Novice newbie! Question and photo of my new boy :-)

[michyLS]

Hello! My name is Michelle, I've recently acquired a 4 month old Russian dwarf hamster . He's really gorgeous and I've fallen in love (as have my 2 children! )
But I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to hamster care, I've been reading lots but I'm sure I'll have tons of questions.
Our new hammie is called Arlo , though my youngest son wanted to call him Bath tub!
I want to ask how to introduce a dust bath to him.. I read about them and want to try but not sure if I do it in the cage or when I have him out for a play, and what in? A large shallow dish?
Anyway, thanks for having me and here he is. (Can anyone tell me what type of dwarf he is exactly please? !)

[Cinnamon Bear]

He's really cute! Congrats on Arlo! He's a Campbells hybrid, hard to tell whether he leans more to the winter white or more to the Russian? Maybe posts more pics? Either way tho he would be considered a hybrid so you would need to avoid sugary treats, as they tend to be more prone to diabetes.

As for sand baths, I just bought Kaytee ceramic sand baths & Supreme science chinchilla sand. I'm very happy with these products! If Arlo uses it for a potty it will save you lots of money in bedding

Think there is something about the chinchilla sand that makes a better potty than regular children's play sand

If you try reptile sand National Geographic sells sand with no calcium but I'd highly recommend the chinchilla sand, the Kaytee baths makes the sand last longer so they can't kick it out that easy, although I have one that still manages to kick his out.

[michyLS]

Hi, thanks for your reply, and the tip on not giving sugary treats- I bought a seed snack thing in the pet shop today that has a little honey in it too, so I guess I should take this out of his cage.
He's quite white on his back but more grey around his neck, I don't think I have any cleared pics at the mo as he doesn't stay still for long enough!
I already got the chinchilla dust earlier, I'm just not sure how to do it.. put it in his cage in a dish and leave it in there? I would really like to get him to use it as a toilet actually because he pee's in the clear tube that comes out the front of his cage and it gets quite smelly!

[Cinnamon Bear]

Also, there is dust and sand available. The dust can be dangerous to their eyes and respiratory system. Make sure it's the sand that you will be using. You can leave the sand all the time. If you can't get a Kaytee sand bath than any dish that your hammie can climb into would work fine. Better to take the treat out. Probably wouldn't hurt him but better safe than sorry.

[cypher]

Hi Michelle welcome to the forum & congrats on Arlo
He is a Russian hybrid, a cross between the Russian Campbells & Winter white species.

You do need to be careful about which sand you use, definitely not dust, the Supreme science chinchilla sand which CB mentioned is about the best one & if you're in the UK easily available.
Russians do love their sand baths, I leave one in the cage all the time, they also like to use the sand to pee in so if you can find a small container to put some sand in find where he pees (he may pee all over the place to begin with but will settle on one spot) put the tray there & he will probably use it fairly quickly, makes spot cleaning a lot easier!
You can have the sand bath reasonably deep as they like to have a good dig & roll in the sand, if the container is too shallow it just comes flying out all over the cage!

If you have caps for the tube I would remove it, new hams do tend to pee, sleep & hoard food in them which is really unhealthy so it's always best to avoid tubes, at least to begin with.

Do stick to healthy treats, as CB said avoid anything sweet or sugary including fruit & honey, one of their favourite treats is millet which is healthy, a few sunflower seeds & mealworms go down well too!
What are you feeding him? It's best to stick to a dwarf specific mix which is free of sugars & fruits.

[michyLS]

Thanks for the brilliant advice. It is the 'tiny friends ' bathing sand so hopefully that will be ok for him. I'll take out the treat thing and get some better snacks for him.
He's just woken up now (he wakes when my kids get up and likes to be nosey !) and is having a piece of broccoli.
I bought him some specific dwarf hamster food but he was on normal food before so I'm mixing the 2 to get him used to the change , I presume that's the best way to do it?

[cypher]

I forgot they changed the brand name of the sand so that is the same one!
They do love broccoli
If you're changing from one muesli type mix to another you don't need to worry too much about doing a gradual change, when I get a ham I just give them my normal mix straight off rather than trying to combine it with what the pet shops have been using & it's never been a problem.

[michyLS]

Ok great thank you!
Fab advice, I'm sureI'll be a regular here. It reminds me of using the baby forums after my sons were born haha.

[Pebbles82]

Lol - it is a bit like having a baby I certainly felt that way when we got our Syrian - he is our little boy's hamster, but he stole my heart and I felt like I'd got a new baby ha ha.

Welcome to the forum - I learned loads on here and it's a friendly place. Looking forward to seeing more of your hammy

I posted on your other thread too, so will just add that when you first get them they need two or three weeks without any real changes or upheaval in the cage to settle in usually, then they feel a bit calmer and start enjoying their environment

[Thin Lizzy]

Hi Michelle and welcome to HC. Arlo's so adorable!