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Old 04-02-2018, 09:13 AM   #1
heelys
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Join Date: Apr 2018
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Unhappy Rescued Winter White Dwarf

Hi! My friend wanted a loving hamster so she went to the pet store and picked one up with 200$ worth of supplies. My friend told me she was acting fine until 2 weeks in, and her hamster was being "mean" & "satanic" because lo and behold, the little girl had been in a critter trail!

I had been telling my friend throughout this time, ¨hey, maybe she is being aggressive because she's in too small of a cage" (I didn't know she was in a critter trail) But she said she has plenty of room because she's a tiny dwarf, so that wasn't the cause. A couple months later my friend was fed up with the chewing on the wires and biting every time she got near her cage so she gave her to me.

I immediately moved her into a bigger bin with more substrate to burrow in! When she came, she would dart towards her cage door and "guard"? it. Immediately when I opened it she crawled into my hand and started biting me. I left her alone for 3 days but she wasn't showing typical signs of stress so I started giving her treats. She'd readily take them from me and eat beside my hand. I'm even able to pet her lightly and scritch her head as long as her mouth is distracted by food. She's not skittish around me or my hands at all, just annoyed is what I'm perceiving it as. Whenever I go near her cage she tries to "get" me even though there is no longer a door for her to guard, but quickly goes back to normal business (scavenging food, wheel.)

I've had her for 10 days, and have been interacting with her everyday since day 4. Some things I do is rub my scent (washed, non-scented hands) on her carefresh when I fluff it. I scatter-feed her every 1-2 days. I rotate toys and hides (besides her main one) every 5 days. I put a fleece blanket on the bottom of a (washed) bathtub and a bunch of toys (including a wheel) and sit with her for an hour. I've done this twice, she climbs up me and tries to bite at any Skin possible, never making me bleed but it's not really a nip.

I plan to upgrade her cage very soon, I don't have the exact dimensions yet, but it's a storage bin, I'll attach some pictures soon. I don't have a set home so I rotate houses every week and I'm scared it's stressing her out.
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Old 04-04-2018, 07:27 AM   #2
heelys
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Default Re: Rescued Winter White Dwarf

-I clean my hands but I don't have nonscented soap so I just use really hot water
-I rub my hands in her bedding when I go to fluff it every other day
-I trade out toys every 3 days, and rotate her stuff around every 5
-I plan to upgrade her bin to be bigger! for sure
-I use a cup to transfer her to the bathtub, which is covered up with a fleece blanket, and a bunch of toys & wheel
-I let her be in there by herself for 10 minutes then I get in, she Immediately tries to bite me, even when I use the back of my flat hand she finds a way to bite some skin
-I talk to her everyday and keep her in the same room as me, they don't get heavy traffic but a heater is on most of the time
-I have to move between two houses every week, I'm concerned it will stress her out. She's already been switched once but I read that if you leave them alone for a week they'll unlearn socialization
-I have two different wheels, a saucer that I used for my mice and the wheel pictured. I'm afraid they're both too small.
-I have a seed mix for her (though I want blocks as well) and I feed her a variety of treats (no yogurt drops)
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Old 04-04-2018, 08:01 AM   #3
cypher
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Default Re: Rescued Winter White Dwarf

Well done for giving this little one a better home, I'm sure she'll be much happier now but she still needs time to settle in as you haven't had her long.
As she appears to be quite territorial in her cage it's more important than ever not to move things around, find a set up that works for her & then don't move anything, being stressed by cage changes is more of a problem than getting bored if she doesn't have that much in her cage.
It's important not to over clean too at this time, just spot clean any pee or better still give her a litter tray with chinchilla sand where she normally pees & don't do any more cleaning than that for the first month.
After that you can do partial cleans every few weeks as needed but it's important not to change things, remove her scent or interfere with her nest & food hoard so she can really settle down.
I would avoid putting your hand in the cage at all for a while & just interact with her out of the cage, that might help with the biting problem & given some time & patience I'm sure things will get better.

What seed mix are you giving her? Avoid anything with sugars, honey or fruit as she is more than likely a hybrid rather than a pure WW & they are prone to diabetes, avoid giving any fresh fruit too & stick to veg.
The wheel may be a little small, it's hard to tell from that angle but if you're concerned I would get a larger one rather than using a saucer in the cage.
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Old 04-04-2018, 08:47 AM   #4
heelys
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Default Re: Rescued Winter White Dwarf

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
Well done for giving this little one a better home, I'm sure she'll be much happier now but she still needs time to settle in as you haven't had her long.
As she appears to be quite territorial in her cage it's more important than ever not to move things around, find a set up that works for her & then don't move anything, being stressed by cage changes is more of a problem than getting bored if she doesn't have that much in her cage.
It's important not to over clean too at this time, just spot clean any pee or better still give her a litter tray with chinchilla sand where she normally pees & don't do any more cleaning than that for the first month.
After that you can do partial cleans every few weeks as needed but it's important not to change things, remove her scent or interfere with her nest & food hoard so she can really settle down.
I would avoid putting your hand in the cage at all for a while & just interact with her out of the cage, that might help with the biting problem & given some time & patience I'm sure things will get better.

