New hamster sleeping in toilet - Page 6

Pebbles82 · 01-18-2019, 05:29 AM

Agree with what Cypher says about the food. Some mixes are terrible and don't have enough protein or are high in sugar. They need a lot of protein in their first year. Tiny Friends Harry Hamster is a safe bet because it has all the nutrients they need and enough protein, and is sugar free, plus the pieces are a good size for the Syrian and hamters seem to like it and eat all of it (except sometimes some log things that are fibre).

You could get a bag and introduce it gradually. Initially mix a bit in with the existing food. Then the following week half and half, the following week 1/3 old 2/3 HH then change over completely. A sudden change of diet can give them diarrhoea you are right (which is not the same as wet tail which is also diarrhoea but is also a particular disease).

Ours love their Broccoli and cucumber. Hamsters do vary in their tastes though - our current Syrian likes the odd bit of strawberry or a blueberry as a special treat. Our last one shunned them!

Jamieking86 · 01-18-2019, 11:40 AM

I was going to ask how gradually should I introduce him to the new food but that makes sense we will do that after a couple of weeks or so. The guy at the pet store said they were about the same in nutrients etc, so we just stuck with the food he was on. We always have plenty of cucumber in, I was told not to give him too much of water based fruits and veg? Like lettuce, cucumber etc. Is this true? How often are we supposed to feed him? Every night we've been half filling his bowl around 7pm to try get him in the routine of waking up at that time. Is this too often?

Will be looking out for him eating his poop lol. Will upload a proper picture of him when we can get close enough without scaring him too much.

cypher · 01-18-2019, 12:37 PM

If you're changing from one muesli type mix to another you don't need to do it as slowly as if you were changing to a completely different type of food so you could possibly do it in a bit over a week, it's best to just give a little bit of the new food in with the current food & if he seems fine with that you increase the amount of the new food a bit each day or each time you feed.
It doesn't really matter how often you feed, some people do it daily others put in enough for a few days, there should always be food available but if you find just certain bits of the mix aren't being eaten you shouldn't feed more until most of it has gone to avoid getting into picky eating habits.

You don't want to overdo it with watery veg but tbh I haven't had a problem with any ham eating too much veg, their system isn't able to cope well with lots of water so it is best to give just small pieces, most say a fingernail size, each day building up from once every few days. It is better to stick with green veg, broccoli, kale, pak choi etc, things like that are fine & some root veg, lettuce is ok but not more than about once a week & not iceberg lettuce, they don't tend to overdo it with cucumber but again I wouldn't give too much too often, if they get more fluid from veg they will most likely just drink less so unless they have really large amounts it is unlikely to be a problem.

Jamieking86 · 01-18-2019, 01:14 PM

Great thank you, I have saved that link you gave me about the different foods so when we go shopping we know what to get lol. Thanks so much for the help and taking the time to reply. He is currently running like mad in his wheel, I'm guessing this means he is happy lol.

Jamieking86 · 01-20-2019, 06:24 AM

So I did the food in the palm of my hand yesterday starting at my fingers working up my hand to see if he would come on to my hand. I lay it flat in his cage, he take the first food out off my fingers, then sniffs the end of my finger and nips me lol. It didn't hurt at all, it wasn't a proper bite and didn't draw blood, it was more shock that made me flinch and scared him away. Is it normal for them to nip you?

cypher · 01-20-2019, 06:34 AM

Little nips like that are usually more exploratory than anything else, figuring out what's food & what isn't! They usually grow out of it pretty quick.

Jamieking86 · 01-21-2019, 12:59 AM

That's good to hear that he hopefully isn't threatened by us
We managed to put him in his hamster ball last night, it goes on a stand so he can just run in it without going anywhere. He seemed to love it, then we managed to stroke him a little on his back without him running away or being scared. I think he's settling in quite well to say we've only had him just over a week.

Pebbles82 · 01-21-2019, 02:05 AM

Time and patience is the key with the taming

A week isn't long and as he's just had a cage change I would take it slowly and give him a bit of space to settle in and get some habits of his own in the cage.

I'd go back to a treat through the bars for now. The nip could be because he is getting used to his new territory and your hand invaded it. Generally they don't like a hand in the cage anyway, especially at first. Maybe move onto a treat on the palm of the hand in another week, but have your hand just outside the cage (eg the entrance the door). So he comes to the door rather than feeling your hand is coming into his space. It's often easier to get them used to hand feeding out of the cage rather than in it (if in a safe place where they can't escape, like the dry bathtub or a playpen. Talking to them through the bars so they get used to the sound and tone of your voice helps as well, and doing the tissue trick so they get used to your scent (put some sheets of toilet paper up your sleeve or down a bra for a couple of hours, then tear them into strips and put the pile in the cage. The hamster takes it for nesting and gets used to your scent in their nest).

Another reason they can nip is if you smell of food - so always wash your hands first and don't use soap that has oatmeal or honey scented or flowery etc! Just something plain.

Glad he's settling in well.

Cucumber is fine - I wouldn't give lettuce or cabbage. There is something about those - not just the amount of water but something else. Some people think it's fine occasionally but not regularly but I just don't give them at all - plenty of other veg that are fine.

Whatever the pet shop said about the mix probably isn't true! Especially if it's the pets at home mix. The ingredients are terrible and not enough protein. It has locust bean husks and soya bean oil and "soya meal pellets" - all GM foods. Most hamster mixes rely on soya to provide the bulk of the protein and most soya is GM but the added GM stuff like the oil and locust bean isn't good in my opinion. Just not a good quality mix. But maybe they think it is! And the main ingredient is Alfalfa meal which is not always good for Hamsters.

cypher · 01-21-2019, 02:39 AM

Serendipity cabbage & lettuce are absolutely fine, just not too much of any one thing too often & things like kale, spinach, chard & pak choi are better than just plain cabbage, all lettuce is ok except iceberg, I don't think my hams would forgive me if I didn't give them lettuce!

Pebbles82 · 01-21-2019, 02:41 AM

There are so many things about whether or not lettuce or cabbage is ok I prefer not to use them

I hate lettuce anyway lol. So I just think - why bother when he loves everything else - especially broccoli which keeps longer in the fridge. There are so many safe veg I just ruled out lettuce and cabbage rather than have doubts. I do get extravagant sometimes (and wasteful) and buy bags of spinach leaves which only last a couple of days! But things like baby corn, carrots and broccoli and cucumber keep for ages in the fridge so it tends to work out cheaper.