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Old 10-11-2020, 05:38 PM   #1
envidianthine
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Oct 2020
Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Posts: 21
Smile Hello everyone!

Hello all you lovely people!
You can call me Envy; I'm 22 and I live in Bosnia and Herzegovina. c:

I've owned 3 hamsters in the past, but unfortunately I feel that my hamster care has been lacking quite a bit, as I was young and didn't do a lot of research (first two hamsters lived for 4 and 3 years, respectively, last one sadly escaped while I was on vacation and my parents were taking care of it).

I feel like I am now ready for another one, but this time I'm doing all I can to gather as much info as possible about proper hamster care and requirements. So far I've gotten a very large bin, and DIY'd the lid so that it has ventilation. I've also had a friend order a wheel in her country, and then mail it to me, since my country is really... poor, when it comes to small animals and their necessities.

I've spent countless hours throughout the past week or two just looking at different videos (mainly Victoria Raechel and ErinsAnimals on YouTube), forums, websites, etc. My main problem however, is the fact that it's so difficult to find the proper stuff that a hamster needs in my country. So, ultimately, I decided to join this website, hoping that maybe someone here has some advice for me or something.

Now that the cage itself and the wheel have been taken care of, my next (and hopefully final) issue is the bedding. As far as I could see, we literally do not have aspen, hemp, nor paper bedding. I saw ErinsAnimals' video where she talks about using a paper shredder to shred some kitchen paper and use that as bedding, which seems like the route I'll have to take at this point.

If anyone has any advice (both regarding bedding and just in general) that is specific to my country (because we literally don't have any of the brands that I keep seeing mentioned everywhere), I'd be really grateful! At the moment, I'm really interested in bedding, and things such as: soil, sand, pellets, hay - I'd love to have a variety of textures for my hamster to explore and enjoy. It's just difficult to tell what is safe and what isn't, from the stuff we do have in my country.

Oh, and I plan on getting a (ideally male) Syrian hamster, as those are the ones I've had before so I'm used to their behavior and handling them.

Thank you all in advance for your help, and hopefully you will accept me as a new member of this community! ^-^
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Old 10-11-2020, 11:43 PM   #2
cypher
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Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wales UK
Posts: 24,789
Default Re: Hello everyone!

Hi & welcome to HC
Your hams lived t a great age so you must have been getting something right before & you’re not alone in feeling that your past hamster care wasn’t the best, it’s the same for most people who kept hams some years ago, neither the products or the info were available the way they are now.
I do think the bedding is going to be a bit of a problem, I must admit I’ve never tried shredding kitchen paper but you would need an awful lot of that as the bedding does need to be both deep & substantial enough to hold burrows & for your ham to be able to dig down into it.
Is there anything available where you are you could give some links for so we could see if anything is suitable?
You have to be careful with sand too as it can’t be too dusty or have any unsuitable additives, can you get children’s play sand or chinchilla sand?
I would advise against soil in the cage, if it’s damp it can cause mould issues & it must be completely free of any fertilisers or anything like that.
If you use hay freeze. it for at least a week before use in case of mites then remove any sharp pieces that might hurt pouches.
Can you get things like bendy bridges, cork tunnels or other hide type things to add more enrichment to the cage?
What are you planning to feed your hamster?
If you can I would put a mesh panel on the side of the bin, that will give much better ventilation than just doing the lid.
Good luck with finding what you need, let us know how you get on.
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Always loved, never forgotten, forever in my heart
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Old 10-12-2020, 03:31 AM   #3
envidianthine
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Oct 2020
Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Posts: 21
Default Re: Hello everyone!

