Soon-To-Be Hamster Parent

Salem13 · 12-14-2019, 02:57 AM

Hello! I'm new to this forum and hopefully will be a new hamster owner in the new year. I have never owned my own hamster but I recall my brother did when I was very young. I believe his name was Sidekick and looking back on it he definitely was not taken care of properly. Thank the Gods for the internet and being able to learn about good animal husbandry!

A little about myself- my name is Salem, I'm 21, and I seem to have a thing for pets that are often kept in the wrong conditions. Just over a year ago I got a betta fish after extensive research on them and aquariums in general. His name is Lazarus and he currently lives happily in a 20 gallon long tank with several snail roomates. My other pets consist of several garden snails, slugs, guppies, two cats, and a dog. I've always been surrounded by pets and believe it or not this is the fewest my family has had since I was born.

The hamster I'm planning on adopting is a 5 month old rescue named Chip-though I will likely change that name. He's a Russian dwarf hamster though I'm unsure on the specific kind. I'm sure you all will be hearing plenty about him once I bring him home though!

Vierville · 12-14-2019, 03:56 AM

It sounds like your new hamster is very lucky! Dwarf hamsters are absolutely wonderful pets, have extremely varied personalities and very distinct little characters. Each one is different!

You will find that it is a steep learning curve finding out exactly what is best for your little hamster but there is a lot of good advice on this forum.

Possibly some of the best advice for a new dwarf hamster owner is:

1) Give them the biggest cage you possibly can.
2) Make sure the cage is totally secure. Hamsters are expert escape artists and with a dog and cats around an escape is likely to be fatal.
3) Give the hamster a large, solid wheel. The running surface of the wheel must be solid, not made of bars or mesh. They can easily hurt themselves, break a limb or develop bumblefoot with wheels that have bars or mesh.
4) Avoid wood shavings unless it is aspen wood. Rather use paper substrate like Kaytee or Care Fresh.
5) Never give them cotton or fluff nest material. Can be fatal.
6) Avoid feeding a dwarf hamster anything with a high sugar content including fruit. Never ever feed them avocado, any citrus or tomatoes.
7) Provide a sand bath. They love them and it helps rid their fur of excess oils.
8 ) Provide at least one quiet, dark house in the cage with plenty of nest material for the hamster. I use torn up toilet paper for the bedding inside the house.
9) Provide enough substrate for them to burrow. At least a few inches deep in places. They love burrowing!

Salem13 · 12-14-2019, 04:42 AM

Thank you for all the tips! the cage he will be in is roughly 40"x20" on the outside though I'm unsure of the exact inner dimensions. I was going to do a bin cage but there aren't a whole lot of big totes in Canada for some reason. I had actually planned on using paper bedding! Though I'm not yet sure on which brand I'll go with, I think I'll have to experiment with that though. I was intending on getting a silent spinner and possibly a saucer in the 8" size which I believe should be an ok size though please correct me if I'm wrong!

AmityvilleHams · 12-14-2019, 12:15 PM

If you can get Oxbow Pure Comfort that'd be one of the best paper substrates, or Small Pet Select's paper substrate would be a comparable product in terms of quality and safety standards(no dyes, no recycled paper, no potential contaminants etc unlike Kaytee and such).

If you can get the Iris Christmas tree bin, that is supposed to be roughly 799 square inches internally which is excellent for dwarf species. Supposedly they go on sale at Walmart the day after Christmas, so if you have the option to wait it would be incredibly cost effective.

I would ditch the flying saucer completely. They take up unnecessary floor space without even allowing a proper running position. The running position that they do allow is very unnatural, despite manufacturer claims and gimmicks. The Silent Spinner is another wheel I'd avoid though for multiple reasons, one being that they often don't even work or stay silent and another being that the design in and of itself is a safety risk since they can come apart easily and lead to toes being trapped(more widely seen in hedgehog communities but still a risk). The Silent Runner, however, is a great alternative. If you have no other options and don't mind lots of noise, the Comfort Wheel would do just fine.

Salem13 · 12-14-2019, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmityvilleHams

If you can get Oxbow Pure Comfort that'd be one of the best paper substrates, or Small Pet Select's paper substrate would be a comparable product in terms of quality and safety standards(no dyes, no recycled paper, no potential contaminants etc unlike Kaytee and such).

If you can get the Iris Christmas tree bin, that is supposed to be roughly 799 square inches internally which is excellent for dwarf species. Supposedly they go on sale at Walmart the day after Christmas, so if you have the option to wait it would be incredibly cost effective.

I would ditch the flying saucer completely. They take up unnecessary floor space without even allowing a proper running position. The running position that they do allow is very unnatural, despite manufacturer claims and gimmicks. The Silent Spinner is another wheel I'd avoid though for multiple reasons, one being that they often don't even work or stay silent and another being that the design in and of itself is a safety risk since they can come apart easily and lead to toes being trapped(more widely seen in hedgehog communities but still a risk). The Silent Runner, however, is a great alternative. If you have no other options and don't mind lots of noise, the Comfort Wheel would do just fine.

Thank you so much for the recommendations- I haven't seen those brands in stores near by but I'll make sure to take another look. There is a paper based bedding local to me called fresh4life natural paper bedding- have you ever heard of it? I was intending on getting it but can't find any reviews.

As for the wheel thank you so much for the heads-up! Everyone around here seems to recommend the silent spinner as like this #1 best wheel for some reason.

I would love to get the Iris but unfortunately here in Ontario (or at least my part of it) it's not sold at walmart. The only store that sells it is Canadian Tire for 40$ and the stock is extremely limited. The ZZ2 (size large) I will be getting second hand is only about 15$ which frankly I think should count as theft but the current owner was just going to throw it away.
That being said though, if one of the Iris bins makes it to the clearance section after the holidays I will definitely be at least going to see it in person!

AmityvilleHams · 12-14-2019, 01:50 PM

Small Pet Select bedding would have to be ordered online, so I do apologize for not mentioning that!

Finding Fresh 4 Life is incredibly difficult, but ultimately I'd have to say no due to a severe lack of information which presents a risk along with knowing they also make other paper products with baking soda added(which is not safe for hamsters as a component of bedding and such).

Small Pet Select's website will have more information on how to order from Canada, as well as more detailed information on their paper bedding.