Oh Oh Shadow has got awfully fat... - Page 3

Demondog · 11-14-2005, 01:42 PM

Try velcro tape - it works really well in our cages, although we have small mouse bottles.

**babyboos** · 11-14-2005, 01:46 PM

Nooboo it is best to remove the cloth however only you can judge if that will be possible or not. If you can only take a small amount then do that, a little each night for example. Only you know your hamster and will have to take the judgement call. My mums would not get the opportunity in the first place and IF they did I know I can comfortably remove things from the nest without disturbing the babies too much. Maybe give her lots of extra safe bed when you remove the cloth she will hopefully be too busy rearranging it into her nest to care too much, but the choice has to be yours.

And yes from your dates they were definitely together before the 28/29th.

nooboo · 11-14-2005, 01:59 PM

it's odd Ponder was bad, never in the nest but I could have disturbed it -Shadow is very nervous and barely leaves the nest... except to pull her bottle down! It seemed better to use the cheap dishcloth than to use a hair band * I did consider it at the time we just needed to use something!* but that would have had rubber etc. so I chose to use the dishcloth. At least now there is plenty of string, and there is not too much of it. I will try to move a bit of it tonight, and offer her lots of toilet roll... see how it goes

**babyboos** · 11-15-2005, 04:08 PM

how did it go? were you able to remove any or are you leaving her be for now?

Pendragon · 11-15-2005, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nooboo

it's odd Ponder was bad, never in the nest but I could have disturbed it -Shadow is very nervous and barely leaves the nest... except to pull her bottle down! It seemed better to use the cheap dishcloth than to use a hair band * I did consider it at the time we just needed to use something!* but that would have had rubber etc. so I chose to use the dishcloth.

Try using the Velcro - you need the sticky-backed kind. I use it in my tanks and it works great even for the Hamster-size bottles. Just glue an L-shape of the harsher velcro into a corner of the bin/tank, and wrap a circle of the softer Velcro around the bottle (making sure all surfaces are dry). Then just stick bottle in corner! Even hamsters who like to climb on top of the bottles have not managed to knock them off.

Also if you haven't already, please do remove the dish cloth. I learnt the hard way 25 years ago - long before rat books & the internet - about giving cloth to mothers for nesting. I would really hate to see this happen to anyone else.... A mother rat chewed small holes in the cloth I gave her, and I lost two babies from strangulation - squeezed through the holes and couldn't get out - and one lost a leg, another a tail, from the fraying fibres getting caught up around their limbs. Not good!

**babyboos** · 11-15-2005, 04:27 PM

The velcro seems to work really well in bins I was surprised thinking it would come off but no it holds fast, and pretty inexpensive in the long run. String is not suitable for a long term solution. Only other thing you can do is try drilling a hole in the side of the bin to feed the water spout through? Specialist metal bottle holders are available in some stores which you can bolt to the side but the velcro works so might as well give it a try

nooboo · 11-17-2005, 11:31 AM

well while removing all that blue wash cloth I managed to get a nice picture of the babies, well two nice pictures, I risked three but the third was terrible

They don't seem that hairy when you look at them but on these photos wow do they seem fuzzy!!

they will be a week old tomorrow

the sad thing is that with Ponder's small litter I could have homed them and more, but all those who wanted them have gone elsewhere. So I really had better get trying to find most of these homes... I doubt I can get Dave to say yes to keeping more than a couple. Oh and will be getting some Velcro, and will put it in as soon as I can, but what with bothering her trying to get the cloth out I thought I would do the Velcro at the weekend or once their eyes open

souffle · 11-17-2005, 12:31 PM

Nooboo, they look lovely healthy little pups. How many do you think there are? I think I can see at least 8 in the pics. Some may be sable or golden when they get coats and the others, maybe greys? Don't keep more than you can manage as you don't want any more accidents! Try calling garden centres and look to see if they keep hams in good conditions. I think you will home these as they will be perfect for Christmas to well vetted homes. Make sure you handle and tame them from 2 weeks so they are good with their new owners. Maybe an ad in the local shop or something?

nooboo · 11-17-2005, 12:50 PM

there is a pet shop near that sells hamsters woh said they would take any, but i want that as a last resort. there is a jollies too where i can put up an add for free, and we have one on daves uni department newsgroup, that way we can talk with them a lot etc before we even meet them. we have been asking around mates including a few that were going to take one last time but got another, see if they want two.

i am trying to sell off some of my unused rotastak too, so was thinking of selling a hamster a round and a kidney for say £15

i think there are 7, but i dont want to count too well, it upset me last time to know ponder had three and went down to two

nooboo · 11-21-2005, 12:10 PM

there seems to be so many colours, out of the pale ones, one is a different shade to the other two, two seem to be Golden or something and two seem more of a grey, it's all getting rather exciting!! I can't wait for their eyes to open. I must be calm I know, but at least I got some nice pictures, almost makes Shadow nibbling on me today worth it (hand holding food as it puts it into food bowl must be food itself in her book)

if you want to see the rest (I uploaded every picture I took of them so some are not so good) go here http://www.hamsterhouse.co.uk/gallery/shadowbabies