Newbie

[Ann]

Hi, I'm Ann and new here. My daughter has been begging us to get her a hamster and we finally said yes. She'll be getting one in the next few weeks. I had a few questions. First of all, we're going to be building a bin cage since the store bought cages seem to be so small. I'm planning on getting a 66 quart/16.5 gallon storage bin. Will that be big enough? I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but what is the difference between bedding and litter and do I need both? We currently have 2 dogs and 3 geckos, so all this hamster stuff is new to me. Ok, last question, are there any differences in owning males or females? Is one easier than the other or does it just depend on the individual hamster? She's wanting a winter white, if that helps any. Thanks for any advice and I'm looking forward to learning more about hamsters.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Welcome to the forum
What dimensions will the bin cage be? I don't work well with gallons and quarts
As far as bedding, litter, substrate e.t.c goes... You need something to put on the floor of the cage (I use the name substrate for it, thats your woodshavings, carefresh or whatever) and you need something for the hamster to nest in (often called bedding, thats your paper flakes, torn up plain unscented toilet roll e.t.c). For a dwarf hamster a sand bath is also a good idea, most of us use either chinchilla sand (sand not dust) or childrens play sand in sand baths. Some also use pottys with hamster potty litter in them but they're really not needed and many hamsters urinate in their sand baths anyway.
Er... Where will you be getting the winter white from? Be warned that pet shop "winter whites" are very, very rarely true winter whites, instead they're usually a hybrid cross between winter whites and the campbells dwarf hamster.
In theory male hamsters are calmer than females, in practice it varies ham to ham so you just have to find out what the ham is like when you get it really

[Artisans_uk]

Originally Posted by kyrilliondaemon

Welcome to the forum
As far as bedding, litter, substrate e.t.c goes... You need something to put on the floor of the cage (I use the name substrate for it, thats your woodshavings, carefresh or whatever) and you need something for the hamster to nest in (often called bedding, thats your paper flakes, torn up plain unscented toilet roll e.t.c). For a dwarf hamster a sand bath is also a good idea, most of us use either chinchilla sand (sand not dust) or childrens play sand in sand baths. Some also use pottys with hamster potty litter in them but they're really not needed and many hamsters urinate in their sand baths anyway.

In theory male hamsters are calmer than females, in practice it varies ham to ham so you just have to find out what the ham is like when you get it really

Hi Ann, welcome to the forum. I support everything that Kyrilliondeamon has said but just to reinforce the bedding, please don't buy anything that is cotton based or fiberous, as that is very dangerous to all hamsters. Either buy the packs of paper bedding or as Kyrill mentioned above, use unscented toilet tissue.

I've only had experience with female hamsters, so I don't know of any difference between the two sexes. All my girls are adorable and generally pretty laid back but as I don't have any males to compare against, I defer to Kyrill's experience.

Questions are always good.

[DanniDorrito]

Hi Ann, welcome to the forums!

The bin you plan to get would be a good enough size for a dwarf, although I'd definitely recommend trying to get a 20 gallon bin or larger if you can. As for cage contents, a little house with bedding (No fluff! shredded toilet paper is an awesome and cheap alternative!), a 6.5" wheel (I'd recommend a silent spinner, lovely quiet wheels. Need 8.5 and larger for Syrians), water bottle (and stand if needed), extra hideouts and toys.

For toys you can try lots of different things, there's simple DIY things like toilet roll tubes, or store brought things like wooden bendy bridges, houses, tubes, see-saws, lots of fun things to check out Try to have a range of things to keep your pet stimulated, having extra never hurts and can be used outside of the cage during play times. Need to make sure you provide something for them to chew on, monkey nuts, walnuts, wood chews, whimzees, dog milk bone treats are all great options for your ham to nibble on!

You can also use a small plastic tub and get some chinchilla sand (Make sure its not the dust version) for a bath, dwarfs especially love sand baths, and will dig and roll around in the sand. They shouldn't be bathed in water, and sand baths help keep their coat extra clean. With my current Syrian, he has been toilet trained to go pee in his sand bath, which makes cleaning his cage a lot easier (since its only really their pee which tends to make the cage smelly).

I've owned 3 Russian Dwarfs in the past, but never any winter whites. From my experience they are a lot more timid in comparison to a Syrian. They need a regular and consistent amount of taming sessions, whereas Syrians will stay tame once they have been tamed. Dwarfs are more prone to diabetes, therefore the require a more specialized diet with lower sugar content. Things like honey sticks and yogurt drops as treats will need to be kept out of their diet, or used as a very rare treat. There's plenty of more experienced dwarf handlers on this forum so they can give you a better insight to owning a dwarf, from my experience I prefer Syrians and will probably stick with them.

