New hamster.

[Saffy]

So my friend works in the pet shop SPR and a lady who shops there regularly came in and said she wanted to get rid of her hamster. My friend contacted me because she knows i love hamsters and i said yeah i would take it.
So we arranged for the lady to drop it off at mine, it was free with the cage, she just wanted to get rid of it.
Well now i have a new hamster, they said it was a russian hamster but i think it looks more like a chinese hamster.
I don't know if this is right but she only fed it a little bowl of food a week because she thinks people over feed them and i personally think the hamster is now underweight so i am feeding it regularly. She also only had a thin layer of sawdust, less than what i put down for my syrians, and dwarfs love digging in it so i have now given him a thick layer of sawdust. When i got him he had no name so i have now named him splodge, i don't know how old he is because they didn't know.
So yeah it really wasnt looked after well, it's in quite a small cage and all there was in the cage was its house an empty food bowl its water bottle and a massive 8" wheel! She said she bought it a big wheel just because it could hardly turn it meaning it didn't make noise! How bad is that!! Poor little hamster.

I will be adding photos later on today maybe tomorrow morning.

[KatiePillow]

Poor thing.. =/
I'm glad it now has a nice new home, and chinese are fairly easy to spot...give splodge plenty to climb on, and I think that the bowl of food is too little too =/ mine burys half her food, and I felt guilty not feeding her yesterday when I knew she had a full bowl of food buried..
poor thing.
I wonder why people like that even buy hamsters =/ just to treat them like that..
I really hope he's ok, I'm sure he will be now. Poor baby. >.<
I'm sure he'll love running in his wheel once he has one he can turn >.<;

[Saffy]

Yeah well i wasn't sure if it was a russian or a chinese, he has quite a long body compared to his width but he could just be extremely underweight. I read that russians have egg shaped bodies and splodges body is only like that when he sits and eats and cleans etc.
I only have really read up about syrians because i have 2 but i have the hamsterlopaedia and read about both russians and chinese and splodge seems to fit more into the chinese.

[KatiePillow]

Simple way is that chinese have long tails? whereas russians have none really.
Or do you mean winter white or campbells? Like...telling the difference as to which he is..If he doesn't have a tail but is a dwarf he is most likely ww, campbells or hybrid. Chinese also seem to have big eyes :) (it's unlikely that it'd be a chinese without a tail...but with that back story...)

[Saffy]

Oh in that case, it's definitely a chinese, he has quite a long tail and cute beady eyes. :D Thanks

[KatiePillow]

Yeah, I love chinese hamsters...is he normal or dom spot? (dom spot seem to have VERY prominent...scrotum..)
They use the tail to help them climb, so may end up wrapping it around you I guess :) there's loads of experts on here with them, so if you need any advice they'll give it to you :) I only know this much because I've been reading through, :p kinda want one of my own :D
But that won't happen for a while now...although I did just buy a suitable cage ;p

[Vectis Hamstery]

It sounds like Splodge has finally found a lovely forever home. Well done for taking him in.

Dwarves aren't likely to get wet tail with stress like syrians might, but I'd start introducing diet changes gradually. I'd suggest start feeding him plenty of good quality hamster mix, eg Harry Hamster (avoid foods with added sugar/molasses e.g. pets at home own brand), and after a few days add the odd mealworm (dried ones seem to be less upsetting to squeamish owners!). When he's settled in you can introduce other foods e.g. veg, porridge. With any new food, start with a tiny amount and then increase gradually, especially with wet foods or veg. The porridge and protein foods will help build him up but hamster mix should make the majority of his diet. Avoid all sugar containing foods and treats with dwarves as they are more prone to diabetes, e.g. honey sticks, carrot, sweetcorn, biscuits...

There are 2 chinese hamsters in my signature. The two colours are 'normal' (brown, on the left) and 'dominant spot' (white with brown spots, on the right). The size of the scrotum is not linked to colour, but is prominent generally in male chinese hamsters. I've just chosen a pic of a dom spot in my sig, but believe me his normal brother is similarly well endowed! There is more info about Chinese and piccies on my website (Home - Vectis Hamstery (http://vectishams.webs.com)).

It'd be great to see some piccies of your newby. If you have any questions. just ask!

[KatiePillow]

Ohh! I just assumed that dom spot had giant ones and normal didnt :p
oops.. i thought that was an odd evolutionary thing, that half the brothers would have giant ones and the other half discrete :)

[debs]

omg is that true about the p@h food =|

[KatiePillow]

O.o;
just noticed it says syrup on the label..aah..
I've been feeding my dwarfie on it...and she doesn't seem to like anything else..Ahh >.<

[Saffy]

Ooooohhhh well mine must be a dom spot and its tail always moves so i guess it is haha. I thought it was strange but now i know why they do it.

[Saffy]

Ok so the pics of splodge are extremely late although i have now decided to call him dumbledore(Dumby for short) because i think it suited him more.
Ok so here he is.
You can see how big the wheel is in one of the pictures, that is the one i got given with the cage.

[KatiePillow]

awwh, what an absolute cutie :) lucky hamster to be rescued too :) hope he's settling in well.
And dumbledore does suit him more than splodge

[Ellie]

WOW Lovely name and he is absolutely adorable. I seen a cheap silent spinner on ebay the other day while browsing so I'd keep your eye out for a bargain on there to get him a smaller wheel! I am sure hes going to be very happy with you!

[Saffy]

WOW Lovely name and he is absolutely adorable. I seen a cheap silent spinner on ebay the other day while browsing so I'd keep your eye out for a bargain on there to get him a smaller wheel! I am sure hes going to be very happy with you!

Oh its ok, luckily i had a few spare wheels which came with previous bought cages so i gien him one of those but thanks anyway! :)