What seed mix are you giving her? Avoid anything with sugars, honey or fruit as she is more than likely a hybrid rather than a pure WW & they are prone to diabetes, avoid giving any fresh fruit too & stick to veg.
The wheel may be a little small, it's hard to tell from that angle but if you're concerned I would get a larger one rather than using a saucer in the cage.
Thank you, I have definitely learned a lot from this. About how long until I can switch her into a bigger bin? (with old bedding) Would letting her run around in my bathtub (fleece covered with toys & wheel) be sufficient enough for letting her stretch out her legs more/be beneficial to her? Is it bad when I do bathtub bonding and put one of the toys from her enclosure into the bathtub to make her feel more safe? I'll check the food bag when I get home, I've been giving her dried apple slices, romaine, carrots, banana, but I'll definitely stop all fruit. She's most definitely a hybrid, since she's from Petsmart.

Any tips on where they may pee? I spot clean beside her wheel but I don't know where she urinates. I'll try to get some chinchilla sand/ sterile play sand soon, she came with chinchilla dust that I put away.
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Old 04-04-2018, 09:22 AM   #5
cypher
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Default Re: Rescued Winter White Dwarf

If the new bin isn't going to be a huge change but just a bit bigger so she can have more toys & a bigger wheel maybe I don't think it would stress her out too much, keeping the substrate will really help & also keeping a similar layout to the way she's getting used to now would help her settle too.
Having a run around the bath should be enough for now at least, you can usually tell when they've had enough & it's better to gradually build up the time, if you could make her a playpen or buy one that might be better for her & once you have more toys you could let her run around in there as much as she likes, you could either get in with her or interact with her from outside. Taking things she's familiar with out of the cage for play time is fine it can help them feel more settled & less stressed.
It can take a while for them to settle on a pee spot & it's not always easy to find but they do seem to like peeing in the sand as well as using it as a sand bath which is really good for them so if you can get some sand you may find she'll start to use it to pee in without you even needing to encourage her.
Definitely cut out the fruit, try to give her a good variety of veg something different each day for a few days before giving the same again, broccoli is usually a big hit & most enjoy cucumber too but you may need to experiment a bit to find what she enjoys most.
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Old 04-04-2018, 04:09 PM   #6
heelys
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Default Re: Rescued Winter White Dwarf

She really liked apples, poor Marble. I checked the seed mix, it has
15% crude protein
5% crude fat
8% crude fiber (max)
13% moisture (max)
.1% calcium
.5% calcium (max)
.3% Phosphorus
Vitamin A 3,000 IU
Vitamin D3 1,000 IU
Vitamin E 20 IU
It's wild harvest "Hamster & Gerbil Advanced Nutrition Diet"
Thank you so much again.
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Old 04-04-2018, 10:52 PM   #7
CMB
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Default Re: Rescued Winter White Dwarf

You may find she likes dried mealworms as a treat and you can also try her with a small piece of chicken. This will boost the protein of her diet.

Not sure if there is a specific dwarf hamster food where you live. But if there is it might be better to use that, as it has smaller seeds and pieces of food.
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Old 04-04-2018, 11:31 PM   #8
cypher
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Default Re: Rescued Winter White Dwarf

The GA isn't too bad for your mix, the protein is a bit low for a younger ham but as CMB suggested a few mealworms daily would give that the boost it needs, the fat isn't too high so the extra fat in the mealworms would be ok too. Some of my Russians have enjoyed chicken some won't touch it but it is worth trying that too, either plain cooked or dried if you can get it.
I can't find a list of ingredients for the mix so can't say if everything in it is suitable or not.
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Old 04-05-2018, 04:42 AM   #9
heelys
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Default Re: Rescued Winter White Dwarf

I live 40 minutes away from any pet shop haha so I order online. I was planning on getting mealworms soon actually! I have another pet who would benefit from them. So is it better to get mealworms dried or alive?
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Old 04-05-2018, 05:16 AM   #10
cypher
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Default Re: Rescued Winter White Dwarf

Dried are easiest, if you feed live ones you have to pinch the heads off first as they can bite & injure hams.
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