Is she too 'fat'? - Page 2

ladyytanja · 06-13-2016, 06:43 PM

Thanks for the information. I will buy a bigger wheel. I do have a question; I'm not able to buy her a new one until friday, so should I remove her wheel or let her use it until friday?

cypher · 06-13-2016, 09:34 PM

It is hard to tell from a photo really, weight can vary a lot so although I do recommend regular weigh ins it won't always give you the answer to whether she is over weight or not, you can usually feel it more than see it but she does look a little chubby!
I agree she really does need a good wheel, at least 8"/20cm so she can get some exercise without hurting her back.
If you do think she's over weight don't be tempted to put her on a diet or remove things from her food, just feed a good dwarf specific mix like Burgess (not sure what you'll be able to buy where you are) scatter feed or hide her food around the cage so she has to work for it & has fun foraging & avoid giving too many fatty treats like sunflower seeds or mealworms.

Cross post, I would take the tiny wheel out tbh, it's probably going to do her more harm than good, try to find other ways to keep her more active, things to do in the cage, until you get a new one.

CMB · 06-14-2016, 08:19 AM

Is there a possibility she could be pregnant? It wouldn't be the first time for a pet shop hamster to be taken home pregnant.

Keep the wheel until you get the new one. Removing it may upset her and cause her to chew the cage or bars.

freyashamsters · 06-14-2016, 08:24 AM

That looks like the 4.5" Spinner (which you must upgrade because it's very small! 8" Wodent Wheels or even 9" Silent Runners seem to be popular with Russians

) so, in comparison to that, I'd definitely say I've seen bigger.

An exact weight would help though, digital kitchen scales do the job nicely

You can buy Dwarf Hamster Harvest from Viovet, they ship internationally

ladyytanja · 06-14-2016, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CMB

Is there a possibility she could be pregnant? It wouldn't be the first time for a pet shop hamster to be taken home pregnant.

Keep the wheel until you get the new one. Removing it may upset her and cause her to chew the cage or bars.

Is there any way for me to find out if she is pregnant? I'll definately keep that in mind. I'll keep her wheel till thursday and then I can buy her a new one. As I mentioned before she's still very new so I too think it's best to just keep the wheel in since she's still adjusting to her new surrounding.

Pebbles82 · 06-14-2016, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CMB

Is there a possibility she could be pregnant? It wouldn't be the first time for a pet shop hamster to be taken home pregnant.

Keep the wheel until you get the new one. Removing it may upset her and cause her to chew the cage or bars.

Ooh good point (pregnancy). How long have you had her? That would make her look rounder. I'm not sure how you could tell really - except have her on pregnancy watch and see if she has babies. Someone else should know how many weeks it would be - but then it could be any time if she was pregnant a few weeks before you got her.

If you do suspect she has had some babies at some point then don't disturb anything at all in the cage - just put food and water out. In fact maybe best to do that now.

CMB · 06-14-2016, 10:48 AM

If you are able to post a photo of her from above. If she is pregnant (near due) you may see baby bumps.

Compare her to photos of the pregnant females in some of the threads about breeding/litters.

You have had her a week. Pups are born about 18 days after mating.

ladyytanja · 06-14-2016, 03:56 PM

Seredipity7000: I have her for 12 days now and the lady from the pet shop said that she was about 3 months old.

CMB: I don't have very good pictures from above and I won't be seeing her until thursday, but when I'm back on thursday I will make better pictures and try to weight her. These are the pictures from above I have so far;

ladyytanja · 06-16-2016, 11:55 AM

Update: she has her new and bigger wheel! Funny story though, we went to the pet shop where we got her from but they only had the small wheels. They said it would take them 2 weeks to get me the 6,5" wheel so we went to another pet shop (note that we live in the Netherlands so we did everything on the bike). Luckily the second pet shop had the 6,5" wheel (only one left) so we bought it. We had to bike home in the rain and when we got home my bf's stepmother who wasn't home when we left said "oh you bought her a new one? I have that exact same wheel/size in the shed. So long story short we just bought a new one for nothing. We actually ended up using the old 6,5" one because it's purple, the one we bought was red so we thought it was easier for Shady to understand since it has the same color as her old wheel. And beside that we're taking back the one we bought so we can get our money back. Anyway, there's a picture below of her new wheel!

I haven't weight her yet but I will tomorrow or Saturday, but I've taken a good look at her and she doesn't look pregnant to me.

Pebbles82 · 06-18-2016, 12:13 AM

Lol! The purple one looks nice - it might spin better as well if it's an older one

The newer ones had a manufacturing change last year and people were having problems with them spinning at all - not sure if that has been rectified or not.

Good that you think she looks ok and not pregnant. You'll know for certain in the next week or two if there are no babies! Assuming mating could have happened the day before you got her (now 14 days ago), so if no babies in the next 4 to 7 days it would be fairly safe to know she isn't pregnant! It's hard for me to tell as I'm not sure about dwarf hamsters much - I could probably tell if it was a pregnant Syrian! She looks fine to me anyway - I think they are a bit rounded

Whereabouts in Holland do you live? My family used to live near Geleen for a few years and I spent all my holidays there as a teenager. I also went everywhere on a bicycle! I used to like going off and finding places. One day I kept following signs to a place called "Dorland Verkeer" and couldn't understand why I kept ending up back where I started - I think it meant "keep right" lol! Another time, a friend and I went off for a camping week-end on our bicycles and accidentally went over the border into Belgium and then couldn't get back. Eventually after we explained they let us back in ha ha.