Get or Avoid?

[alpacassei]

https://www.gumtree.com/p/pet-equipm...es-/1327274477

A hamster was judt posted in Plymouth but she’s £50 because they want to sell the cage as well. It’s the Hamster Heaven so not a bad cage but a bit on the small side for a female Syrian tbh.

[buttercuplols]

Originally Posted by SandyT

Hi Buttercuplols. I'm a bit put off going to P@H because of their fairly recent outbreak of Wet Tail. I did phone the Truro branch today, as it wasn't one of the ones affected but they had no Syrians for adoption. I'm going to give Wyvale a call tomorrow.

I would consider a dwarf ham but everything I have was bought with a Syrian in mind, so I don't know how suitable it would be.

Thank you all for your help, it's much appreciated.

I don't blame you. Thankfully I adopted Hesper before all of this. And I was after a Syrian but they didn't have any in Truro. Fell in love though, came home with a dwarf and had to downsize my wheel and house. Maybe I should have phoned ahead... Nah! Wouldn't have it any other way now. I'm a sucker who should have shares in Rodipet now the amount I've spent! I'll let you know if I stumble upon anything locally but they do seem hard to come by in our neck of the woods at the moment!

[SandyT]

Thank you again everyone. I'm just in the process of setting up my cage. Just doing the Fitch has taken forever as there were lots of blue pieces in it. I was concerned about dye so I've been picking them out. Has anyone else had this?
I don't have a problem with travelling, so long as the ham would be ok with it. Plymouth is 2 hours away on the train but I have no idea where P@H is. A quick Google search will solve that but they're usually out of town. Perhaps the answer is to extend my search field. I'll have a look at the one you suggested, Alpacassei. Thank you again.

[cypher]

Fitch often has little blue bits in it, it's fine to leave them in.

[SandyT]

Thank you Cypher. Oh well, at least I know for next time.
That little girl in plymouth is lovely. To get her, it would be a 2 hour train ride and just over half an hour on the bus plus waiting times. I have the carrier and would put Fitch, and either a cardboard house or bendy bridge in it. Would a hamster cope with this?
I'm sorry for asking again, I just don't want to traumatise a ham for my own selfish wants. I wouldn't be much of a hammie Mum if I did that.

[alpacassei]

There’s taxis and a bus stop right outside Plymouth train station so it’s easy to get to p@h if you don’t want to walk. It’s only just outside the city centre but it’s about 20 minutes walk from the station, it’s a pretty simple walk on flat ground though.

If you decide to widen your search, I’d avoid buying from any of The Ark pet shops around Devon. I bought 3 Russians around the same time from there before I knew much about hamsters. Francisco only lived 6 months before passing away suddenly, Marcello died from diabetes at barely 6 months and he also was blind with underdeveloped eyes and honestly just weirdly long and muscular, Stephano lived over 2 years but he had a lot of substrate allergies and was double-satin (the result of 2 satin hammies being breed together which causes very thin fur and some of the litter will be eyeless whites).

[alpacassei]

Originally Posted by SandyT

Thank you Cypher. Oh well, at least I know for next time.
That little girl in plymouth is lovely. To get her, it would be a 2 hour train ride and just over half an hour on the bus plus waiting times. I have the carrier and would put Fitch, and either a cardboard house or bendy bridge in it. Would a hamster cope with this?
I'm sorry for asking again, I just don't want to traumatise a ham for my own selfish wants. I wouldn't be much of a hammie Mum if I did that.

Hamsters travel well so she should be fine. She might seem a little restless at first because of the change in environment, smells, etc but in my experience they usually burrow and sleep after 15 - 20 minutes.

[buttercuplols]

As alpacassei said the taxis are right outside and would only take 5-10 minutes. I'd be tempted to do that if you want her that badly. I'm sure plenty of hamsters travel further to shows and the vets and alike and the train is quite smooth and not too busy/loud on that section if you avoid peak hours and weekends, especially at this time of year!

P.S. We've got a little Cornish collective going on here now!

[SandyT]

Go Cornish collective! LOL.
A taxi would be better, I agree. The Ark pellet shops sound awful. I'm really sorry that you've had such a bad experience.
Hopefully the picture of the cage has attached. There is a ceramic jar under the shelf on the left. I will be adding a little water bottle to each side of the cage.
There is a grass type toy on the shelf at the back, that can have treats poked into it. There is also a grass/rattan ball and a toilet tube.
At the front, there is a little shelf that has wooden chew carrots and a little cut out section for treats.
I'm not sure there is enough enrichment though the cage seems pretty full.
I have a granite slab underneath the carrot shelf but I'm a bit nervous if the ham bar climbs over the top of it.

[cypher]

I can see what you mean about the granite tile, it is a long drop if your ham did bar climb & the chances are it will, I would remove that for now, you could break up the space on the side with little ledges or small shelves, lava ledges are ok, ratrations do some nice little wooden ledges & you can get similar things from amazon too, there's still the risk of falling from monkey barring on the roof but more chance that a ham would just climb up & down the ledges on the side rather than fall. You can also get long bendy bridges that hook onto the bars at one end so you could make a kind of ramp to help prevent falls there.
The hanging tube looks a bit high & a bit of a fall risk too.
Other than those potential problems it looks nice, love the cork tunnel.