What makes hamsters good pets

No, not really. Aside from their instincts survive, reproduce, find food, etc. Too small, dirty, no toys, no hideout, too many sounds and people trying to get to them, being handled too much, etc. Yes, hamsters have an amazing stash of food in their nests, and they will hoard everything.

Chew on everything available, including his hideout — great to have a wooden hideout for that reason. Let me explain, What your hamster would do in the wild In the wild, the essential activities would be the same ones I described above. Except the hamster can be found and eaten by a predator at any moment.

So that means the hammy is always on edge, always hearing things out, always running away. In the wild toys would have no purpose. Finally, in the wild the hammy would try to find a mate too. The minimum cage size for a single hamster is 24 x 12 inches, and about 12 inches tall.

Every hamster will like a larger cage better, so if you can get a big cage you should do that. Aside from the minimum bedding on the cage floor, there is also the absolute need for a hideout. Your hamster will make himself a nest anyway in the most hidden corner he an find. An exercise wheel is mandatory as well, simply because running is half of everything a hamster does. He spends most of his life running, so not getting him that would be like someone never letting you out of your house.

These are the bare minimum, but there are toys to take into consideration. Some you can DYI, some are store bought. Look around and see which you like best. You can save up money and still keep you hammy happy with cardboard tubes from paper towels and toilet paper rolls. Teddy has a grand time with those cardboard rolls, and he uses them as chew toys too. Any other distractions you can provide your hamster — like time outside his cage in an exercise ball — will be welcome too.

A large cage will also mean lots of space for him to run around in, explore, and have a whole bunch of toys. Finally, keeping your hamster in a dirty cage will lower his general disposition, since no one likes that.

A dirty cage can lead to several health issues, which is never something you want. However hamsters do not need a buddy. That sounds terrible, but bear with me. Hamsters can be social, sometimes, under certain circumstances. But for the most part they will fight to the death with other hamsters. In the wild the hamster is not a very cuddly animal. Sure, Dwarf types can live together if they absolutely have to, but they end up fighting over food and space in the nest.

They end up on their own, and the Syrians are definitely to be kept alone. Hamsters need to grow up together in a very large cage, with lots of food and toys and space, order to get along. Introducing a new hamster out of the blue ends in pain. Do Hamsters Get Fleas? Anyone, at any point, can get fleas. But what about hamsters? Do hamster fleas get on humans too?

Table of Contents So do hamsters get fleas? How to check if your hamster has fleasTreating your hamster of a flea infestationMake sure to clean and treat the entire housePreventing fleas from getting to your hamsterHow fleas get in the house in the first placeA word from Teddy So do hamsters get fleas?

Yes, unfortunately hamsters can and do get fleas. Not all hamsters, all the time, but if there is a flea infestation in the house, your hamster can get a few fleas of his own. This has more to do with the nature of the fleas themselves, than the hamster. The worst part is that they can live for a long time in hiding, even with no host.

How to check if your hamster has fleas Alright, fleas are fairly easy to spot. Those are the fleas, if here is more than one. Those are the scent glands. The Dwarf types have them on their bellies. Another way to check if the hamster has a flea is to gently comb through his fur with your fingers.

Finally, you can also check for flea dirt. Fleas feed very often throughout the day, so if you found flea droppings today, the flea is definitely still there. This is because the vast majority of flea shots are okay for cats or dogs — so larger animals — but may be poisonous for small animals.

So something like a guinea pig, hamster, chinchilla, even a rat, could not take such a shot. There definitely are some flea treatments that are safe for hamsters. It varies from country to country, in terms of what each country decides is safe in terms of ingredients. Talk to your veterinarian, and ask him about flea treatments for your pet hamster. He will surely know what to do.

There are vets that have experience with rodents, reptiles and birds, and can help you. Use said solution to clean everything that your hamster has touched, or will touch. Like his hideout, running wheel, food bowl, everything. The reason behind this is because fleas lay eggs, so many eggs — about 50 eggs a day — which will get everywhere in the cage. The bedding, the sandbath, every nook and cranny possible. They can even get into the carpets, even if your hamster was never on the carpet.

