Hello everyone! I've been lurking around these forums for the last few months and so I thought it was about time I should make an account and introduce myself!
I'm Jodie, I'm 29, and I'm currently doing a level 3 Animal Management course at college, in an effort to try and find a way out of my current part-time job as a cashier which I've been in a long time, but is probably the most worst suited job for me (I get nervous when around tons of people I don't know!) I'm still unsure what I really wish to do for a job, but animal care was what I wanted to do when I was at school, so I figured it was worth a shot!
I also enjoy photography and drawing (In which I mostly draw cartoony things!) I love animation too, so most things I watch are cartoons!
I've been no stranger to keeping hamsters in my lifetime. I kept hamsters between the ages of 12 to 24 and still fondly remember each of them. Lucky, Saffron, Max, Sakura, Storm, Molly and Milo, all of which were syrians and all mostly lived to about a year and a half to two years, all except Storm, who sadly died two weeks after I got her from wet tail. Thankfully, so far, that has been the only case I have ever had with my hamsters.
I had a five year break from keeping hammies but have recently returned to the joys of hamster ownership, which leads me onto the story of how I came across this forum.
The main reason for my five-year break was my dad, who I still live with. Although not big on pets, he did love my hamsters, but he didn't like how every single one of them chewed the bars of their cages. He hated seeing that, so he didn't want me to get another hamster after Milo.
Since starting my college course in September, we've been learning a lot about correct diets and correct enrichment, as well as stereotypical behaviour. I'd been wanting a new pet to be able to practise some of the things I was learning about so I set myself a task. I was going to get a new hamster and I would do everything in my power to make sure this hamster had the best of everything in order to avoid bar chewing. So I set out to google, to begin my research into the best things I could offer my new future hamster, which lead me to this forum.
Despite having roughly 12 years experience in owning hamsters, there was a LOT I didn't know. All my previous hamsters had cages from pet shops and I realized this could of been the very first clue into why they all bar-chewed. Their cages were never super small, but certainly wouldn't of been the ideal size that is recommended now. So I looked at the cage reviews here and decided that the cage I was going to get was the Alexander cage from Zooplus. I was also amazed by wheel sizes and finding out that most wheels in store bought pet shops were often too small, so new hammie also got a 29cm wheel for the cage.
I must of spent about a month or so researching and building up the perfect home for the new hamster.
I've had my new hamster, Woolley, for about a month now. She's currently 6-months-old and a rescue from the RSPCA. Woolley was her name there and it ended up sticking!
She's a shy and nervous little girl, though she seems partially tame. She just needs her confidence building and more experience being handled. It's been a very one step forward and three steps back journey so far with her, some days I'll have her out in the bath and she'll run and hide in her nearest toy, and others she'll be climbing all over me (She likes to climb onto my shoulders apparently!) but I'm hoping that persistence will be the key eventually.
Anyway, I just want to say thank you for all the great information that you have here! Fingers-crossed, Woolley hasn't chewed the bars in the month I've had her and I'm trying to keep things interesting for her, so hopefully this behaviour can continue to be avoided so I can have a happy ham and a content dad as well.
I've added the only two pictures I have of Woolley currently!
Hello everyone :)
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