First Time Pet Owner!

[Zireling]

Hello everyone! Just today I bought my very first hamster. I happen to buy the poor little gal at Petsmart. I was originally going to get a robo dwarf species and then this little winter white dwarf female caught my eyes. I was seriously so smitten with her. She was so active and I would place my finger on the glass and she would curiously come to investigate it. Haha! My children are rather young and were also excited. They are to young to handle her though so they watch and talk to her. They ended up naming her Tiny. (Not very creative but yknow they are toddlers.)

I've noticed I have already made quite a few mistakes after searching online. Apparently, Petsmart employees are not very helpful. We bought a cage that came with everything. It's a three level story and was overall what I thought a decent size. It came with a wheel, water bottle, food tray, safe bedding and feed and also multiple wood chews. The little lady has been pretty good with her new home and eased in rather quickly it would seem. I am going to buy her a bigger cage next week. I might just buy a plastic tub for now. We will be moving in a few months so when there is more room I am gonna look into a big fish tank. She's extremely tiny. Like smaller than the others she was housed with at the pet shop but was the more active one. I have already handled her when putting her in the cage and checked her out for a bit. I'm going to start taming her via the bath tub here in a few days.

I'm going to get an image of her and post it when she gets a bit more comfortable. For now, her favorite thing is the wheel. She has been on it for seriously HOURS. lol I can already tell I'm going to have to buy the sweet girl some more toys because she's gonna get bored with these ones fast.

Anyways, hello fellow hammy owners and any advice you may have please share. I'm still learning a lot!!!!!

[cypher]

welcome to HC & congrats on your new ham :)

Tiny sounds really sweet!

I just replied to your other thread about the cage.
I wouldn't recommend the bath for taming a Russian hamster, they are so small it can be a bit overwhelming for them, a large plastic storage bin with some substrate & toys is safer & nicer for them.

If you bought her from Petsmart then she isn't a Winter white but a Russian hybrid, a cross between the WW & Campbells Russian hamster, hybrids can be prone to diabetes so you need to take a little extra care with diet.
A good dwarf mix (this can be hard to find in the US but if you can get hold of Burgess dwarf hamster harvest that's a good mix for them), no fruit or sweet treats, no treats with honey or added sugars.
Natural treats like millet, a few extra sunflower seeds, mealworms, the occasional monkey nut & (introducing slowly) fresh veg daily are all fine.

[Thin Lizzy]

Hi and Welcome to HC. Congratulations on being a first time pet owner and choosing a hamster. They make wonderful pets. Tiny sounds cute.
Pet shops never give out helpful advice, anything you need to know, you'll find here in the forum.

[Josie]

Hello and welcome to HC congratulations on your new hammy look forward to hearing more about Tiny :D

[Drago]

Hello and welcome to hamster central :)

I'm sure Cypher answered any questions you may have had! Enjoy spending time with your new ham

[BorisPasha]

Hello and welcome to HC :)