New fur-ball!

Petite · 03-19-2020, 05:51 AM

At last I am a hamster owner again. The last two months without one have been very long, but after a trip to the mainland yesterday we brought back with us a tiny hybrid dwarf hamster. She's 8 weeks old, and mostly white with some darker distinctive markings, and she's totally gorgeous. I've named her Freya. Hopefully she will be with us for longer than Theo, and have fewer health problems.

It's odd how you notice every pothole in the road when you have a hamster on your lap in the car, and she scuffled around for the journey back to the ferry terminal. But once on the ferry, she settled down and slept until we brought her back to her forever home.

In Pets at Home where we found her she was in a cage with three other, slightly larger dwarves, and seemed to be on the receiving end of some bullying by them. It might be that she was the runt of the litter. In any case, she's safe now, and spent the night sleeping and exploring her new enclosure - hopefully with approval.

We're just letting her settle in for a few days, and then I will try and post a photo or two.

Vierville · 03-19-2020, 05:58 AM

Congratulations!!! I look forward to seeing a picture of Freya soon! She sounds lovely. I wish you success, health and happiness with her.

LunaTheHamster1 · 03-19-2020, 06:30 AM

Yayh, at last you got your hamster.

VOESSY · 03-19-2020, 01:09 PM

Congratulations on your new little friend.

Ria P · 03-19-2020, 03:15 PM

Wonderful news. Congratulations! Love the name Freya.

Littlephodopusmom · 03-19-2020, 09:07 PM

Congratulations, beautiful name and she sounds very sweet.

cypher · 03-19-2020, 11:48 PM

Congrats on finally getting a new fur ball! Looking forward to hearing more about Freya as she settles in.

Petite · 03-20-2020, 04:50 AM

Well, I've never had a hamster this young before, and have some questions.

Thus far I have seen very little of her. I've only seen her once in the last 24 hours, and that was by getting up at 3.30 this morning! I know she will sleep a lot as she is so young, but she seems to sleep tucked away somewhere in her substrate, and there's too much of it to be able to find a teeny-tiny hamster. She handled well in the shop, but I'm concerned that if I never see her she will be less keen to be handled, and I won't be able to tame her. I know it's early days, but as she settles in what is my best course of action?

Could someone please give me some guidance on how much to feed an 8-week-old? I'm giving her about a teaspoon per night, and leaving the occasional sunflower seed on one of her toys for her to find. She also has a seed log in her enclosure, which has definitely been nibbled. Is this too high calorie to leave in the enclosure all the time?

Also, should I give her a sand bath straight away or wait for a while?

Last question: she has a flying saucer just now, although I have a wheel ready for her, but when should I introduce it? I noticed in Pets at Home that all the cages were fitted with hamster wheels, but I thought they weren't supposed to have them too young.

Thanks for any advice.

cypher · 03-20-2020, 06:45 AM

She's still got some growing to do & will want to begin a bit of a hoard soon too so give her more food than you think she needs, you could give a tablespoon & if some's left after two or three days then just replace that with fresh, if it's gone sooner give her more as she needs it, they rarely eat more than they need so more rather than less is always better unless they start picking out all the good bits & leaving other bits but don't worry about that just now.
I'm not sure which seed log you mean?

She's old enough for a wheel & the running position is better than a saucer so I would swap that over now.

I would just leave her to settle for a while & not worry too much if she doesn't come out for the first few days, she should come out soon enough, meanwhile just talk to her when you're near the cage so she gets used to your voice.

Petite · 03-21-2020, 06:37 AM

Many thanks for your reply, Cypher. I must admit, I'm a bit wary of giving too much food as my last hamster did get a little on the weighty side. She didn't seem to know about hamsters rarely eating more than they need! The seed log is this one:-

seed log

I hope that's not too high calorie or containing too much fat / sugar etc? I gave my previous hamster a treat stick hanging from the cage roof, and I think that is perhaps when she began gaining weight. I have used these sticks before (a long time ago) but maybe I had more naturally active hamsters then, whereas Theo did have some health problems.

She's using the flying saucer, but I will add the wheel too.

The only way I get to see her is by getting up at weird hours during the night and going downstairs to her enclosure. I suppose this is just down to her age, but I hope I see more of her in the evenings as time goes on. I went down to her at 5 am this morning to talk to her and try to befriend her, but she seemed very skittish and just rewarded me with a couple of nips for my efforts. Then she ran around the cage like crazy, shot through into her substrate and burrowed down. Perhaps I spooked her a bit. She handled so well in the shop, but now I'm concerned about whether I will be able to tame her. She's in an Ikea Detolf, which means I have to approach her from above, which I appreciate can seem like a threat to her. It's very odd, but I managed to sit and stroke her back on the ferry because she seemed to be so deeply asleep. However, I can't do that in her enclosure because I can't find her in the substrate. I wonder if I should take some of it out for now?