Lots and lots of advice needed please!!

[StarlightSerenity]

Oh wow, poor lass Her owner sounds awful. Did the owner mention if they were living together or separately? I really, really hope they weren't living together and if she's rehomed them seperately I expect they were living a lone but it might be worth asking the woman.

[toryb]

They were living seperatly in seperate cages and I asked her if she had been allowed to be out with the male and she said no...not that she knew of..I have been tentitivly researching hammy pregnancy too just incase...

[racinghamster]

Just wanted to say welcome toryb and it sounds as if this syrian is coming to a lovely home from one that may not have suited her. Hopefully she will be in good shape and once she`s been with you a week, she should settle better once in a proper cage with patience and love. Some syrians are just a bit jumpy because their eyesight isn`t great, but some have been far too stressed by owners and can take a while to trust, so my advice would be, let her do the talking and take things slowly and calmly. Syrians are lovely once they know you.

If she`s quite happy to be picked up great, but if she`s a little nervous, I would just let her settle and come to you when she`s ready.

Can`t wait to hear more about her once she`s arrived. Everyone has covered all the basics for you so enjoy her. x

[Leesha]

I'm so excited to see these pictures! If she is a bit 'moody' or jumpy then she will come round with the love I know you'll give her

[toryb]

Thanks Aly thats really sweet of you

Well little hammy arrived just after 5 as expected! The people ended up bringing her round to me as my husband was delayed They were actually very nice people...just being evicted and having to rehome all their pets...they were moving today...the little girl was actually really upset

She handed me the cage with a cheeky looking little hamster poking out of her house looking to see what was going on..she also gave me a carrier bag with 2 new packs of shredded beding, cage disinfectant, a new unopened bag of wilko hammy food (is this ok for now while she settles?), sawdust, excersize ball thing and a spare little plastic house thingi...

She uttered that her name was snowball and that she was a bit nippy while getting used to her but she soon settled down...we have changed her name to snowflake which was chosen by my 6 year old daughter new beginings and all that

I will go and post some piccies

[Lougarry]

If the Wilkos food is what she's used to it's a good idea to gradually transition her to a new one - start by doing 3/4 old mix, 1/4 new mix, then move to half an half, then 1/4 old and 3/4 new etc. If there's enough to last you could order Silver's mix from ratRations if you don't mind the hefty P&P costs. I find it more economical as the hams eat all of it instead of just picking out their favourite bits.

[toryb]

I was looking at those mixes but yeah ouch the postage really is hefty I will have a think! Its a brand new unopened bag of wilko stuff so plenty to transition

[racinghamster]

I can recommend the Burgess Supahamster Harvest (the syrian one not the dwarf version!) It`s probably the best commercial mix available in shops as it has good variety. I used to feed Harry Hamster but it`s all big extruded biscuits, corn and alfalfa nuggets and not much else. I`ve used the Burgess Supahamster now for well over a year for my syrian and my roborovski and they both enjoy it.

You can also feed a teaspoonful of dry porridge oats to her daily mix as oats are a lovey fibre source for her. Just the plain oats not flavoured or microwave.

Lovely to hear she arrived safely. Sad the family were being evicted though....