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Old 10-11-2020, 03:14 PM   #1
spookymulder
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Join Date: Oct 2020
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Default A few new owner questions

I've done quite a lot of research and watched a lot of videos and most of the basics of what to do or not do I understand, but I want to check a few things to see what others think. So here's a few questions.

I can't say for sure the age of my hamster though she appears to be young. Right now I'm feeding Oxbow Garden Select but plan to change to something else better recommended. The bedding is Kaytee Clean and Cozy and I'll change that soon too.

Originally I was given a bit larger amount of Oxbow pellets, but after a few days I saw how she was hoarding quite a lot and stuffing her pouch with food pretty often to carry off and stockpile so I lowered the amount by a bit.

Occasionally I will feed one of the following (about a pea or quarter size): apple, carrot or boiled egg. Once a day basically and I'm wondering if this is ok once a day. I also picked up Gerber Puffs Blueberry. How often are these advisable to feed one of?

Usually if I want to "bother" her to give her a treat once a day I'll calmly rustle the bedding a bit and put the food near her hiding hole and she will wake up and come out to eat. This is ok?

She's very well behaved. The only problem I've had is a few times moving things around or spot cleaning which seemed to bother her a bit and cause her to pace around and try to find places to escape so I'm trying to limit that.

Thanks. When I was a teenager I had two gerbils. The pet shop gave me a male and a female. Needless to say, I didn't know to check and ended up with probably 16 gerbils in no time. At some point I took one out of the aquarium for about a day and placed it back inside. Later I returned and the gerbil was nearly dead and barely breathing. Always had assumed it was attacked though there weren't any visible signs of attack that I can remember. I'm trying not to repeat that experience of finding a pet on its death bed-ding.
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Old 10-11-2020, 03:26 PM   #2
Engel
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Default Re: A few new owner questions

What hamster species do you have? Dwarf, roborovski or Syrian. Reason why I ask is that russian dwarfs are susceptible to developing diabetes so would limit sugary and starchy foods.

A seed mix is better than pellets. Gives them the opportunity to forage and exhibit natural behaviours and gets their brain working.

Hoarding is normal and a small stockpile is nothing to worry about. If there's quite a bit, just hold of feeding for a day or two and see what the pile is like then.

I wouldn't wake her to give her a treat, wait for her to wake up naturally. I've been on the recieving end of a bite from a disturbed hamster. Not pleasant.

How long have you had her?
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Old 10-11-2020, 03:51 PM   #3
spookymulder
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Default Re: A few new owner questions

Quote:
Originally Posted by Engel View Post
What hamster species do you have? Dwarf, roborovski or Syrian. Reason why I ask is that russian dwarfs are susceptible to developing diabetes so would limit sugary and starchy foods.

A seed mix is better than pellets. Gives them the opportunity to forage and exhibit natural behaviours and gets their brain working.

Hoarding is normal and a small stockpile is nothing to worry about. If there's quite a bit, just hold of feeding for a day or two and see what the pile is like then.

I wouldn't wake her to give her a treat, wait for her to wake up naturally. I've been on the recieving end of a bite from a disturbed hamster. Not pleasant.

How long have you had her?
Syrian, about a week.

Yea, I'll look for seed. My understanding is it's better to not feed too many sunflower seed so should I go with one without? Or is that ok?
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Old 10-11-2020, 04:05 PM   #4
AmityvilleHams
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Default Re: A few new owner questions

Sunflower seeds are completely fine to have in the diet. I wouldn't feed extra on top of a mix including them for various reasons, but I would definitely not go out of my way to exclude them as they're an extremely nutritious ingredient!
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Old 10-11-2020, 05:11 PM   #5
Pebbles82
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Default Re: A few new owner questions

Hi. Substrate is fine. Diet as Engels says - a good muesli mix better than pellets. Oxbow essentials not good for hamsters generally at all - too much roughage. Amity knows about good mixes in the US.

Yes avoid moving things - they generally hate that and it stresses them. It’s a bit like you coming home from work to find someone has rearranged your bedroom and moved all the furniture. Feels like an invasion and very unsettling. As a prey species hamsters see it that someone has invaded their territory and don’t feel secure. But mostly they feel a bit lost. They don’t see well at all and scent mark eveythinh in their cage and leave scent trails to find their way around.

In addition to that they need a settling in period of about two weeks with no cleaning or disturbing things. It’s ok you can just start the two weeks again. Don’t even spot clean during that two weeks. If it becomes particularly smelly after a week then just spot clean the pee area- they often choose a corner of the cage - take a handful out and put a handful of clean substrate in and mix it in a bit so it still
Smells like the pee corner. If it’s not obvious where she is peeing then just leave it. It’ll be fine for two weeks. Baby hamsters sometimes pee in their nest but grow out of that. Syrians will use a litter tray so after the two weeks, you could pop a corner litter tray in her pee area and she’ll probably start using it straight away (put a bit of pee’d on substrate on top of the sand the first time so she finds it ok). Chinchilla bathing sand can be used in the litter tray. Then life gets easier - you just empty the litter tray a couple of times a week and the rest of the cage stays clean and dry usually. So cleanouts not needed that often. With 4 to 6” of substrate and a litter tray you can easily go two to three months without a substrate change.

Clean outs stress them so partial cleans are better. Ie do things as and when rather than cleaning everything at the same time which removes all their familiar scent. So wheel one week, substrate another week etc.

