Hello, new chinese hamster owner

[Kira]

Welllll we went to p@h yesterday and ended coming out with a little chinese lady from the adoption centre. apparently "No one wanted me"

I have never had a chinese hamster before but I must say she is gorgeous, gentle and nothing like what I was led to believe of the dwarf type (although now I realise the chinese technically are not a dwarf type)

Anyway here she is in her new "pad" She seems very happy and has been running about and running in her wheel and taking a few titbits out of my hand (broccoli seemed to be fave)

Ok technically she is my sons hamster (he bought her cage with his bday money). But as Im the adult the care, vet fees and cleaning/feeding will ultimatly be my reponsibility

Her cage looks scarily bare but we are working on that one,

http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc436/Ajhwth1982/aac40d40.jpg
http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc436/Ajhwth1982/c6052f18.jpg
http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc436/Ajhwth1982/5d57f3f3.jpg
http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc436/Ajhwth1982/IMAG1414.jpg

[racinghamster]

Hi Kira and congratulations on your new little lady! :) Chinese hamsters are lovely and given gentle handling, she should become a real family member. If you read through many of the posts in this particular section, you will probably find the answers to many questions you may have about chinese hamsters and what they require in terms of diet and care.

Give her deep substrate to dig in and plenty of toilet roll tubes to hide in. A cardboard eggbox with doors cut out of either end and one `turret` cut off will provide another good, safe toy for her. :)

Natural products like cardboard/wood/cork are best. Plastic holds moisture, so it`s best to give her a little sleeping place that is made of wood or cardboard. Paper base bedding (Pets At Home do sell this) is also best.

Diet: I feed Burgess Supahamster Harvest as it seems to be the best mix on the market for smaller hamsters as it does`nt have huge extruded biscuits like Harry Hamster. Pets At Home probably do their own dwarf mixes aswell, but these might be filled with alfalfa and corn and not much else.

I also take out the yellow maize and flaked corn in a mix and replace it with any of the following:

Buckwheat (Tesco or any good healthfood shop)
Kallo organic wholegrain rice (Tesco or healthfood shop)
Tesco organic jumbo oats (porridge section in a black bag!)
Millet/canary seed.

Chinese hamsters can be prone to diabetes, so replacing corn/maize and anything high in fat is a good idea. Sunflower seeds/pumpkin seeds and small pieces of peanut are fine, but I feed these as treats in moderation.

And yes, they are a different `genus` and are not typically dwarf hamsters. They are much more mouse-like in nature and habit, which is why I prefer them as I also keep mice. ;)

Edited to add: She would also appreciate a regular sized Silent Spinner wheel to the one that comes with the Duna cage. These can be rattly and the plastic treads sore on the feet. I`m not too sure whether these wheels are still rough to run on or smoothe? The old style were quite rough.

[MzWiz0915]

She is beautiful! Congrats on getting a chinese ham, even if you did sort of claim you sons pet as your own :D There's a lot of great advice on HC for caring for chinese hams. As you can already see racinghamster is a chinese ham enthusiest and has loads of great knowledge to share :)

Good luck with your new little one!

[Roxie]

Congratulations on your new little one! Once you get one Chinese you won't look back. I've recently been claimed by one and I can't imagine life without her.

With gentle handling and patience they become gorgeous little pets and wonderful to have around.

[Kira]

Thanks everyone. She is lovely....
My son is 9 and thinks she's pretty ace! We have had hamster before. Harvey the Syrian is her predecessor. He passed away this march aged 3 yrs old. She has got his hand me down silent spanner. The duna one was far too rattly!!

We have just placed an order on zooplus for. Some wood toys

Will update with pix in due course

[Vectis Hamstery]

Congratulations on your new addition. She's a pretty little normal girly. My first Chinese hamster came from P@H too and I blame him entirely for all the others that have now moved in too! Beware - hamsters are addictive ;)