Aside form this, the house itself will need a flea bomb. So once you get fleas, you will need to purge everything. You see, after hatching from their egg, flea larvae can survive for months without a host.

Preventing fleas from getting to your hamster The first way to prevent your hamster from getting fleas is to keep him away from any animals that you know have fleas.

Housepets rarely get fleas. Do keep in mind though, that even if you try very hard to keep the flea away from the hamster, it will possibly not work. Fleas can jump very far, and travel easily from a host to another. Even something as small and innocent as petting a flea-infested cat can get the flea on you. When you sit the down the flea can jump off you and stop on the carpet outside the bathroom, where the dog will pick it up and jump on your bed.

Fleas are notoriously hard to catch. The simplest and most reliable way to keep fleas away from your hamster, and incidentally your house, is a regular flea bomb. And keeping a flea collar on the pets you own, or giving them periodic flea shots. How fleas get in the house in the first place Fleas can get in your home even by just jumping by.

So it will probably get into your home by a chain of happenings that starts from petting or playing with an infested animal. The bigger problem is that once a flea has entered your house, it can lay up to 50 eggs per day. The eggs are nearly invisible to the naked eye. Once the eggs have landed in a fuzzy, cozy spot they can hatch in up to 12 days.

Once they hatch, they become larvae and that stage can take a few weeks too. In the winter when it is cold and dry, it can even last up to days. In this stage the larvae feed off dead skin and other organic cells on the ground. After this, they cocoon into the pupae stage, and finally become full adults.

This whole process can take up to a year in certain conditions. You can find more info on the life cycle of fleas on this site, including how to rid them from your home. Again, a regular, periodic flea-bomb will keep the whole house safe. If you want to know more about us hamsters you can check out the related videos below. There are some reasons though, why the hamster mothers do that.

Those are very important to understand, in order to save the babies. Table of Contents So why do hamsters eat their babies? Mother hamsters are not as emotional as human mothers. Rodent mothers are not the most careful mothers in the first place, compared to other mothers, for example cats or dogs.

All animals can eat or kill their young, if they consider something is wrong with them. But rodent mothers, and hamsters are rodents, are much less attached to their babies. Here are the most common examples, and how you can save those babies by helping the mother.

Do not stress the mother This is the major reason hamster mothers end up eating their young. The stress and effort of giving birth, especially her first litter, combined with you checking up on her constantly will annoy her.

Once you notice the mother is approaching her due date days after mating , start giving her much more food than usual, and bedding and nesting material as well. She will find the most hidden corner, or use her hideout, to give birth, and you must leave her alone during this time.

Best to even leave the room. So if you know your hammy is about to give birth, be careful when approaching her in the morning.

Do not poke at her or the cage, talk to her, or try to interact with the babies. This is the food that will help her regain her strength immediately. Something like cooked egg white, or cooked plain chicken is good for your hamster. She might get confused as to which one is chicken and which is her baby.

So only give her chicken or egg after she gave birth, only while you can see her. In the mean time, continue feeding her through the bars, without placing your hand inside the cage. You can introduce a teaspoon through the bars to give her dry food, or sprinkle some on her food bowl. She will have a stash of food anyway, but right now would be a good time to give her more. For a list of safe foods you can give your hammy, check out this food list article. Give the mother plenty of space, in a large cage This is again something that will always come up.

Space, lots of it, is something that hamsters need. The absolute minimum for a hamster cage is 24 x 12 inches, and about 12 inches tall. A hamster mother giving birth to babies at once is going to fill up a cage fast.

In those times, even her large cage might seem a bit cramped for her. She needs to adjust and feel comfortable in her new home as soon as you put her there, so place some of her old bedding and nesting material in her new temporary cage. Do not disturb the mother or cage for at least 2 weeks after giving birth This is because the mother is very tired ans started and jumpy while her babies are still very young. So do not open her cage, or change the bedding, try to put her in an exercise ball or separate her from her babies.

