Hamsters in cars

[WhitneySamuels]

Hi hamster friends,

i am going to be travelling for an hour in my car with my hamsters and i was wondering what is the best way to do this? i have two little dwarf roborovski hamsters and they are in separate cages because they aren't keen on each other. should i keep them in their cages with food and water or put them in their pet carrier which only holds food.

[Fluffagrams]

Hi there and welcome to Hamster Central.

It's usually considered safer if hamsters travel in carriers and many exhibitors do this when transporting hamsters to shows.

Your hamster will need some form of moisture although it's not usually adviseable to use a water bottle as it will drip during the journey making everything soggy. A good idea is to use a piece of moist vegetable - cucumber would be ideal and will provide adequate moisture for an hour's journey if you give them a fair sized slice.

[Pebbles82]

Agree with Winnie. If you had to brake suddenly things can fly across a cage and injure a hamster or the hamster can fly across the cage and get injured. A cosy pet carrier with lots of bedding, a little house to hide in and some food scattered would be better - and a piece of cucumber as Winnie says. Which means two pet carriers I guess. I normally have the pet carrier on my knee with a blanket over the top so it's darker and no flashes of light from outside. With two of them you would need to wedge them in well somewhere so they can't move - eg the rear footwell with blankets stuffed round the edges so it can't jiggle about or get thrown.

Something like this one

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ferplast-Al...st+pet+carrier

[pinkneon]

I'd put them in carriers. Will stop them from getting hurt if you suddenly have to brake and they won't have things from inside the cage falling on them
I put my hamster in his carrier with substrate, a cardboard box house - with bedding inside, some wooden chews, a little scattered food, usually cucumber though he doesn't eat it and will get something different next time and usually a cardbaord tube or something. He tends to sleep though!

[POLAR WHITES]

just place them in two small plastic tubs one for each of them with holes in the lids for air, put a little bedding in and a piece of cucumber and a small dog biscuit they will travel like. if you want place an elastic band around the tubs so the lids don't come off . then once there set up their cages and pop them in,

[Cinnamon Bear]

I had to transport 3 tanks and 3 bin cages, so all six hamsters went to another house for 3 days. I just put everything in the back of my friends SUV truck and then yesterday I brought them all home. They were fine, I visited them every day and put tissue with my scent on it in all their cages

Last night was the test to see how they are and both robos seemed to have missed me. Izzy traveled in my car and the other 5 went with my friend in his truck. Only one wheel fell over. That was all that happened. I had no choice but I would advise also to use a pet carrier. I had six of them that needed to be moved at the last minute so that's why they went the way they did.

[velma]

I just took one of mine on holiday and another to a friend's house in carriers. Aside from the safety issues mentioned above, they also seemed to be calmer for being in an enclosed space. I have a medium ferplast alladino carrier for each which I quite like as the lids are very secure (a bit of a pain to open in fact, which is a good thing) and the coloured plastic bottom half means it's dark in there. For Lewis, who had the longer journey of the two, I put in deep substrate from his cage (you could snaffle a but when you're spot cleaning) a hideout (I used a little one from his cage and his pouch but for the return journey I picked up a rosewood carrot cottage as I remembered serendipity saying they fit nicely) a chunk of cucumber for moisture and scattered some food. A good tip from cypher was a big fabric shopping bag. I used june if those fat bottomed ones that supermarkets sell. It had higher sides than than the carrier to keep him darker and shaded from the sun & I put that in the passenger footwell next to my feet. Coming home it was due to be a warm day so the night before I put a bottle of water in the fridge and I put that in the bag next to Lewis's carrier (I wrapped it in kitchen towel In case of condensation), it just helped kep everything cooler. I'd also reccomend laying down everything in their cages that might fall over or significantly move and removing the water bottle too. Good luck!

[ham888]

Being paranoid I also carefully check the hamsters are actually still in their cages and that the cages have not sprung apart before I open the car door to get out!

[Piebald]

To reduce stress put used bedding in the carrier and let them play in it before transporting them in it.

[velliott]

Hi,

In a few months I am moving about 4/5 hours away. I will be driving and was just wondering on the best ways to reduce stress for my hamster?

Thanks