try to only feed your hamsters treats, such as yogurt drops or other hamster safe sweets, once a day. If you surpass this amount your hamster can grow sick or obese. Feeding them fruits and vegetables are not only healthy choices, but feeding time allows you and your hamster the opportunity to bond and develop trust. To begin with, the hamster should only be given a small piece of fruit or vegetable once or twice a week, and over a period of weeks this can be increased to a small piece every day. If at any time the hamster shows signs of diarrhea, all feeding of fruit and vegetables should cease until the hamster has recovered, and then gradually re-introduce the food into the diet. You can feed them foods such as one slice of apple, a grape, or a section of an orange. (See list of hamster safe food under FOOD LIST). Once your hamster has gotten use to eating fruit from you, you should start spending more time with it by using treats to coax it out and be friendlier toward you.
When you handle your hamster you should always be careful with it and treat it as if you are holding a delicate piece of china. You should only play with your hamster if it is awake. Never wake it up on purpose or else it will be angry, and it may bite. When you pick up your hamster you should approach it from the front and not from behind or on top or else your hamster may be frightened and run away. Put one hand under it and the other hand around its body like a cave with an open top or side. Never hold your hamster over 1 foot above the ground to avoid injury from dropping or falling. Another way to get your hamster to go into your hand is to place food on your hand and let your hamster climb into it. A way to let your hamster get use to your handling is to let your hamster run through your hands by placing them one after another again and again or letting him run over your body. Alternatively, hamsters also love run around in a clear plastic ball. Let him run around the house for some exercise and exploration for about 30 min then return him to his cage. You can also let your hamster run around free in a sealed off room to let him explore naturally. Be sure to always be watching your hamster when it is out of its cage and make sure there is no way for your hamster to escape or get caught somewhere. Handling your hamster is a great way to tame and bond with your furry little friend, plus it’s a fantastic way to have some fun together and get to know each other better.
If your hamster happens to escape, start luring it back by placing piles of food in each room of your house. Then check on the piles every 5-10 minutes. Your hamster will smell the food and come out from hiding to eat. Once you know which room your hamster is in, close the door and block off all other exits. Now you can set up a trap to capture your furry escape artist and bring him back to the safety of his cage. First, find a smooth sided bucket that is over twice your hamster’s height. Next, place food at the bottom if the bucket along with some water. Then, put a ladder or pile of books on the outside of the bucket, leading to the top. Finally, with a bit of patience your hamster should attempt to reach the food and fall into the bucket trap, unable to escape. Keep in mind, some hamsters are more stubborn than others and trapping these clever escape artists may take up to a couple of days.
As you can see, caring for your hamster can be hard work, but in the end it always pays off. Keeping your hamster happy, healthy and safe is a great way to preserve your experience with each other. Accomplishing these things is essential for developing a lasting and memorable relationship with your hamster.
Obviously, the habitat of your furry friend is probably the most important thing to your hamster. First, you must decide on a suitable cage. Purchasing a wire bar cage, a large glass aquarium or a plastic cage are your best choices. All of these cages would make a great start to your hamster kingdom. Second, you need to decide on the type of bedding to use choosing from shredded paper, wood shavings, paper pellets or soft, oddly shaped paper balls. Please avoid using cedar shavings. Most hamsters are allergic to cedar, and it can cause splintering, chapped feet and stomach problems since cedar shavings are almost entirely non-digestible. Even worse cedar shavings can react with urine causing toxic fumes called phenols to be released in the air if it has contact with the ammonia. Remember, choosing the right habitat is essential since it will be your hamster’s home for the rest of its life.
