2 Hamsters with different age.

[Pebbles82]

Well there are probably some things you can do to help Bitsy! At 7 weeks he is a baby and will be a bit nervous, especially for the first 2 weeks. Make sure he has somewhere to hide in his cage that makes him feel safe. A good sized house for example. You could put a tube or bridge over the doorway which will make the house darker inside. And make sure he has plenty of deep substrate so he can dig down a bit if he wants (at least 3 to 4 inches but up to 12" is fine!)

If you haven't had him long, the usual advice is - leave him on his own in the cage for the first 2 or 3 days to settle in and get used to his surroundings. And don't clean anything for the first two weeks or it will cause him a lot of stress, plus he might start weeing on everything. You can spot clean a little bit in those first two weeks - ie take a handful of stinky substrate out and put a handful of clean in and mix it in (in otherwords leave a bit of the stinky substrate).

You can also talk gently to him through the cage so he gets used to your voice and smell and you could do the tissue trick as well (put some white toilet paper up your sleeve for a few hours then tear it into sheets and tear each sheet into 5 or 6 strips lenthways and put this pile of paper strips in his cage for nesting material. He should pouch it and use it for his nest and it will help him get used to your scent.

The key word to keeping them happy is 'enrichment' so as much enrichment as you can in his cage/environment. This includes depth of substrate, suitable housing and cage accessories, a wheel that is the right size for him and doesn't cause him discomfort. And a few treats. You could scatter half his hamster food in the cage and just put the other half in the bowl. That will let him do a bit of foraging and finding the food and he should enjoy that.

Putty a potty litter tray in his wee corner will help keep the need for cleaning down to much less as well, and avoid stress for him (cage cleaning stresses them as it removes their familiar scent trails). It's generally best to only do partial cleans.

[bitsyandgandalf]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

Well there are probably some things you can do to help Bitsy! At 7 weeks he is a baby and will be a bit nervous, especially for the first 2 weeks. Make sure he has somewhere to hide in his cage that makes him feel safe. A good sized house for example. You could put a tube or bridge over the doorway which will make the house darker inside. And make sure he has plenty of deep substrate so he can dig down a bit if he wants (at least 3 to 4 inches but up to 12" is fine!)

If you haven't had him long, the usual advice is - leave him on his own in the cage for the first 2 or 3 days to settle in and get used to his surroundings. And don't clean anything for the first two weeks or it will cause him a lot of stress, plus he might start weeing on everything. You can spot clean a little bit in those first two weeks - ie take a handful of stinky substrate out and put a handful of clean in and mix it in (in otherwords leave a bit of the stinky substrate).

You can also talk gently to him through the cage so he gets used to your voice and smell and you could do the tissue trick as well (put some white toilet paper up your sleeve for a few hours then tear it into sheets and tear each sheet into 5 or 6 strips lenthways and put this pile of paper strips in his cage for nesting material. He should pouch it and use it for his nest and it will help him get used to your scent.

The key word to keeping them happy is 'enrichment' so as much enrichment as you can in his cage/environment. This includes depth of substrate, suitable housing and cage accessories, a wheel that is the right size for him and doesn't cause him discomfort. And a few treats. You could scatter half his hamster food in the cage and just put the other half in the bowl. That will let him do a bit of foraging and finding the food and he should enjoy that.

Putty a potty litter tray in his wee corner will help keep the need for cleaning down to much less as well, and avoid stress for him (cage cleaning stresses them as it removes their familiar scent trails). It's generally best to only do partial cleans.

He has a good house, I put toilet paper wich I stroked on my hands as bedding so he gets used to my smell, he also has a sand toilet, he got a wheel too.

[souffle]

Aww that is really common in baby hamsters when they move to a new home. It takes a while - maybe 10 days to 2 weeks at least to settle down and get things the way they like it and also to get used to you. Another adult male will make it even more scary! Keep them well apart and concentrate on getting Bitsy settled and used to handling so he can enjoy his time out with you.
Sometimes babies will be asleep and make a sort of crying , squeaky noise but that is also common and just something they do.
Hope he settles well and please post some pics of your hammies

[bitsyandgandalf]

Originally Posted by souffle

Aww that is really common in baby hamsters when they move to a new home. It takes a while - maybe 10 days to 2 weeks at least to settle down and get things the way they like it and also to get used to you. Another adult male will make it even more scary! Keep them well apart and concentrate on getting Bitsy settled and used to handling so he can enjoy his time out with you.
Sometimes babies will be asleep and make a sort of crying , squeaky noise but that is also common and just something they do.
Hope he settles well and please post some pics of your hammies

Will Bitsy and Gandalf be able to meet when Bitsy has grown up a bit?
Like in a year or so?

[souffle]

No they won't because then Bitsy will be mature and they will fight for certain.
They are not like people and they don't have the same sort of feelings that humans do. It is really important to remember the are hamsters and treat them like hamsters.

[Pebbles82]

Here's a little friend you could give to Bitsy that I am sure will make him happy These mini antos chews are very popular with hamsters. The Alligators and toothbrushes go down well. He'll probably drag it into his nest and chew at it happily. Although these are dog chews they are suitable for hamsters too and vegetable based.

https://www.viovet.co.uk/Antos_Cerea...=antos&sct_r=7

The toothbrush ones are popular too and you can stick little seeds or bits of hamster food between the bristles for them to get out. It's the mini ones you want.

https://www.viovet.co.uk/Antos_Cerea...=antos&sct_r=4

[DrKMcK]

Hello bitsyandgandalf. It's really important that you listen to what the others are saying. Hamsters don't see the world like humans do. I had a litter born in my house and I kept one of the boys. He was a little copy of his dad. One day, when he was close to his dad's size, I had him out to play. I was distracted and put him back in his cage. A little while later I went back in the bedroom for something and spotted TWO hamsters in daddy Blaze's cage. As I got closer I realized I had put little Pip in the wrong cage...with his dad! He was totally terrified and running away from Blaze. I grabbed him out and was horrified. Blaze had ripped Pip's back open. I brought him to the vet and we managed to save him. I was beside myself that I let myself not pay attention to where I was putting poor little Pip. He survived it with significant scarring.

It is a serious business for a hamster to protect their territory. They don't feel loneliness the way you or I do. They will be fine on their own.

[Thin Lizzy]

I hope you accept that these 2 hamsters cannot be introduced to each other again.
It would've been ok if you'd gotten the dwarf hamsters at the same time but you didn't. To introduce the baby to the older ham will have been very frightening to him. If you had left them alone, the older one will have killed the baby for sure.

[bitsyandgandalf]

Thanks guys. I wont let them meet.

[Pebbles82]

Definitely get the Antos Alligator chew! He'll love that. And just keep talking to him gently.