Hamster mothers will do their best to raise and wean every one of their young, but they can scare very easily and end up eating their babies. This includes feeding the mother as well, feed her through the bars with a teaspoon or sprinkle some dry food onto her bowl. A baby hamster can only be removed from his mother after weeks, and can be given for adoption immediately after. You will notice the mother has weaned them when she pushes them away after they try to nurse from her. Surprises happen, especially with dwarf pairs, since their sex is difficult to tell sometimes.

So you might end up with a male and female pair that will give you a surprise litter one morning. Hamsters can mate again, right after the mother gave birth, so keep them apart. This is mostly due to accidents, like her biting too hard on the baby when she tries to pick him up.

It sounds horrible, but small animals can get clumsy like this too. If the baby is not weaned yet, you can not touch it because the mother will reject it and then definitely eat it. Unless you want to raise the litter on your own, since they are just a few days old.

Like they might be sick or have something wrong with their body, that only she can tell. She might kill them if this is the case, because she thinks they will not survive on their own. How to tell your hamster is pregnant Maybe you ended up with a pregnant hamster when you bought her from the pet store.

Or maybe you notice that one of your dwarf hammies is looking a bit odd. Whatever the case, here is how the pregnancy happens and how you can tell your hamster is pregnant. She is saving her strength. She will become more and more irritable as her dues date approaches, and will look for hidden, safe corners n her cage. But wait for at least 3 weeks after you separate her, to see if she does give birth or not.

About hamster fertility and breeding Hamsters can breed basically every month. In theory, you can have a new litter every month. This is because a hamster can get pregnant within minutes after giving birth. Baby hamsters can mate as soon as their mother weaned them. To figure out which is male and which is female, pick the hamster up, and look at his rear end. In females the genitals are right under the anus. In males, there is a more noticeable space left between them.

If you tilt a male a bit back while you told him, you might even notice his testicles around his tail. This is more difficult with the smaller breeds, so every breed except for the Syrian. And hamsters do not like to be held this much or in that position, so they will squirm a bit. But you must do this to figure out which is which, in order to separate them. Female hamsters are in heat every few days, during the night, so they can be mated at any point.

There is no mating seasons for hamsters, as there is with other animals. A word from Teddy I hope you found out a lot about us hammies here. If you want to know more about us hammies, you can check the articles below. After a few weeks I got Teddy his own exercise ball. But that was when I learned most of the things I know about how much exercise a hamster needs, and how to help him get that exercise. Table of Contents So what is the best exercise ball for hamsters?

Why hamsters need an exercise ballHow to tell if your hamster is comfortable in the exercise ballPrecautions when using the hamster exercise ballDo not leave your hamster in the exercise ball for too long. Hamsters can sometimes escape their exercise balls. Be careful what surface you place the ball on. Proof your apartment or house. My recommendation for a good hamster exercise ballHow to use a hamster exercise ballGet your hamster used to the exercise ballPlacing your hamster in the exercise ballPlacing the hamster back in his cageWhen to place the hamster in his exercise ballWhen to not place the hamster in his exercise ballA word on hamster exercise balls with standsHow to clean a hamster exercise ballWhere to keep the hamster exercise ball when not using itA word from Teddy So what is the best exercise ball for hamsters?

A great exercise ball for hamsters is one that will fit the adult hamster properly. This means that an adult Syrian hamster like my Teddy will need at least a 7 inch exercise ball, up to 9 inches. Smaller breeds of hamster like a dwarf or Campbell will do well in 5 inch exercise balls, up to 7 inches.

This can happen with the very large exercise balls, that are geared towards guinea pigs or ferrets. So inspect the air holes and vents carefully to see how wide they are. All exercise balls are made of hard plastic, so your hamster will be safe.

So the exercise ball saved us both, especially in the beginning. He can roam the house as much as he likes. This is the first way an exercise ball helps your hamster. Second, an exercise ball will help your hamster get more exercise than the running wheel.

To find out more about the kind of exercise wheel your hamster needs, check out my article here. Third, it gives him something to do. This is what I do with my Teddy, and he always gets excited when he sees it. This one is more for you than the hamster, I know. But you need a laugh every now and then too.

