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Originally Posted by Chicleteer
Thank you, Ria P. Those are helpful insights. I’m thinking of using 2 water sources, one being the water bottle and the other a self-refillable water dish, which I think is very well designed (someone mentioned it on this forum; it’s the Dahey Drinking Water Feeder for small pets), and which is designed so it doesn’t topple over.
As far as the ham wanting out-of-cage time, I’m aware that I may have helped create that situation and expectation by allowing Chiclet lots of time outside the cage initially and all along. It might have helped (and helped my own schedule as well) if I had more limits on it.
In the U.S., there are so few breeders! I wish there were more. I was unable to find one driving distance from Massachusetts, so if anyone knows of one, I’d be very interested. My plan was to get one from a family-owned pet store that specializes in small animals, and who seem to take much better care of the animals than the big pet shops are apt to. Right now, with the virus, they’re not selling live animals, so I’d have to wait anyhow.
Thanks very much for your feedback, Ria! And I hope Master Henry is doing well these days. I really enjoyed his past correspondence with Mistress Poppy....  |
I'm from Maine so I understand the rarity of breeders and hamsters in rescues around here. You could also look on Craigslist of a family rehoming one. That way you could still adopt one that you can know a bit about its personality. As I'm in college, I would stay at my grandmother's three nights a week (since she lives closer to my school) my hamster wasn't completely home alone, my sister would go in to check water and food, but not take them out. My hamster is still very tamed. She never seemed to notice my absent. I personally think that as long as there is plenty of water and food left out and you're 100% sure they won't escape their cage, they should be okay to be left for a few nights.