After you layer in the bedding, you must decide on a hamster wheel to be used for daily exercise. A small or medium wheel should do fine. The wheel is important since it will help keep your hamster fit and happy. Next, you will need a shelter or a place your hamster can sleep, store and hide such as a small plastic hamster box, a little wooden hut, a mini ceramic pot on its side or even a cleaned out coconut with a large entrance. Any of these will do. Your hamster’s cage should be set up as follows: Looking into the cage from a bird’s eye view, the top left corner should contain your hamster nest or mini house, in the top right should be a wheel, the bottom right can be left empty since that should be a potty spot for your hamster, and the bottom left should house the food bowl and water bottle. You can reorganize any of these to your hamster’s liking. Use the remaining space in the cage to for toys and other entertainment items. Now that you have made its living quarters comfortable, you should turn your attention to the diet of your hamster.
The diet of your hamster is what can help keep your hamster healthy and vet visits at a minimum. Your local pet store should have plenty of reputable brands of hamster feed such as Nutriphase, Kaytee Fiesta Max, Mazuri pellets, and Carefresh Complete. Depending on the size of your hamster, 1-2 teaspoons of mix for each hamster per day should suffice. Hamsters will store most of their food all around their cage to eat later, so check to see how much they have before giving them more. Their daily feeding should occur at the same time every day and while they are awake that way over time they will come to expect when dinnertime is. Try to only feed your hamsters treats, such as yogurt drops or other hamster safe sweets, once a day. If you surpass this amount your hamster can grow sick or obese. Feeding them fruits and vegetables are not only healthy choices, but feeding time allows you and your hamster the opportunity to bond and develop trust. To begin with, the hamster should only be given a small piece of fruit or vegetable once or twice a week, and over a period of weeks this can be increased to a small piece every day. If at any time the hamster shows signs of diarrhea, all feeding of fruit and vegetables should cease until the hamster has recovered, and then gradually re-introduce the food into the diet. You can feed them foods such as one slice of apple, a grape, or a section of an orange. (See list of hamster safe food under FOOD LIST). Once your hamster has gotten use to eating fruit from you, you should start spending more time with it by using treats to coax it out and be friendlier toward you.
When you handle your hamster you should always be careful with it and treat it as if you are holding a delicate piece of china. You should only play with your hamster if it is awake. Never wake it up on purpose or else it will be angry, and it may bite. When you pick up your hamster you should approach it from the front and not from behind or on top or else your hamster may be frightened and run away. Put one hand under it and the other hand around its body like a cave with an open top or side. Never hold your hamster over 1 foot above the ground to avoid injury from dropping or falling. Another way to get your hamster to go into your hand is to place food on your hand and let your hamster climb into it. A way to let your hamster get use to your handling is to let your hamster run through your hands by placing them one after another again and again or letting him run over your body. Alternatively, hamsters also love run around in a clear plastic ball. Let him run around the house for some exercise and exploration for about 30 min then return him to his cage. You can also let your hamster run around free in a sealed off room to let him explore naturally. Be sure to always be watching your hamster when it is out of its cage and make sure there is no way for your hamster to escape or get caught somewhere. Handling your hamster is a great way to tame and bond with your furry little friend, plus it’s a fantastic way to have some fun together and get to know each other better.
If your hamster happens to escape, start luring it back by placing piles of food in each room of your house. Then check on the piles every 5-10 minutes. Your hamster will smell the food and come out from hiding to eat. Once you know which room your hamster is in, close the door and block off all other exits. Now you can set up a trap to capture your furry escape artist and bring him back to the safety of his cage. First, find a smooth sided bucket that is over twice your hamster’s height. Next, place food at the bottom if the bucket along with some water. Then, put a ladder or pile of books on the outside of the bucket, leading to the top. Finally, with a bit of patience your hamster should attempt to reach the food and fall into the bucket trap, unable to escape. Keep in mind, some hamsters are more stubborn than others and trapping these clever escape artists may take up to a couple of days.
As you can see, caring for your hamster can be hard work, but in the end it always pays off. Keeping your hamster happy, healthy and safe is a great way to preserve your experience with each other. Accomplishing these things is essential for developing a lasting and memorable relationship with your hamster.