A hamster in his exercise ball bumping into every bit of furniture, and trying his best to push the ball over that powerstrip cord is the best thing ever. The first one he had was a smaller, 5 inch one. Since he was a baby, it was alright for a couple of weeks. Back then he was the size of an adult dwarf hamster.

But he soon started to grow and get bigger and longer, and once I was that I went to look for a bigger exercise ball. As a result, it is best to keep hamsters alone. This makes for cheaper setup costs and more modest-sized cages.

As you can see, hamsters have numerous aspects that make them great pets. However, they are far from perfect, which is one reason why a number of people opt instead for one of the other small rodents frequently encountered. In order to provide a balanced view of hamsters as pets, it makes sense now to consider these downsides.

The first of these is that hamsters have quite bad eyesight. They tend to sense things far more by sound, smell and taste.

What this means is that hamsters are far more prone to biting than most other pet rodents. The pain caused by a hamster bite should not be under-estimated, and it is not uncommon for them to draw blood as a result. Worse, however, especially when the owner is a child, is that a few bites from a hamster can quickly put you off a hamster. There have been numerous occasions where a child has grown fearful of their hamster after finding it hanging off their finger a few too many times.

The second downside to hamsters is their nocturnal lifestyle, which means they are up and about all through the night. This means that siting the cage properly is important if you or your children are not to be kept awake at night. Hamsters will fight and inflict serious injuries to each other if housed in the same quarters, so each must have their own separate space.

A female who gives birth may kill and eat their babies if disturbed, and allowing hamsters to breed is not recommended. Dwarf hamsters, on the other hand, may be able to live together if introduced properly. The adoption fee or purchase price for a hamster is typically small, but there are startup costs and ongoing needs to anticipate.

The initial purchase of equipment and supplies is likely to include:. Are you prepared to spend several hundred dollars a year on your new friend, not including veterinary costs, if your hamster develops a chronic condition like diabetes or requires emergency treatment? Hamsters are fairly independent and can entertain themselves for extended periods of time, provided their housing is properly enriched with toys, bedding, and opportunities for burrowing and climbing.

Still, to be happy and well-adjusted, your hamster should receive daily handling and interaction. Keep in mind that you'll need to thoroughly clean your hamster's cage every week. The average lifespan for a hamster is 2. If you can't make a long commitment to a pet, this characteristic may be appealing. But if you have young children and aren't prepared for them to experience the death of a pet, you may prefer a longer-lived animal.

It's illegal to own pet hamsters in Hawaii. Even the recurring costs, like food and bedding, are fairly low and should only cost you around ten dollars a month.

You can even reduce the cost of keeping your hamster by making your own toys and DIY bin cage. A DIY bin cage can be made by buying at least a twenty-gallon container these are dirt cheap and can be found at most hardware stores, or even a large supermarket! Taking your hamster away from his cage can also be a lot of fun.

You can fill a cardboard box with toys and obstacles, which gives your hamster exercise and enrichment. You could also build your own maze for your hamster and hide treats behind certain walls. Other than the noise from running on a wheel this noise can be reduced by purchasing a silent wheel! This is unfortunate, but it also makes them low-commitment pets. Dogs can live over ten years, and cats can live well into their late teens, which means they take a lot of dedication and commitment to look after.

Hamsters come in a lot of shapes, sizes, and colors. Syrian hamsters have often been nicknamed the teddy bear hamster and are much bigger than Dwarf hamsters.

They also come in a plethora of colors, such as cream, honey, black, sable, and grey. There are also different coat types and patterns to choose from!

Additionally, dwarf hamsters, unlike Syrians who are strictly solitary, can live in pairs or small groups. If you want to keep dwarf hamsters together, then you will need to make sure you have a large and spacious enclosure.

When owning a pair or small group of dwarf hamsters, you should make sure you have spare cages in case you need to separate them. A dog or cat could cause damage to the property, which is why most rented places and landlords prohibit them.