Chinese hamster questions

[cypher]

Sounds like a good cleaning plan, it does tend to get a bit messy in front of the wheel where all the pee & poo comes flying out lol! so it does need a bit more cleaning there but other than that & the house cages don't normally get all that dirty or messy.
It was getting poked by the ladder rather than not being able to climb it that I was wondering about too, it should be ok until you can make a little ramp though.

[racinghamster]

She is so cute and coming along very nicely. Chinese hamsters are very mouse-like and so cheeky! Her Bin cage is lovely and spacious, well done. As for full cage cleans.....don`t need them. Spot clean, replace old with fresh and leave it at that, apart from cleaning her wheel or anything that needs a wash down! Hamsters actually prefer their scent around them, so even if they smell a bit, try not to worry about that. Simple wipe downs with hot water and kitchen towel is fine. Only use safe disinfectants when absolutely necessary as they are not needed. I never, ever use them. Washing up liquid and hot water to clean your plastic wheel and accessories is fine.

Handling should always be on her terms really and Chinese hamsters can nip if they are scared or anxious. It`s their way of saying `put me back down!` But they rarely, if ever, are vicious. Their shyness is part of their behaviour and as you can see, they can become outward and bold when approached correctly and not woken up or mis-handled. It`s much better to allow her to tell you when she`s ready than rush her and end up with a scared, nippy hamster! x

[Fluffagrams]

Originally Posted by racinghamster

Simple wipe downs with hot water and kitchen towel is fine. Only use safe disinfectants when absolutely necessary as they are not needed. I never, ever use them. Washing up liquid and hot water to clean your plastic wheel and accessories is fine.

I usually find that is all that's necessary. I own a bottle of cage safe disinfectant but other than cleaning the show pen after the Wootten Bassett show, the last time I used it was to clean out Meat's cage after he passed over to the bridge.

Originally Posted by racinghamster

Handling should always be on her terms really and Chinese hamsters can nip if they are scared or anxious. It`s their way of saying `put me back down!` But they rarely, if ever, are vicious. Their shyness is part of their behaviour and as you can see, they can become outward and bold when approached correctly and not woken up or mis-handled. It`s much better to allow her to tell you when she`s ready than rush her and end up with a scared, nippy hamster! x

I've found, particularly with Lady May that taming had to be on her timescale and agenda and a couple of times we had to take a step backward but we got there in the end. She's gone from being quite a shy girl to becoming a little attention seeker who will beg me to play with her.

[Ann]

We're making progress. She's now putting her front feet on my hand to get food. I thinking she'll be hopping all the way onto my hand pretty soon.

[velma]

Great to hear! I bet that's adorable to see!

[cypher]

Every small step is so rewarding!
Sounds great, I love it when they first put those tiny little feet on your hand

You know this means we'll want more photos

[Ann]

I haven't been able to post since we've been so busy with the holidays, but I wanted to give an update on Clover. She's doing great! I can't get over how brave she has become. When I take the lid off her cage, she's comes out to see what I'm doing and sniffs my hand looking for food. We did have a small setback a couple weeks ago. She had crawled all the way onto my hand for the first time and I lifted her up. She promptly spit out all the food in her pouches and tried to nip me before I could put her down. Since then, I've kept my hand flat on the aspen in her cage while she sits on it and she's done really well with that. She even sat long enough to wash her face the other night. I'm going to try raising my hand a little at a time and see how she does with that. She's a spunky little thing. She still gets mad when I have to clean out her dirty bedding. She'll come running over chirping and squeaking to let me know she doesn't like like me messing with her nest. And as soon as I'm finished, she gets right to work fixing it back to how she wants it. I never dreamed I would enjoy having a hamster this much. She's so much fun to watch and is so curious about everything. I'll try to get some new pictures tonight when she comes out.

[cypher]

It's lovely that she doing so well, great progress, they really are a joy as they begin to interact with you & get braver

[Ann]

Ok. I finally got a few pictures of her. I've either been to tired to try or she's been shy and hiding. She's doing so well and I'm so excited that she's finally starting to trust me. This is all I have for now. It's late and I'm tired. I'll try to post another update soon.

[cypher]

I'm so glad she's doing well, she really is showing that she trusts you even if she is still a little shy.
Thanks for sharing the photos, she is so adorable, I just love the first shot, too cute