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
Hi & welcome to HC
Your hams lived t a great age so you must have been getting something right before & you’re not alone in feeling that your past hamster care wasn’t the best, it’s the same for most people who kept hams some years ago, neither the products or the info were available the way they are now.
I do think the bedding is going to be a bit of a problem, I must admit I’ve never tried shredding kitchen paper but you would need an awful lot of that as the bedding does need to be both deep & substantial enough to hold burrows & for your ham to be able to dig down into it.
Is there anything available where you are you could give some links for so we could see if anything is suitable?
You have to be careful with sand too as it can’t be too dusty or have any unsuitable additives, can you get children’s play sand or chinchilla sand?
I would advise against soil in the cage, if it’s damp it can cause mould issues & it must be completely free of any fertilisers or anything like that.
If you use hay freeze. it for at least a week before use in case of mites then remove any sharp pieces that might hurt pouches.
Can you get things like bendy bridges, cork tunnels or other hide type things to add more enrichment to the cage?
What are you planning to feed your hamster?
If you can I would put a mesh panel on the side of the bin, that will give much better ventilation than just doing the lid.
Good luck with finding what you need, let us know how you get on.
First of all, thank you so much for responding!
Even though I had limited knowledge and resources back then, I still did my best to provide for my hamsters. I absolutely adore these little creatures

Yeah, shredded paper isn't the most ideal thing, but at the very least it's safe and comfortable for them. I think having a paper shredder should help quite a bit, since then I can shred as much paper as I need, whereas doing it manually would obviously require a lot of elbow grease I'll still try to look around more and hopefully find something like aspen wood shavings. I've read/heard that wood pellets are also safe for hamsters, so I'm thinking I can use that in a section of the cage as well, just for variety.


This is children's play sand that I can find in my country. I think it should be okay, since it's just generic play sand, but of course I know I have to bake it first, as well as sift it to make sure there's nothing in there that could hurt a hamster.

I've read that soil is okay to use if you leave it out to dry beforehand, so that it isn't damp, and, as you've also mentioned, it has to be pesticide-free and free from any other additives and such. Obviously, if I won't be able to find such soil, I won't use any.

Someone else also told me about freezing the hay, so I'll definitely keep that in mind. However, as far as I know, apparently only orchard grass (type of hay) is safe for hamsters, and I have a feeling that we do not have that where I live.

I think that I should be fine when it comes to toys and hides and such, as that is something we do have in my country - and even if not, they're generally easy to DIY, so I'm not too worried about that.

As for the food, I'm not sure yet, but I'll definitely look for something that has a lot of variety, and I also read that mixing hamster food mixes is the best thing to do, as that provides the hamster with all the necessary protein, fat, and fibre that it needs. I'll for sure be reading all the labels very closely

I decided against mesh on the sides of the bin, simply because of the bedding factor. As the bedding needs to be 6inches minimum (and I'll aim for even more than that), I wouldn't want it to be falling out of the cage and such. Also, I want to avoid the possibility of my hamster chewing on the mesh (which I know they really only do if they're bored or stressed, and if I do everything correctly it shouldn't happen anyways, but I still just wanna be on the safe side). I've seen a lot of people only put mesh on the lid, so that's what leads me to believe that what I made should also be fine.

And lastly, since you mentioned providing links, I'll do that too! Since the pet shop websites are in my language, Bosnian, I'll just go ahead and provide separate links for each of the "categories" that they have (food, bedding, toys, etc.), as I think that'll make it the easiest for anyone to navigate. (Oh, and I'm using TinyURL to shorten the links so it doesn't look so messy ^^)

Food:
Snacks/treats:
Bedding/hay/pellets/etc: (there's also some hay in the food category)
Hides/toys/etc:
That's pretty much all I could find online. Thank you in advance to anyone who finds the time and willpower to comb through all this and give me more advice! There's certain things in these links that I know for sure are unsafe for hamsters, e.g. hamster balls, so no worries about that. I just wanted to share all that we have, so that you all can get an understanding of the situation
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Old 10-12-2020, 11:23 PM   #4
cypher
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Default Re: Hello everyone!