They are very precious about their nest and hoard and those can be left alone. Unless pee’d on. If you have to remove it due to pee then try and leave a bit of the old nest behind and just add a pile of new nesting material in the cage somewhere (not in the house - they like to forage for it). Torn up strips of plain white toilet paper are best. Likewise if you need to remove the hoard because it’s pee’d on try and leave a little bit of dry hoard behind and add new food to replace some of what has been removed - in the same place. They can get quite frantic if their hoard is “stolen”! Dry food hoard is fine to be left for quite a long time - until you’re ready to do a substrate change - then the hoard can be pruned a bit of it is very large.

What makes them happy is being able to have normal behaviours such as foraging , nest building and hoarding. Most of the food they take from the food bowl is pouched and hoarded rather than eaten as such. And they then eat ftom their hoard/larder (snack in bed ).

They are actually very clean little things - it’s only their pee that smells.

If the hoard is removed it can lead to abnormal
behaviours (and anxiety) - they start peeing on the hoard to deter thieves. That then becomes a catch 22 as you have to remove it because it’s pee’d on - but the cycle can be broken quite quickly and it’s why it’s important to replace with new food.

She may be a bit nervy at first and hide away but should be much more confident in a couple of weeks. Bathtub taming can be good to start after the first couple of weeks. (Dry bath tub).

Meanwhile keep talking to her through the cage so she gets familiar with your voice and scent. They tend not to like a hand in the cage initially so feeding a treat through the bars is a good start (although leaving it outside her house is fine too). That’s not so easy if it’s a tank so offering treats may need to be done during out of cage time/taming sessions.

Sorry to hear about the gerbil experience. I think we’ve all
Made pet mistakes along the way.
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Old 10-11-2020, 05:37 PM   #6
spookymulder
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Default Re: A few new owner questions

Quote:
Originally Posted by Serendipity7000 View Post
Yes avoid moving things - they generally hate that and it stresses them. It’s a bit like you coming home from work to find someone has rearranged your bedroom and moved all the furniture. Feels like an invasion and very unsettling. As a prey species hamsters see it that someone has invaded their territory and don’t feel secure. But mostly they feel a bit lost. They don’t see well at all and scent mark eveythinh in their cage and leave scent trails to find their way around.

In addition to that they need a settling in period of about two weeks with no cleaning or disturbing things. It’s ok you can just start the two weeks again. Don’t even spot clean during that two weeks. If it becomes particularly smelly after a week then just spot clean the pee area- they often choose a corner of the cage - take a handful out and put a handful of clean substrate in and mix it in a bit so it still
Smells like the pee corner. If it’s not obvious where she is peeing then just leave it. It’ll be fine for two weeks. Baby hamsters sometimes pee in their nest but grow out of that. Syrians will use a litter tray so after the two weeks, you could pop a corner litter tray in her pee area and she’ll probably start using it straight away (put a bit of pee’d on substrate on top of the sand the first time so she finds it ok). Chinchilla bathing sand can be used in the litter tray. Then life gets easier - you just empty the litter tray a couple of times a week and the rest of the cage stays clean and dry usually. So cleanouts not needed that often. With 4 to 6” of substrate and a litter tray you can easily go two to three months without a substrate change.

Clean outs stress them so partial cleans are better. Ie do things as and when rather than cleaning everything at the same time which removes all their familiar scent. So wheel one week, substrate another week etc.

They are very precious about their nest and hoard and those can be left alone. Unless pee’d on. If you have to remove it due to pee then try and leave a bit of the old nest behind and just add a pile of new nesting material in the cage somewhere (not in the house - they like to forage for it). Torn up strips of plain white toilet paper are best. Likewise if you need to remove the hoard because it’s pee’d on try and leave a little bit of dry hoard behind and add new food to replace some of what has been removed - in the same place. They can get quite frantic if their hoard is “stolen”! Dry food hoard is fine to be left for quite a long time - until you’re ready to do a substrate change - then the hoard can be pruned a bit of it is very large.

What makes them happy is being able to have normal behaviours such as foraging , nest building and hoarding. Most of the food they take from the food bowl is pouched and hoarded rather than eaten as such. And they then eat ftom their hoard/larder (snack in bed ).
Interesting.

She's actually adjusted pretty well it seems so far. Yesterday she was climbing onto my hand and arm in the terrarium. So I took her out and let her walk around for a while on my bed and on me, hoping she just wouldn't pee on it. She didn't use the bathroom or get excited, just explored and stayed calm. Has allowed me to pet her without running away or appearing scared. Obviously tried to climb off the bed a few times, but was pretty apprehensive about taking that step. Right now my bed is only about a foot off the floor since I've not added a box spring yet, but I wouldn't let her walk off.

So I guess I've not done too bad of a job since she's not acting unusual. The only time she's acted a bit abnormal is when I spot cleaned or moved anything, so I'll stop doing that for a while. Will let her sleep too and offer the treats later. Also need to upgrade that wheel, because she runs a nightly marathon on that thing for hours. Haha.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AmityvilleHams View Post
Sunflower seeds are completely fine to have in the diet. I wouldn't feed extra on top of a mix including them for various reasons, but I would definitely not go out of my way to exclude them as they're an extremely nutritious ingredient!
Alright, good to know. Wasn't sure if they might overeat them.
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