Experiences with transporting hamsters to a different country (within Europe)

[Peanut84]

Thanks everyone for your help, especially Serendipity for looking all of this up.
I guess I have to call Air France and see what they say. I think even through the tunnel it would be a 2 day trip by car (even with pauses driving 20 hours is a bit much). Luckily it is at the end of April, so the weather should be neither super hot nor super cold.
At first I only wanted to take one of the hamsters, I got the other one as an emergency rescue and thought I rehome her in time, but now I'm quite attached to her as well.
I guess I have to do a bit more research, before I decide what to do, but I will keep all of you posted.

[Truffle]

As for long car journeys with hamsters (sorry, I don't know about travelling out of the UK), last August we decided to take Mischief with us on holiday to Scotland. She had open Pyometra and we believed it was in her best interests for her to come with us.

The drive there was alright but the trip home was terrible, the car broke down (why does it when you least want it to?) and the journey took about 14 hours. Mischief was an angel and it didn't seem to bother her at all. She slept most of the way

If you are serious about driving your hamsters to Germany, I don't see a real reason why you can't, it might be worth taking you hamsters in a shortish car journey first. To see if either of them get really upset by the experience. I have taken all of my hamsters on short car journeys before (to and from the vets etc.) and none of them seem to have been fazed by it.

I think that the most important things to remember when travelling with a hamster is to make sure that the travel cage is absolutely secure in the car, so that it doesn't move. Also never leave your hamsters alone in the car, even for a minute.

When you travel long distances the temperature in the car varies a lot so you need to keep an eye on it and try to keep it constant by turning the heating up or down. If its sunny make sure your hamsters have some shade and are not in direct sun light (maybe by draping something over one end of the travel cage). As we travelled in the summer we froze water bottles and kept them in a cooly bag just in case we were stuck in traffic and it got hot. A sugglesafe or something would help if its cold.

What we put in the travel cage was familiar substrate and nesting material. Also some food, a dog biscuit and some form of hydration, we used cucumber and offered the water bottle when we stopped for a short break. You could also include a light toy (that won't hurt you hamster if it rolls) such as a toilet roll tube.

[Thin Lizzy]

Really great advice Truffle especially about doing a shorter trial run, making sure they're secure in the car.
All pets should belt up on all journeys. Seat Belts do save lifes!
The freezing water bottles, plenty of nesting material and cucumber superb!
You really thought it out and and even for emergency situations like getting caught in traffic.
This has been a brilliant thread with some truly brilliant advice!

[Pebbles82]

That is really helpful about car journeys. I was planning to take Charlie to Scotland with us in May but am having second thoughts now. We've had to change our dates and travel plans to fit around little boy's Mum so will now be having two overnight stops and coming back early. I thought we might manage one overnight stop, but think two would be too stressful. Even then I had planned to take a collapsible cage to set up overnight and all his familiar smelling toys to put in it, plus bag his familiar smelling substrate!