That sand should be fine I would think.
I did have a look at the food but it doesn’t seem to show any ingredients or G/A so it’s impossible to know how suitable it is maybe there will be more info on the packet.
If you can’t get good quality food then it is fine to mix more than one brand, just try to get the overall G/A about right as well as providing more variety.
There doesn’t appear to be any info on the treats either so again hard to know what might be ok, I wouldn’t give those mineral blocks, the hay may be ok but hams don’t really need it so only a small amount in the cage at any one time really.
I wouldn’t use any kind of pelleted substrate, some aren’t safe & they aren’t really suitable for a ham to burrow or nest in really.
I can see some wood shavings/sawdust there but no mention of what wood it is.
It does seem as though you’re idea. of shredding kitchen paper may be your best option, that should keep you busy for a while!
It does look as though you have some useful things for the cage available at least, the bendy bridges are always good & have multiple uses as hides & ramps, the natural type wooden houses can sometimes have tiny tacks/nails in them so watch out for those if you buy anything like that.
You can always make more toys & hideouts from things like cardboard boxes & tubes, they often enjoy those more than bought toys so I’m sure you’ll manage to find enough to give your ham plenty of enrichment in the cage.
Sorry I can’t be a lot of help really.
__________________
Slave to Zak.
Always loved, never forgotten, forever in my heart
T'ycor, Ziggy, Zephyr, Flynt, Mickle, Little Whisp, Zen, Zeki, Tinwë, Zylvan, Míriel, Calyanwë, Gusto & Meri
❤️
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Old 10-13-2020, 03:36 AM   #5
envidianthine
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Oct 2020
Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Posts: 21
Default Re: Hello everyone!

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
That sand should be fine I would think.
I did have a look at the food but it doesn’t seem to show any ingredients or G/A so it’s impossible to know how suitable it is maybe there will be more info on the packet.
If you can’t get good quality food then it is fine to mix more than one brand, just try to get the overall G/A about right as well as providing more variety.
There doesn’t appear to be any info on the treats either so again hard to know what might be ok, I wouldn’t give those mineral blocks, the hay may be ok but hams don’t really need it so only a small amount in the cage at any one time really.
I wouldn’t use any kind of pelleted substrate, some aren’t safe & they aren’t really suitable for a ham to burrow or nest in really.
I can see some wood shavings/sawdust there but no mention of what wood it is.
It does seem as though you’re idea. of shredding kitchen paper may be your best option, that should keep you busy for a while!
It does look as though you have some useful things for the cage available at least, the bendy bridges are always good & have multiple uses as hides & ramps, the natural type wooden houses can sometimes have tiny tacks/nails in them so watch out for those if you buy anything like that.
You can always make more toys & hideouts from things like cardboard boxes & tubes, they often enjoy those more than bought toys so I’m sure you’ll manage to find enough to give your ham plenty of enrichment in the cage.
Sorry I can’t be a lot of help really.
Yeah the food is a bit questionable, I did try looking up all the brands we have online, but most of them are quite obscure and it's difficult to find anything about them. I guess I'll just have to go through all the pet shops and look at the labels in real life. Oh, I've seen the acronym GA mentioned in other places too, but could you tell me what that stands for?

I can only assume that most of the wood shavings we have are unsafe, since they don't specify which wood they use. I've heard that the brand Versele-Laga typically uses beech wood, which I've heard should be safe for hamsters? So maybe that's something I can look into. But the DIY bedding is definitely somehting I'm gonna do, I'm just waiting on my paper shredder to arrive hahaha

I think I should be okay with the hides/toys, thankfully we at least have some stuff and, as you've said, I can also just make my own toys and such.

No worries, you've helped a lot! At this point I need any help I can get, honestly
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Old 10-13-2020, 04:10 AM   #6
cypher
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Default Re: Hello everyone!

G/A (general analysis I think?) refers to the protein, fat & fibre content of the food, sorry not to have been a bit clearer.
__________________
Slave to Zak.
Always loved, never forgotten, forever in my heart
T'ycor, Ziggy, Zephyr, Flynt, Mickle, Little Whisp, Zen, Zeki, Tinwë, Zylvan, Míriel, Calyanwë, Gusto & Meri
❤️
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Old 10-13-2020, 06:30 AM   #7
envidianthine
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Oct 2020
Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Posts: 21
Default Re: Hello everyone!

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
G/A (general analysis I think?) refers to the protein, fat & fibre content of the food, sorry not to have been a bit clearer.
Ah, no it's fine! I figured it refers to that I just didn't know what the letters stood for hahaha ^^' Thank you!
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