Hopefully I've given you enough to think about and I'll be happy to answer any of your questions

[Ann]

Thank you so much for all the advice and suggestions. I'll talk to my daughter again about what kind of hamster to get. She really has her heart set on a winter white, though. Unfortunately, we'll probably have to go to a pet store to get him/her. I've done several searches and can't find any available for adoption or for sale near where we live. The closest I found was a 6 hour drive away. I did find a larger storage container. The 16 gal. is 13.25"H X 16.38"W X 23.63"L with 387 sq. inches. The larger one (27.5 gal.) I found is 12.63"H X 18.75"W X 34.63"L with almost 650 sq. inches. I haven't found a size in between those 2. Space is somewhat of an issue since the cage will have to go in her room and it's pretty small. However, we'll be finishing our basement next year and will be moving her and my oldest daughter downstairs to a bigger room.
Thank you for the suggestion on the sand bath. Do you keep a container with sand in the cage at all times? If so, do you empty it daily or just when they pee in it? Or just spot clean until you clean the entire cage?
Oh, getting back to the pet store hybrids, is there anything that I should be concerned about? Is a hybrid a bad thing? Thanks again for the advice.

[Erin.R]

I have 3 male "winter white" that are actually hybrids and they are very sweet. All three of mine love lots of substrate to burrow in, They also love to run in their wheels. Each of mine have a small sand bath, I like chinchilla sand but have switched to play sand because I have so many hamsters I only have 1 that will actually use it as a potty so I guess that all depends on the hamster. If they do potty in it you can clean it out every couple of days. If you use chinchilla sand you can scoop out the spots they use instead of dumping it all until you do an entire cage clean. 66 q is a good size, mine all have 105 q but some dwarfs actually prefer smaller spaces. I make sure to leave a corner or two open, with no toys in them because they all seem to like to make the burrowed nests in the corners. I don't think having a hybrid is a bad thing, I love mine and will never be without one. As someone said just watch that you don't feed them too much sugar.I have had one out of 7 that developed diabetes. I think its important to watch the amount of water they drink and the smell of their wee, that can help alert you that they may have diabetes.
Here in the states it is really hard to find breeders close by, especially for purebred dwarfs. I have been really lucky and found an awesome syrian breeder, but know of none for dwarfs.
Welcome to hamster central!

[DanniDorrito]

She might change her mind on the day, if she's attracted to the white color of winters, she might find a russian or syrian that's a similar color she likes more. Pet store hamsters aren't bad, just requires a little more taming and patience than a breeders hamster, and you need to check their health before you buy. Keep an eye out for dull eyes, bad looking fur and any kind of wetness around their bottoms, check the other hamsters in the tank too. If you see any of these signs, don't buy.

The 16gal would be a fine size if you're stuck on space. In Canada/America, the cage minimum is 360 Sq In, although this is the very minimum and bigger is always better if you can manage it. Check out this video, it will give you an idea of what sort of things you can fit into your cage depending on size:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n3lOSTMDE4

You might also want to check through her other videos with your daughter maybe, she offers some great insight and advice to overall hamster care. Lots of fun things too like how to bake your own treats for your hamster, which would be a lovely bonding thing to do with your daughter

You can keep the sand bath in the cage all the time, I empty mine on a weekly basis (and spot clean the part where it pees), others might be different on that though. You could always make a separate thread specifically about that to get a larger range of opinions on sand baths. There was a thread recently talking about sand baths which might interest you:
Could I see your sand baths?

I don't have any experience on hybrids I'm afraid, there's a few on this site so they could give you more information. The same girl who made those youtube videos also has a website, which gives some good information on hybrids, this may help you:
ErinsHamsters

[cypher]

Hi Ann welcome to HC

I think the others have already answered most of the questions for now so I'll just add that I've been keeping hybrids for a while now & they do make the most lovely pets, you do have to be a little careful with their care due to some potential problems like diabetes but don't be put off by that many of them are really very healthy happy hams without any problems at all.
I've only just got my first female, all my others have been male so I can't say much about difference based on gender but they do all have very individual characters!

[kyrilliondaemon]

I always go for the bigger cage where possible, our pets all love the extra space. We also always leave sand in all the dwarf hams cages (although Nut doesn't have his at the moment) but some do only provide sand for a short while each day, its completely up to you what you prefer to do there really

Er... DanniDorrito - Russians are hybrids too...
Anyway, hybrid is a bad thing as hybrids are more prone to health problems than other hamsters. Many hybrids will live long and happy lives but they are more likely to develop health problems than other hamsters so for that reason alone I'd not think they're the ideal choice for a child. We have hybrids and I do love all three of them, but we are aware of the increased risk of health problems and we have a good vet to help us if/when we face those problems (e.g our vet was a huge help when one of our hybrids developed diabetes and they also helped diagnose another with kidney failure a few weeks ago). If your daughter does get a hybrid then chances are it'll be a healthy one and since she's got her heart set on it then it might be its best anyway, I just figure its best for people to know about hybrids before buying really
I'd also be cautious about trusting individual websites or youtube people for too much advice as they can often get it wrong. On the forum theres a much higher chance of incorrect info being corrected

[Ann]

Ok, since a hybrid has a higher chance of developing diabetes, what kind or brand of food would be best? Honestly, I think the only reason she wants a WW is because her friends have one. Maybe when we actually to buy it she'll change her mind. Unfortunately, she takes after me and when she gets her mind set on something there's no changing it. I'm leaning toward getting the bigger bin, I just have to talk my husband into it first. Right now, space is limited, but it would also be a temporary arrangement since we'll be moving them to a bigger room in the spring. We'll figure something out.